Matt Jordan’s “Outskirts Of Grace” Named March “Best Song Of The Month”

Matt Jordan
Matt Jordan

Matt Jordan, a rock/folk singer/songwriter based in St. Louis, MO, has won the SongwriterUniverse “Best Song Of The Month” Contest for March, for his song, “Outskirts of Grace” (co-written by Charlie Berry & Ryan Hedge). This song was released on February 28 (2020), and is one of several singles that Jordan will be releasing this year.

“Outskirts of Grace” is a heartfelt, contemporary rock song that echoes the classic style of singer/songwriters like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. The song has a thoughtful, descriptive lyric story, and the recording features soulful, expressive lead vocals by Jordan. “Outskirts of Grace” was expertly produced by Sal Oliveri, a Grammy-nominated producer & songwriter in Nashville who has worked with Pink, Chris Stapleton, Sheryl Crow and other artists.

Jordan was born and raised in St. Louis, where he began playing guitar and singing at a young age, and started writing songs during high school. For college, he attended Butler University in Indianapolis for two years, and then he transferred to Belmont University in Nashville, where he majored in Business, and where he could be close to the Nashville music scene.

Jordan lived in Nashville for four years—he graduated from Belmont, played live shows, and collaborated with Nashville songwriters & producers. He then got married, and decided to move back to St. Louis. Jordan still frequently travels to Nashville to co-write and record songs there.

For “Outskirts of Grace,” Jordan wrote this song with his good friend Ryan Hedge (who lives in St. Louis) and Charlie Berry (who lives in Nashville). “Ryan and I went to Nashville, and we wrote the song with Charlie,” explained Jordan. “All three of us are married and supporting families, yet we’re still chasing the music and dreaming together. ‘Outskirts of Grace’ is a song about trying to navigate the real world—faith, family, dreams. It’s a lot of thoughts wrapped into 3 minutes and 30 seconds, and it means something new to me every time I sing it.”


Here’s a video of Matt Jordan performing his song,
“Runaway Heart.”

Currently, Jordan has been writing and recording new songs, and he has released three other singles on Spotify (“Never Look Back,” “Chicago” and “Take The Lead”). He is recording new songs in Nashville with Sal Oliveri, and he’ll be releasing new songs throughout this year. “I’m always writing new songs,” he says. “I sit by the fire every night and write songs by myself.”

Jordan has also formed a band, and he plays live shows in St. Louis, Nashville, Chicago and other cities.

Top Five Songs Of The Month
Here are the Top Five Songs which were submitted for this month's contest, with the songwriter credits, plus their e-mail and website links. You can listen to the winning songs by clicking the music players below.
"Best Song Of The Month" Winner

Song Title:

"Outskirts of Grace'"

Written by:

Matt Jordan (of St. Louis, MO), Charlie Berry & Ryan Hedge. Performed by Matt Jordan.
More Best Songs Of The Month

Song Title:

"One Life" (pop/rock)

Written by:

Stefanie Johnson of Allentown, PA. Performed by Stefanie Johnson.
Stefanie Johnson

Song Title:

"Gone" (pop)

Written by:

Sean Magee of Los Angeles, CA. Performed by Estefania Padilla.
Sean Magee

Song Title:

"If I Would Have Known" (pop)

Written by:

Shannon McAfee (of Virginia Beach, VA), Andrew Coleman and Daniel Peterson. Performed by London Young.
Shannon McAfee

Song Title:

"U and Me" (pop)

Written by:

Madi Earl of Gilbert, Arizona. Performed by Madi Earl.
Madi Earl
Dale Kawashima is the Head of SongwriterUniverse and a music journalist. He’s also a music publishing exec who has represented the song catalogs of Michael Jackson, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Motown Records.
Dale Kawashima