With SECOND CHANCE MUSIC, Kentucky (the moniker of Jordan Holman) delivers a debut full-length that is as raw and reflective as it is redemptive. Out now on all streaming platforms, the record marks not only a major milestone in Kentucky’s career but also a striking personal transformation. What unfolds over eleven tracks is less a collection of songs and a more spiritual excavation, a journey through pain, healing, and the quiet triumph of survival.
The album opens with “No More Tomorrows,” a title that sounds like a warning but lands as a wake-up call. With sparse instrumentation and emotionally charged vocals, it sets the tone for what’s to come: a life examined under the harsh light of experience, and shared without pretense. Kentucky wastes no time in drawing the listener into his world, a world shaped by mistakes, solitude, and the hard-earned wisdom that follows.
Tracks like “I Walked In The Night All Alone” feel like dispatches from exile, full of the hollow ache of self-imposed isolation. It's a pariah’s lament that echoes long after the final note. In contrast, “Same Street (Different Towns)” is buoyant and bittersweet, offering glimpses of connection and memory that still flicker even as time and distance shift the landscape. The duality between regret and hope is where Kentucky thrives, his songwriting lives in the liminal spaces most try to avoid.
There’s a spiritual undercurrent that threads through SECOND CHANCE MUSIC, most apparent in “Closer to Amazing,” a track that feels like a prayer whispered into the void. Meanwhile, “I Have Been Waiting” trades devotion for desperation, capturing the stillness of longing with desertlike emptiness. On “Second Hand Love,” Kentucky offers one of the album’s most tender moments; a quiet reckoning with the consequences of emotional inheritance, delivered with aching vulnerability.
Closing track “The First Day of The Rest of Your Life” is a fitting finale: jubilant, hopeful, and unafraid. It doesn’t erase the pain that came before, but it does rise above it. This final song crystallizes the emotional arc of the record, offering something rare in autobiographical music…true resolution.
What Kentucky accomplishes with SECOND CHANCE MUSIC is remarkable. It’s a debut that doesn’t try to posture or impress—it simply tells the truth. With unflinching honesty and deep emotional intelligence, Kentucky invites listeners to witness not just his story, but their own. This is music for anyone who’s ever fallen, questioned their worth, or dared to hope for another shot.
In support of the album, Kentucky is embarking on a truly one-of-a-kind House Boat Tour along Canada’s scenic Rideau Canal this July. The tour mirrors the spirit of the record; intimate, unconventional, and deeply personal. It’s not just a live show; it’s a shared experience, reflecting the connection Kentucky so thoughtfully weaves through his music. Full details and dates are expected to drop soon.
SECOND CHANCE MUSIC is a resurrection; not only of an artist but of a man. It’s an offering of grace, an acknowledgment of the past, and a celebration of survival. For Kentucky, and maybe for many of us, this might just be the first day of the rest of our lives.
Tour Dates
July 7 – Kingston, ON (Confederation Park)
July 8 – Seeley's Bay, ON
July 9 – Chaffey's Lock, ON (The Opinicon)
July 10 – Westport, ON (The Cove Inn)
July 11 – Secret Beach Show
July 12 – Gananoque, ON (Joel Stone Heritage Park)
July 13 – Landsdowne, ON (The Ivy Restaurant)
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