Shania Twain celebrates the one-year anniversary of “Home Now Radio” on Apple Music Hits with an interview with special guest Leslie Jordan. On the new episode, both chat about Leslie’s new path as a singer with his debut album ‘Company’s Comin’’ as well as their combined love of Dolly Parton and horses. Leslie shares his hidden talent of dance and shares how he went viral during quarantine on social media. Listen to the episode on-demand here.
Leslie Jordan on working with Dolly Parton
Shania Twain: You weren’t in the studio with Dolly Parton, you didn’t get to record with her?
Leslie Jordan: No. Of course, with COVID, I was never near any of them. We would lay down my tracks.
Shania Twain: You were never in the same room?
Leslie Jordan: Never in the same studio. What we did was, I met Dolly because I know Steve Summers, I always say, he’s her manager. And he goes, “I’m not, I make her clothes.” But he travels with her everywhere. And I knew him and we were in Nashville recording some of the musician stuff. And he said, “Dolly’s in her studio real near you if you’d like to come by and say hi.”
Shania Twain: Oh my God.
Leslie Jordan: And so I went and met Dolly and she was just adorable. We just hit it off. We’re both Tennesseans. We were the same height exactly, eyeball to eyeball.
Shania Twain: Is that with or without her shoes?
Leslie Jordan: Without her shoes, that’s the first thing she said. I said, “Dolly, if it wasn’t for that hair and those shoes, you would be my height.” But she said, “I’ll sing a hymn with you. I’ll sing a hymn with you.” It’s called, “Where The Soul Never Dies.” She said, “We sang this in church, growing up. I sing it all the time.” And she said, “Listen, do you mind if my family sings with me on some of it?” I said, “No, just you Dolly, not your family. Well, of course your family can sing.” So she brought in a lot of her family members. When you hear the choir at the end of that, that’s Dolly Parton’s family.
Shania Twain: Wow.
Leslie Jordan: So it was just such a… Oh my gosh, it was really something.
Shania Twain welcomes Leslie Jordan on Home Now Radio’s one-year anniversary special
Leslie Jordan on getting into acting and comedy
Leslie Jordan on singing with Chris and Morgane Stapleton and choosing the songs of Company’s Comin’
Shania Twain: When you invited the guests, did you ask them to choose songs? How did that all come together?
Leslie Jordan: We put it out there, but we had the song we wanted for them, but we didn’t want to force that, you know? I remember when we messaged Chris Stapleton and his wife Morgane, and they immediately said, “Call us.” I said, “Oh my God, I’ve got to.” So I called them, we were on the phone for a full hour. And so, huge fan of both of them. And so we recorded it and they gave Morgane the solo, which I just loved. Chris could have had the solo, but he was so giving, he goes, “I hear Morgane here.” So Morgane had the solo and then we got a horn section out of New Orleans and we put horns and then all of a sudden Chris just comes in with that… I mean, how do you describe that voice? I mean, it’s like hollering on pitch…
Shania Twain: It’s an universe in itself, isn’t it? But they blend so beautifully together. They just have this really unique resonance together, Morgane and Chris. I mean, it’s rare in itself, just their blend. But yes, Chris Stapleton is ridiculously amazing vocally and as a songwriter as well.
Leslie Jordan on bullying and comedy as a self-defense mechanism
Shania Twain: Do you have any talents that we don’t know about, that we need to know about, that we would want to know about? Hidden talents?
Leslie Jordan: What would a hidden talent be? Well, I can dance. There’s a hidden talent. I can dance. I’m a very good dancer until you tell me a choreographed move. But, the minute someone says to me, “Okay. Step, ball, change, step, step”. I can’t. I fall down. I can’t do it.
Shania Twain: Well, you’re obviously a very athletic person because all this jockeying and dancing and performing.
Leslie Jordan: And I was the worst at sports when I was a kid. I couldn’t do any sports. And I am pretty coordinated, but I just wasn’t good at any sports at all. And that’s difficult when you’re [crosstalk].
Shania Twain: So, did you get bullied? Did you get bullied for not being sporty?
Leslie Jordan: I learned very early to be funny to keep the bullies at bay. The minute they started bullying me, I could make them laugh and they would… That was my defense mechanism.
Shania Twain: Because sometimes our challenges make us stronger. They make us better at things that we may not discover otherwise, or that we wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. Did you already know that you were funny or was this a go-to thing that really got you off the hook?
