The musical stylings of Jordan St. Cyr have become well known in the Christian music industry recently, especially with the release of his first single across Canada last year, “I Look to Jesus.” The song got him a Covenant Award nomination for Pop Song of the Year.
The awards, which highlight the best in Canadian Christian music, took place in Edmonton during the last week of January. Although St. Cyr didn’t win, he calls attending the event a great experience.
“Ultimately, it’s an opportunity to get all these artists that share the same purpose and heart in one room,” he says. “To me, award or no award, that’s a win.”
2016 proved to be busy and productive for the artist. St. Cyr visited Nashville many times, and one of those trips brought him to a conference hosted by Full Circle Music. After a mentoring session with Ben Calhoun, the lead singer of Citizen Way, doors began opening.
“I played him a few songs, and they were all right,” St. Cyr says. “Then I play him the song ‘Lay It Down,’ and he said, ‘That’s the song!’”
From that point, Calhoun helped him form a new production team with Micah Kuiper, from the band Hawk Nelson, who engineers the sound. Together, the team is working with St. Cyr to write new material.
“It’s been a privilege and honour to work with these guys who are at the top of their game,” says St. Cyr. “Since heading down to Nashville a few years ago, I think I’ve written one song by myself. The weight of a good song is too heavy to bear alone. It’s so fun to write together.”
As of last fall, St. Cyr has also taken on the position of Music Pastor at Oasis Community Church in Winnipeg. With a team of musicians, St. Cyr runs the worship service each Sunday.
With three kids under seven and a wife at home, life is busy for the musician.
“I knew this was a possibility when I married him, that Jordan could be gone a lot,” says his wife Heather. “This is our normal. The kids find it exciting and we’ve found a way to make it work without it being a strain. We’ve got such a good support here too, with family and friends being close.”
Jordan’s new sound, although it’s still heavily influenced by folk roots, has a pop dimension. He’s heading back to Nashville this month to record a few songs with his production team. The plan is to pitch some of these songs to a label. He’s also going to release a new single shortly, called “Victory.”
