Jordan St. Cyr grew up in Niverville, Manitoba, a town of about 1,200 people with six churches in it. He says a place that small keeps people's radar for what's fake and what's real very keen, and that's why his music has to be honest, conversational, almost blue collar. His dad was the worship pastor. His mom worked in children's ministry. There was never a dramatic conversion moment, just a home where it was obvious Christ was the center of everything.
The first word he heard his dad use for God was loving heavenly father, which lands differently once you know his dad grew up without one. Jordan compares his own faith to marriage: he and his wife will hit nineteen years this year, and looking back he thinks, you idiot, you had no idea what that yes meant. He expects to think the same thing at forty years. Jesus got his heart as a five or six year old and keeps getting his yes daily.
He was the athlete first, not the singer. That ended around fifteen or sixteen when he found himself batting against a six-foot-three pitcher and decided he was done. A buddy talked him into auditioning for the school's Wizard of Oz, mostly because there were girls there, and that same friend brought a guitar to rehearsals. Jordan picked it up and never put it down. When he sang at the church Christmas play, his parents were sitting in the back row and had no idea he could sing.
Then comes the part that reframes everything. Jordan wrote "Fires" during a season of songwriting camps, after a year of country conferences convinced him he needed to say the name of Jesus in his work. Nobody bit on the song. He was too old, he says, and his numbers weren't high enough. His radio promoters initially turned him down because they didn't want to take food off the table of a guy with four kids. He put the money aside himself and released it independently on Easter weekend of 2020, which he calls about the worst financial bet an artist could make. It became a hit. And it was written six months before the birth of his youngest daughter, Emery, who was born with a rare brain condition. He used to feel guilty that a song about fires hadn't come out of his own experience. He now believes God gave it to him for his experience. Emery has been four years seizure free.
On songwriting and style, Jordan credits the town he spent decades trying to escape, and the twenty years of construction work he cursed more than once. He describes his upbringing as a safe harbor and a diving board, and says of his parents, who came out of a lot of trauma and moved to a small town to recalibrate the family, that he got to spend what they saved up. Kurtis stops him mid-sentence and tells him to write it down, which he does, live on the call.
The two new singles get their turn. "Wild Love" is about the pursuit of God, and Jordan explains why wild is the right word: when you're in your sin nature and your shame, the love of God is foreign, otherworldly, something that pierces the veil rather than something you solve your way into. He follows it to a striking place, saying it's practically a prerequisite to be a screw-up, because no perfect people are allowed. He grew up as the churchgoing brother with brothers who partied, and credits his parents with threading the needle of not accepting bad behavior while never affirming self-righteousness in him. His own posture now: your sin doesn't bother me, because I've got enough of my own.
"The Storyteller Man" is his upbringing set to music, right down to the green Dodge Monaco with the rear-facing seat, a detail he confirmed by calling his dad mid-write. The song name-checks Billy Joel, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan as the world's best storytellers, and then points past all of them. As Jordan puts it, people call him the storyteller man, and he isn't. He's a storyteller telling you about the greatest one.
He closes on working with producer Paul Mabury, which he describes as terrifying, and on what it taught him: anything good is low and slow, like a good brisket. A full record follows next year, plus a Christmas project aimed at candlelight-service intimacy rather than big production. And what he most wants right now has nothing to do with music. He wants a Habitat for Humanity day so he can go swing a hammer, and maybe to sing at an old folks' home. It doesn't need to be on camera. It can be held sacred.
"The hard things of this life are the greatest teachers." - Jordan St. Cyr
ABOUT JORDAN ST. CYR
Jordan St. Cyr is a Juno Award-winning artist, songwriter and storyteller from Niverville, Manitoba, now based in Nashville. His breakthrough single "Fires" spent 45 weeks on the Billboard Christian Airplay chart and reached the Top 5, followed by his multi-week No. 1 hit "Weary Traveler." He is a 16-time GMA Covenant Award winner and won the 2023 Juno for Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year. He spent two decades in construction before music became his full-time work. Signed to BEC Recordings, he released "The Storyteller Man" and "Wild Love" in 2026, both produced by Paul Mabury, ahead of a full album. He and his wife Heather have four children.
IN THIS EPISODE
What a Manitoba town of 1,200 taught him about telling the truth in a song
His dad, who grew up without a father, teaching him to call God a loving heavenly father
Quitting sports at sixteen, auditioning for the Wizard of Oz, and picking up a guitar he never put down
Playing dive bars in Winnipeg at midnight and leading worship at 7 a.m.
Being told he was too old with numbers too low, and releasing "Fires" independently anyway
Writing "Fires" six months before Emery was born, and the guilt he carried about that
Why he says the love of God is wild, and why being a screw-up is close to a prerequisite
"I get to spend what they saved up," written down live on the call
The Dodge Monaco, four legendary storytellers, and the one the song is actually about
Why anything good is low and slow
LINKS
Jordan St. Cyr: https://www.jordanstcyr.com
Wild Love: https://jordan.ffm.to/wildlove
The Storyteller Man: https://jordan.ffm.to/storyteller
Every Reason To Believe: https://jordan.ffm.to/everyreason
Hands To The Sky: https://jordan.ffm.to/hands
Pray For You: https://jordan.ffm.to/prayforyou
My Foundation (album): https://jordan.ffm.to/myfoundation
Merch: https://jordanstcyrmerch.myshopify.com
BEC Recordings: https://www.becrecordings.com/jordanstcyr
Instagram: http://instagram.com/jordanstcyr
Facebook: http://facebook.com/jordanstcyrmusic
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jordanstcyr
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbR1q9f7-C1itmIVpE9nHLw
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4RbkVdTJEHZEfppvxBD6Il
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jordan-st-cyr/441238969
Kurtis Parks: https://www.kurtisparks.com
Worship Leader: https://worshipleader.com
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