November 2005 ~ Featuring Jordan Bennett
This month, I'd like to introduce everyone to the newest addition of the Southern Gospel Music world. His name is Jordan Bennett. Jordan has been surrounded by Gospel music all of his life, but just recently started traveling full time as the bass guitarist for Legacy Five. He is the son of long time Cathedral Quartet pianist, Roger Bennett. I had met Jordan on several occasions down through the years, but never really had a chance to hang out with him much until the 2005 National Quartet Convention. If you happened to stop by the Legacy Five booth at NQC this year, you are sure to have seen Jordan. He was almost always at their booth working. It doesn't really surprise me to see Jordan with the group, since quite a few Southern Gospel artists either travel with their family or they are involved in another Gospel group. Several examples are: Dean and Mike Hopper (sons of Connie and Claude Hopper); Scoot Shelnut (son of Randy Shelnut); Eric Phillips (son of 'Little' Ernie Phillips); Doug and Danny Riley (sons of Tim Riley), and the list goes on and on.

Jordan Bennett was born on November 11, 1986. This month he celebrates his 19th Birthday. He is the son of Roger and Debbie Bennett. He has one sister, Chelsea. Jordan was saved in 1993, and is originally from Stow, Ohio. He now lives with his parents in Thompson's Station, Tennessee. Jordan joined Legacy Five at the beginning of September 2005. Roger gave Jordan the opportunity to join the group after he graduated high school, so he could get some experience on the road.

Jordan enjoys playing guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, working out, reading, camping with his friends, and visiting his girlfriend, Jessica. He has an accumulation of instruments and he claims to use them all. On the road, his jobs include: setting up and tearing down the sound equipment, working the product table, and playing bass guitar. Although he says that getting plenty of sleep is another hobby/job of his. Jordan grew up around Gospel Music and would often ride with the Cathedrals when he was a kid. This job, however, is his first 'hands on' experience of performing.

He says that his family is very close knit, even though they don't get to see each other as much as they'd like, especially in the past two years. Most of you are aware that Roger has been battling Leukemia since 1995. For the past few years, he has spent a majority of his time living in Houston, Texas, near the hospital where he was undergoing treatments. Jordan and Chelsea were both in school, and stayed behind in Nashville, but they visited Texas as often as they could. Now that Roger is back on the road, Jordan is getting to spend time with his dad every day of the week. His biggest musical influences are Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones, John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, James Jamerson, Rocco Prestia, Stephen Stills, and Scoot Shelnut.

Since joining Legacy Five, Jordan has had the privilege of working some great concerts. He says that during his second weekend on the road, he was lucky enough to get to play on the Grand Ole Opry! Jordan states, "I wasn't nervous until Jean Shepherd went on stage right before us. As I was tapping my foot to keep rhythm, I got so nervous that my calf muscle tensed up to the point that I could barely tap anymore." They played the Opry on September 9th. Then on September 12, he played in front of thousands of fans during his first time on stage at the National Quartet Convention. They performed three nights at NQC, along with several showcases throughout the convention. He is definitely getting broken in quickly! I went in to watch the group at NQC, and must say that Jordan did an excellent job. He is a great musician! He was making that bass guitar talk! So, I soon asked him to be a part of the "Southern Gospel Players…volume two" project that I am currently putting together. Much to my surprise, I even had the honor of playing with Legacy Five twice during NQC. On both Monday and Saturday nights, the group closed their set with "Out Of My Darkness" (a song penned by Roger Bennett). When Roger took his microphone and walked on stage to sing with the guys, he pointed at me to go to the piano. So, Jordan and I got to 'jam' a little on stage.

There's one final story that I want to throw in here before I close. On Saturday of NQC, I played on Tim Lovelace's Instrumental Jam Session. It ended at 1:00pm, and then at 1:15pm, another showcase started called 'The Leaders of Tomorrow'. I was scheduled to play on the 8th song in that showcase. Well, Jordan had came to watch the Jam Session, and when it was over, we were hungry and wanted to get a quick bite to eat. The closest fast food was an Arbys, probably about a mile away. We hurried across the series of building of which the NQC is held, and got the keys to his parent's vehicle. When we got to the car, it was blocked in by another vehicle. We couldn't find a ride to Arbys, so we decided to make the trip on foot. We literally ran full speed to the restaurant, ordered our meal to go, ran back to the showcase. We could barely feel our legs when we got back, but we managed to get back JUST IN TIME for me to hop on stage and play. We both realized that we were out of shape! Big time!

You can keep up with Jordan and the rest of Legacy Five online at: www.legacyfive.com. Roger Bennett and Scott Fowler launched Legacy Five in January of 2000, when the Cathedrals retired. Since that time, they have been voted Favorite Male Quartet, Favorite Baritone (Scott Howard), Favorite Bass (Glenn Dustin), Favorite Pianist (Roger Bennett), Horizon Individual (Frank Seamans), and have been nominated on several occasions for Male Vocalist, Favorite Lead Singer, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. Check out their tour schedule to see when they might be in concert in your area, and be sure to welcome Jordan to the group!