Upon first hearing the name of Jordan Reynolds the word creator may come to mind and though Reynolds creates a three minute escape for artists and listeners alike he is also an a Grammy Award winner, co-owner of Hit Ranch and the owner and creator of Better Songs - a platform specially curated for songwriters and those who aspire to become one.

Reynolds catalog includes 10,000 Hours (Recorded by Dan + Shay with Justin Bieber), Kiss Me Like A Stranger (Recorded by Thomas Rhett), God Only Knows (Recorded by for KING & COUNTRY), First Man (Recorded by Camila Cabello) amongst many others.

BC: Did you come from a family of artists and songwriters?

JR: “I do not come from a family of songwriters necessarily, but both of my parents are musicians. My dad was a worship pastor when I was growing up. He’s a really talented composer with choral stuff and has written some songs, and my mom’s a phenomenal singer.” Reynolds says. “My oldest brother is an audio engineer and does front-of-house for Little Big Town, and he also engineers their records in the studio. And then my middle brother is an actor and screenplay writer, so it’s kind of “all in the family” in a way. I definitely grew up around music and grew up writing in the car, listening to my parents and learning the harmonies for the songs they were going to sing on Sundays at church.”

When did you first start writing songs?

JR: “I first started writing songs technically in high school. I was in a pop-punk band and it was an era of music where lyrics didn’t really make sense — it was all just kind of about how it felt. But I didn’t really start writing real songs, in my opinion, until I got to college. “ Reynolds explains. “After college, around 2012 or 2013, I had a few buddies who were getting deep into publishing. They really made me want to do songwriting full-time, so I started writing with them.”

What’s the importance of songwriting to you?

JR: “It kind of captures what’s happening in culture and finds a cool way to say something that would otherwise be difficult to say. With love songs, many people want to say something to their significant other and don’t quite know how to say it.” Reynolds tells me. “We as songwriters get to be the vessel to create those things that people can play for each other and say ‘hey, this is what I wanted to say — I just didn’t quite know how to say it.’ It’s also so cool seeing people do their first dances to songs I’ve written, or even hear that people love heartbreak songs I’ve written because it helped them get through a hard time.”

BC: What was the first song you wrote that was recorded by another artist?

JR: “A song called Getting in the Way that Keith Urban recorded. This was around 2016 or so, and the song was on his “Ripcord” album. It was an incredible feeling because Keith Urban was one of the main reasons I got into country music, and hearing him record my song was such a dream come true.”

You write a lot of country songs. What is the importance of country music to you?

JR: “I didn’t grow up on country music, and so I didn’t really learn to appreciate what it was until I moved to Nashville and went to Belmont. When I met my wife, who is from Texas, she and her family kind of schooled me in what country music was. There’s just certain things that you can only sing about in country music, like heartfelt love songs and heartfelt breakup songs. You know when you hear those things that you could not do them in any other genre, and I love chasing those concepts down.”

What’s something that always inspires you?

JR: “Randomly enough, it’s this show called Chef’s Table on Netflix. I love hearing people who are passionate about anything talk about what they love. A lot of times on Chef’s Table, it ends up being about food or wine, but I love hearing about these chefs’ life stories, how they got to where they’re going and how passionate they are about the food they create.” Reynolds says. “The way that the show is shot is so cinematic and visually stunning, too. If I’m ever feeling uninspired, that show is where I will go to feel inspired again.”

What is one song you have written that you are most proud of and why?

JR: “I would have to say Tequila by Dan + Shay. I came up with the title when I was at a buddy’s house while we were having a bourbon tasting, and he said ‘you know, we should do a tequila tasting sometime because when I taste tequila…’ I thought it sounded interesting when he said that, so I wrote it down on my phone.” Reynolds says. “I wrote the song with Dan Smyers and Nicolle Galyon. Nicolle has been one of my good friends for a long time. Dan + Shay are one of the reasons why I got into country music songwriting and Nicolle had kind of helped me get into the game, so the fact that I had one of my first singles and first hits with them is super special to me.”

As a songwriter, how do you overcome writer’s block/lack of inspiration?

JR: “I try to not let ‘writer’s block’ be in my vocabulary because it really is just a lack of inspiration at some point, but one of the main ways to avoid it is by having great co-writers. That’s the beauty of collaboration — we can pick up each other’s slack when one person is not quite feeling it. But I think the source of inspiration is having great concepts and always being on the prowl for them — they will always inspire creativity and help you stay inspired in the room.” Reynolds explains. “If you can’t find great titles or concepts, a good way to go look for those is to watch shows that inspire you, read books, go out in nature or have conversations with people who are smart and listen to what they say. If they say something that sounds cool, maybe you’ll get something out of it.”

What’s something that you don’t think a lot of people know about songwriting?

JR: “Probably that it takes a lot of songs before you start getting cuts. And even if you do start getting cuts, there are a percentage of songs that actually get recorded by an artist and then an even smaller percentage of songs make it to the radio.” Reynolds says. “It doesn’t necessarily mean those songs are bad, but it often depends on the timing of a song, where the artist is at in their career, and what’s on the radio — all of those things need to happen at the right time. In my most recent catalog, I think I have close to 1,000 songs I’ve written over the last 8 years, and out of those songs, I have 6 #1’s. So it just takes writing a lot of songs to get to the ones that stick.”

What’s one thing you like and dislike about the songwriting/music industry?

JR: “One thing I really like about it is that it’s an unbelievable job if you can have success in it. You have the incredible freedom of schedule and you get to make music for your job — it’s the thing that I love the most in life and I get to do it every day.” Jordan continues, “Something I dislike about the industry is that there’s no guarantees. There’s no way to predict what your next year is going to look like, and you can’t predict that you’re going to make a certain amount of money or have a certain amount of cuts. Part of that is kind of exciting too, because all songwriters are kind of like entrepreneurs — we’re banking on ourselves and on our ideas to carry us through. So it’s not the end of the world because we all know what we’re signing up for, but unpredictability can be the most stressful thing. When you start thinking, ‘I don’t know when the next hit is going to happen,’ you just have to go in the room and see if you can make the next one happen.”

How does it make you feel when you have a song you have written or co-written win an award?

JR: “The first award I won was the ACM Song of the Year for Tequila. [My co-writers and I] were up for the CMAs and the Grammys, and we lost both of those leading up to the ACMs. I didn’t think I was going to be as excited as I was, but it was a pretty incredible feeling to be recognized by my peers and by the people who vote on these award shows.” Reynolds says. “It’s very gratifying, like you’re doing something right in this weird creative industry where everything is subjective and everything is floating in the ether. To know that something that you wrote in your bedroom is reaching millions of people and that people want to give you an award for it… It’s indescribable.”

You have a new creative platform called Better Songs. What can you tell me about this?

JR: “Better Songs, simply put, is me trying to help other people write better songs. We cover everything from getting a publishing deal to how much money songwriters make and even how to write melodies in certain chords. We take a deep dive into all of the things about songwriting to help people write their songs in a better way.”

Lastly, if you could say one thing to the world and the whole world would listen, what would you say?

JR: “I would say have empathy for each other, show kindness, show love, and listen to great music.”