There are brothers in blood, and then there are brothers in spirit. Jordan Walker and Johnny McGuire may not look like family or share a last name, but you wouldn’t know it by hearing them sing.
Signed to BBR Music Group’s Wheelhouse Records as the new duo Walker McGuire, Jordan and Johnny take an opposites-attract approach to their music, fusing electrifying “brotherly” harmonies with a fresh new take on modern country.
After meeting onstage at a writers round just days after moving to Nashville, Jordan – the “super country” guy, raised in Texas with a love for classics like Keith Whitley and Dan Seals – and Johnny – the quintessential “rootsy” guy, a Kansas City native schooled by left-of-center icons like Tom Petty and John Prine – discovered a yin-and-yang musical connection that fit together like puzzle pieces – and the duo Walker McGuire was born.
“If you put us in a room with 100 people and everybody listed the kind of music they grew up on, there’s no way you would put us together,” Jordan explains with a laugh. “It was one of those written-in-the-stars things you just can’t deny.”
Aside from the differences in taste, the duo even look like polar opposites – Jordan in an ever-present ball cap and cowboy boots and Johnny in his laid-back bohemian threads – but their vocal blend has a chemistry that could melt steel, a match of crystal-clear and raspy tenors that recalls sibling-harmony greats.
Since solidifying their bond, Walker McGuire have set to work honing their sound on the road, building an under-the-radar fanbase and playing close to 300 cross-country shows each year.
“The sound ranges from those old-school ballads to really uptempo, in-your-face pop-country rock,” Johnny explains.