Jordan Harvey still adores King Calaway.
"I love those guys dearly," Harvey, 30, stresses during a recent interview with PEOPLE. "I would not be in this position without them."
But in 2020 as the pandemic raged, the Scottish vocal powerhouse with the reddish hair found himself creatively pulling away from the country music group that he had been a part of since 2018.
"I got to the point where I realized that I was sonically writing completely different from what they were doing," he remembers. "I started feeling as if I didn't know if I was going to be able to remain a strong asset in the band."
Soon, the bandmates of King Calaway got on a call together and made the mutual decision to go their separate ways — a decision that ultimately resulted in the creation of Harvey's debut EP It Is What It Is, a strong contender straight out of the solo gate produced by Kevin Bard, Jason Massey and Tom Jordan and entirely co-written by Harvey.
"I feel like the record that I have made, I couldn't have done with the band because it is all about me," says Harvey, who wrote exactly 128 songs over a span of 12 months during the pandemic. "It's all things I've lived. It's all very personal things that I have experienced, and I knew that I had to put that out into the world because I would be doing myself a disservice if I wasn't doing this."
Indeed, following the release of his debut single "Alabama Girl" last year, Harvey now finds himself releasing a complete collection of music that tells his story through captivating songs such as "Along for the Ride," "Overnight," and the powerhouse of the entire EP, "Thing About Change."
"I truly believe that this is the best introduction and best representation of who Jordan Harvey is as an artist as a songwriter and as a person," he says of the collection that had him writing alongside the likes of Andy Albert, Kevin Bard, and Allison Veltz Cruz. "This is who I am, this is what I sound like, this is what I've lived."
It's a life that certainly was transformed the minute his very own "Alabama Girl" walked into it.
"I was at this party, and these doors opened by the swimming pool and the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life walked out holding a red velvet cake," remembers Harvey of the day nearly three years ago when he met his now-fiancée Madison Fendley, whom he plans to marry in the early part of next year. "I was immediately just blown away because I love red velvet cake!" He laughs, adding, "But she was just something else. A week after meeting her, I knew that she was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."
And suddenly, Harvey finds himself with two loves of his life.
"All I do is live and breathe music and nothing's ever going to take me off that path," the multi-instrumentalist explains. "But when you meet the right person, then it no longer just becomes about yourself. It becomes about both of us."
Heck, Harvey doesn't even think he could have created this new music without her by his side.
"I wouldn't have this record with her, I wouldn't have these songs without her, I would be here without her support," says Harvey of Fendley, a professional dancer who appeared in Kelsea Ballerini's "Hole in the Bottle" music video. "I've never had support like that before in a relationship because it's very difficult dating someone in music. I'm all over the place. I'm consistently working, So it's really nice knowing every night I go to bed that the one constant thing I have in my life is her, and that makes life a lot better."
Nevertheless, Harvey admits that he thinks of his former King Calaway bandmates often, and enthusiastically roots for them and their success every chance he gets. But for now, being the sole man in the spotlight feels quite good.
"The great thing about being on your own is that you can absolutely, entirely hold yourself accountable," he concludes. "It all falls on me. I'm the person who either makes the right decision or the wrong decision. I think that being on your own, there is an element of pressure to perform, to write great songs, to do all this sort of stuff. And I love that."