Leslie Jordan: My mother told me a story, and I don’t remember this, but she said when I was about four, I came out of Sunday school and I told my daddy, I said, “I’m not going back”. He said, “What are you talking about? You love Sunday school. You love Ms. Townson, your teacher, and all the Bible stories”. And I said, “But, they laugh at me”. And he got down on one knee and he explained to me the difference between laughing at me and laughing with me. And he said, “You’ve been given a gift. And that’s the ability to make people laugh”. He recognized it even before I did, that I was this funny kid. I didn’t know. So, I think over the years I’ve thought of that and… What a gift. What a gift to be able to make people laugh, to have a talent for that because you can tell a joke and somebody else can tell that same joke, and if they don’t have the rhythm, whatever it is that comedians have… It’s like music. We hear the music. It’s the rhythm.
Shania Twain: It’s an innate talent. It’s a gift. Yes. I never imagined we’d have so much in common. We have so much in common. We have so much more to talk about, so we will have to carry this conversation on another time. But, I do want to say that this year is a very special one for me because this show especially we are celebrating our one year anniversary of “Home Now Radio”. So, I thank you for being part of it.
Leslie Jordan: Well, honey, I just felt like the minute I saw you, I thought, “Well, we’re just friends. I can’t explain it”. It’s just some sort of psychic connection, and singing and horses and church. And I consider you a friend.
Shania Twain: Well, listen, you can come visit my horses, and we can sit and chat, talk horses, hug horses, ride horses. We can get the guitar out and sing and just have a really good time. So, thank you. Thank you for being part of the one year anniversary of “Home Now Radio” with me. And thank you.
Leslie Jordan on going viral and becoming a recording artist
Shania Twain: You bring so much joy through your acting and all these great roles, these lighthearted roles, and they’re always so witty. And now you’re uplifting people, I would say, through this album, through this music. But what made you decide that you would all of a sudden take on becoming a recording artist? How does that come about for an actor of so many years?
Leslie Jordan: Well, what happened was my friend, Travis Howard, had a Sunday hymn singing, where he would go on Instagram, and he had quite a few followers. And he had me on one week and we sang “I’ll fly away, oh glory, I’ll fly away in the morning.” And so the next day I called him up and I said, “Let’s do this.” And he called me back and he goes, “You know what, we can do an album. We can do an album. We’ll get Danny Myrick, our friend out of Nashville, to help us line up people and la la la.” And all of a sudden it was happening and so it just came about from… I was in Tennessee when the pandemic hit and I thought, “I’m going to stay here.” Before they gave us the stay-at-home orders, I said to mother, “You know what, they’re going to make us stay home.” She said, “Oh no, they’re not.” I said, “No, they are.” And so I stayed in Tennessee and I started with my Instagram account. I had about, I think, 20000 followers. And then Megan Mullally, who played with me on Will & Grace, re-posted something I posted and I got 80000 followers. And I thought, “Wow.” Well, someone called me and said, “You know what, Leslie? You’ve gone viral.” And I was so… I didn’t understand. I said, “No, I don’t have COVID, honey. I’m fine.” I didn’t know what he meant. And then we watched it and it jumped to almost six million followers. And so when we decided to do the album I said, “Well, look what I’m bringing to the table. All of my followers will buy it, so let’s do it. Let’s go.” And I would have people tell me, “You know, you helped me through COVID. I was stuck at home with my family and my kids.” And so when I posted I thought, “I’m not going to do anything really religious, political, and I’m not going to sell anybody anything. I’m just going to post fun things.”
Shania Twain and Leslie Jordan on Leslie’s Childhood
Shania Twain: I don’t even know where to start because you’re a multi-talented artist. I know that you grew up in a musical family singing gospel, which brings me to thinking of your music and this gorgeous album that you’ve made, star-studded studio album entitled ‘Company’s Comin’.’ Obviously, your upbringing… I say this for myself, that music was always my savior. I wouldn’t say the music was my religion, but it was a safe zone where I wasn’t judged. I could express myself and it was an escapism for me as well. Growing up in a family that believed very much that God was going to be there to help you through things and then also having the music, what an inspiring way to grow up.
