Having spent his money on everything but tithing, Jordan\u2019s character learns his expensive new boat will not float on a lake of fire.<\/p>\n
He first heard the make-believe call from a pastor when he was young, recalling, \u201cI didn\u2019t think it was funny at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in Lubbock in 1944, Jordan grew up between Ropes and Meadow on a farm.<\/p>\n
As a boy, Jordan especially found no humor in the act when his mother had to a put on a youth program at a church in Brownfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother said, \u2018I want you to do that in my young people\u2019s program this coming Saturday night,\u2019\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018I don\u2019t want to do that.\u2019 She said, \u2018I didn\u2019t ask you what you wanna do. I said, you\u2019re going to do it,\u2019\u201d Jordan recalled of the dialog.<\/p>\n
It did not go well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey stared at me like I was a heathen,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
Later he and his brother, Harweda, were singers for a revival in Great Bend, Kansas. His brother imposed on him to do it, but this time the crowd thought it was funny.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got this little pink phone out of the nursery. \u2026 I probably should have kept that prop. It was just stupidly fun,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
Jordan performed about a minute of the call on October 9 on stage in the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Theater to accept his induction into the West Texas Walk of Fame, honoring his career of painting landscapes and Pueblo culture.<\/p>\n
![\"Jerry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/jerry_jordan_on_stage_walk_fame_1920x1080.jpg\")
Jerry Jordan on stage, West Texas Walk of Fame 2025 Credit: Staff photo.<\/p>\n
From farm to paint brush<\/p>\n
The journey for a West Texas farm boy to be honored alongside artist James Johnson, documentarian Hector Galan, and music group Flatland Cavalry began in about 1957.<\/p>\n
Jordan\u2019s family visited his grandparents in Oklahoma, he recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked my mom, \u2018Would you get me a paint-by-number set to do at night?\u2019 There was no television or stuff to do,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandmother \u2013 having never gone to a museum or a gallery probably \u2013 thought this was the prettiest thing she\u2019d ever seen,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
The leftover paint became his first endeavor.<\/p>\n
His mom supported him and dad did not say, \u201cGet your butt on that farm and forget about that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a really wise perspective on it. And he said, \u2018If that\u2019s what you want to do, let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
A few years later, Jordan\u2019s family went to see his other set of grandparents in Paris, Texas. On the way to a nearby park, along a dirt road, Jordan saw something.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look over there, and there\u2019s this art studio. There\u2019s a painting in the window. I want to come see what that is. It\u2019s a bluebonnet painting,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
That was the studio of W.R. Thrasher \u2013 with 35 paintings ready for market. Jordan was \u201csmitten.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was working at the First National Bank in Brownfield. I intended to be the president of that bank. \u2026 Forget the bank, sheesh,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
He set up his own studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sold $4,000 worth of painting my senior year in 1963,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it got harder and harder, but also I needed to get better at it. What really happened is I got turned down by the Baker Company here in Lubbock,\u201d Jordan said of the furniture store.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got so discouraged, \u2026 three months later, sold my studio, my house, everything in it and moved to Tennessee.\u201d Jordan said. He would sing gospel with his brother to pay the rent. That turned into nine years and during that time he recorded \u201cPhone Call from God.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1978 he wanted to paint again, Jordan said. A Walk of Fame press release said he settled in Taos, New Mexico in 1986.<\/p>\n
![\"Jerry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/west_texas_walk_of_fame_1920x1080.jpg\")
West Texas Walk of Fame 2025 in the theater of the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Credit: Staff photo.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to the bank<\/p>\n
In 1994, Terry Key was setting up a branch of Lubbock National Bank at 4006 82nd Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project was near completion when I received a phone call one afternoon from the job supervisor informing me that an individual driving a Rider truck was in the parking lot,\u201d Key said.<\/p>\n
It was Jordan\u2019s brother, Harweda.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis individual claimed the truck was full original oil paintings for our new bank. The driver also told the supervisor \u2018I want to speak to the person who wrote the checks,\u2019\u201d Key told the audience at the Walk of Fame event.<\/p>\n
\u201cUpon my arrival, I saw original oil paintings spread across the freshly paved parking lot \u2026 I quickly realized that there was little modesty in his sales pitch. After viewing the paintings, I really quickly realized the quality of the work. The bank purchased six paintings,\u201d Key said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the years, the bank received many positive comments, several offers to buy the paintings, and visitors to the building who wanted to see and experience Jerry\u2019s work,\u201d Key said.<\/p>\n
Reacting to Key\u2019s support, Jordan said. \u201cIt meant something that somebody bought a painting that had stature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Struggling to learn<\/p>\n
Jordan struggled in school, never could never figure out spelling, he said for example.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving had failed 3rd and 7th grade, we went to Brownfield my 8th year,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
The school principal asked if he would like a summer tutor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, well, absolutely,\u201d Jordan recalled.<\/p>\n
It worked out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI graduated with a B+ and an A-, having had only Fs until I was 14,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
But the pain left a mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that drive \u2013 I will never ever set myself up to fail like that and feel that trauma, ever \u2013 and the result of that is persistent determination. I will not fail. I cannot stop. I will not quit,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s really why I got the award.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan had an art sale in 2023 in Santa Fe \u2013 selling $900,000 worth of paintings, he said.<\/p>\n
I could tell you a tale, sleeping in the truck stops in your car in the winter and all those kinds of things.<\/p>\n
Jerry jordan<\/p>\n
Role of faith<\/p>\n
His career had challenges, much like school. Early after switching from painting to singing, he was living more than a thousand miles away from Brownfield and struggling to pay rent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could tell you a tale, sleeping in the truck stops in your car in the winter and all those kinds of things,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI happened to think of a scripture. Christ said, \u2018I saw you, Nathaniel, under the fig tree,\u2019\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
He believes his award in the Walk of Fame is the Lord telling him, \u201cI saw you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have an award tonight with my name in it, the Walk of Fame. \u2026 We all have our new names written in heaven on Heaven\u2019s Walk of Fame,\u201d he told the audience.<\/p>\n
But too often people relate to God like the character in his comedy skit.<\/p>\n
\u201cLord, I gave $58. \u2026 So, we\u2019re at a dollar a week. What else you want?\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
Dedicated to the art<\/p>\n
If Jordan hadn\u2019t hit a bump in the road in West Texas, he would never have been singing with his brother in Nashville. His recording of \u201cPhone Call from God\u201d would not have happened. And he would not have been in a position to return to painting.<\/p>\n
He loves Lubbock and remembers thinking 19th Street was far enough south.<\/p>\n
You begin to smell the aroma of pinyon that they\u2019re burning the fireplaces with. And that is intoxicating.<\/p>\n
jerry jordan<\/p>\n
He asked himself at the time, \u201cThey don\u2019t need that! What are they doing that for?\u201d<\/p>\n
And he loved his grandparents\u2019 property in Oklahoma. But when he moved Taos, it was something special.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou begin to smell the aroma of pinyon that they\u2019re burning the fireplaces with. And that is intoxicating,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
Key, in his introduction of Jordan, said, \u201cThis experience not only developed a friendship with the Native American community, but also taught Jerry how to accurately convey their culture and its work.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/volunteer_activism_96dp_000000_FILL0_wght400_GRAD0_opsz48.png\")
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