‘I am excited to come home.’ Clovis native opening for Toby Mac on Hits Deep tour
There are few musicians who can claim a hometown show at the Save Mart Center.
Jordan Feliz can.
The Clovis native moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2012 and has established himself as a name in the Christian music scene. He was the new artist of the year at the Dove Awards in 2016 and had a record land No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Albums chart .
He was also chosen as one of six performers to be part of Toby Mac’s Hits Deep tour, which stops at the Save Mart Center Friday.
Along with Mac and Feliz, the lineup includes Tauren Wells, We Are Messengers, Ryan Stevenson, Aaron Cole and Cochren & Co.
“I am excited to come home,” Feliz says in a phone interview in advance of the show.
It will be a quick stop — he’s catching a flight to the Bahamas the next day. But he hopes to visit some family while he’s here, maybe grab some food from Luna Pizzeria (the gnocci with alfredo sauce is his favorite).
Feliz got his start with the Clovis rock band A Current Affair in the mid- and late-2000s. The band was active in the Central Valley and West Coast, landing a spot on the Fresno stop of the Vans Warped tour.
But playing a venue like the Save Mart Center would have been pinnacle-level success, Feliz says.
“In that season, it was a dream,” he says.
“It was never a tangible reality.”
The tangible reality came after he moved to Nashville and after years of work — writing songs six days a week while earning money as a valet, parking cars for the kind of musicians he hoped to one day become.
“It was an absolute grind for 2 1/2 years,” he says.
That’s the struggle of Nashville, Feliz says. It’s a place where 99 percent of the people around you are 100 percent more talented than you. Chris Stapleton used to play the crummy Nashville bars before he was one of country music biggest names.
Even after Feliz landed a record deal in 2014, it wasn’t until his single “The River” hit No. 1 a year later that he began to feel the reality of his success.
“I had prayed and hoped for it,” he says.
“But praying and hoping for it,” he adds, “is different that living it.”
Toby Mac Hits Deep tour
Details: 7 p.m. Friday. Save Mart Center. $22.75-$92.75. 559-278-3400, www.ticketmaster.com
Other noteworthy events
▪ Felipe Esparza. 7 p.m. Friday, Visalia Fox Theatre, 300 W. Main St. $30-$40. 559-625-1369, www.foxvisalia.org; 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Tower Theatre, 815 E. Olive Ave., Fresno. $40-$45. 559-485-9050, www.towertheatrefresno.com
▪ Dining in the Dark. 7 p.m. Friday. Fresno Art Museum, 2233 N. First St. $125. 559-441-4221, www.fresnoartmuseum.org
▪ Black Panther traveling exhibit. 10 a.m. Saturday. Hinton Community Center, 2385 S. Fairview Ave. $10, $3 for children. 559-497-0795, search event on Facebook
▪ Georgia on My Mind, the music of Ray Charles. 8 p.m. Sunday. Tower Theatre, 815 E. Olive Ave. $60-$90. 559-485-9050, www.towertheatrefresno.com
▪ Best Coast. 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Co.., 745 Fulton St. Free, all ages, space is limited. 559-486-2337, tiogasequoia.com
▪ T.S.O.L. 8 p.m. Wednesday. Strummer’s, 833 E. Fern Ave. $15, all ages. 559-485-5356, strummerclub.com
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 3:01 PM.