Leslie Jordan: Exactly. When I’m being very dramatic, I say, “Well, I grew up in the church, but I walked away,” because the whole gay thing came around. I firmly believe that God made me this way. I’m not a mistake. This is not my cross to bear. It’s part of what I am and I want to celebrate that, but when you grow up and you’re just so scared… But I never walked away from the church. I just quit going. What’s interesting is that when we made this album, all of those songs were songs that I grew, but yet here at 66 years of age, I had no ax to grind. It used to be, I would say, “Oh, well, the Baptist church, they did this and they did that to me.” That’s not true. That’s not true. You know what I mean?
Shania Twain: That’s forgiveness too, isn’t it?
Leslie Jordan: Yep.
Shania Twain: Forgiveness is a really important thing too, and forgiving yourself.
Leslie Jordan on where the album title comes from
Shania Twain: There’s a few songs on the album that I remember from my childhood that I was always singing along with as well. First of all, I want to ask you about the title of the album, ‘Company’s Comin’,’ ‘Company’s Comin’.’ Did you come up with that title?
Leslie Jordan: It’s something my mother would yell when we were kids, “Kids, you kids, company’s coming,” which meant go wash your face, put on another shirt, do something because we’ve got people coming. I just thought of it one day. I thought, “Company’s Coming” because I wanted it to sound like we were all these artists and we were just singing and we’d get up and sing this song, and that song…
Leslie Jordan on how he got the collaborators to be on his album
Shania Twain: You have the dream company on this album. You’ve got Tanya Tucker, Dolly Parton. You’ve got the Stapletons. You’ve got Ashley McBride. You have really, the dream list of company that I would love to have over as my guests.
Leslie Jordan: You know how I got the people to be on the album? I wrote a little thing about why I wanted to do it, how I was trying to revisit, songs that when I was growing up, I had some shame around or just the whole church thing. Now I’m free of all that and I want to celebrate it. I just direct messaged each of them. I wrote up a plea that I would love to have him, and here was like Eddie Vedder, “yes.” Dolly Parton, “yes.” Everybody that I messaged said “yes,” which was just like, “Oh, my gosh.”
Shania Twain: Well, that’s the greatest compliment. You’re obviously admired and respected and that’s how that happens.
Leslie Jordan: Every one of those people like Tanya Tucker. Tanya, I always call her Tanya. She gets so mad at me. Tanya, Tanya, Tanya.
Shania Twain: She sounds so great and you guys blend so well together.
Leslie Jordan: She sounds like she did when “Delta Dawn” came out.
Shania Twain: Totally.
Leslie Jordan on TJ Osborne and performing on the Grand Ole Opry
Leslie Jordan: I sang “This Little Light of Mine. I’m going to let it shine.” I sang “I’ll Fly Away.” What was the last one that I sang? “Where the Soul Never Dies,” I think was the third one. Listen, I was not nervous. My mother was in the audience. My twin sisters were in the audience and it probably was the highlight of my life because my dad, we lost him very early. I was 11. He was killed in a plane crash, but all of those songs were my daddy’s songs. He gave me a baritone ukulele when I was about six and taught me three chords, and we would sing all of those songs right there. It was such a tribute to my daddy.
Shania Twain: Well, standing on the Grand Ole Opry stage, you said you weren’t nervous, but nevertheless, you must have had some adrenaline before you went on stage at the Grand Ole Opry.
Leslie Jordan: I was more worried about… I had had this suit made. I wanted to introduce myself as, as Portable Wagoner. I was going to introduce myself, instead of Porter Wagoner, I was going to say, “I’m Portable Wagoner.” I had this suit designed just like Porter Wagoner. It was covered in rhinestones, but mine had long fringe, this long. See the pictures, it’s ridiculous. I thought, they’re either going to go crazy and love it, or they’re just going to… I don’t know what it’s going to be. It was almost blasphemous, but I walked out and they started clapping. I had no idea how big the new Ryman, but what a reception I got. Then TJ Osborne from the Osborne brothers is another country act, he came out and sang with me. That week, he came out of the closet. This is the most difficult thing. He said, “I am gay.” Country music, it’s very conservative. I didn’t know how they were going to greet both of us, but we didn’t make a big deal of it. Let me tell you, if that’s not progress to have two gay men singing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry and get a standing ovation. We got a standing ovation.
Shania Twain: First of all, the Grand Ole Opry, I mean, it’s an institution it’s part of country music history. It takes a lot of courage to get up there and then make a statement that you’ve been afraid to make your whole life up until that moment. Yes, I would say that that is great progress for sure.
Leslie Jordan: Isn’t that something?
Shania Twain: Yes, yes.
