One of Cindy’s first memories is playing the piano with her paternal grandmother, Moe.

Every time Cindy went to Moe’s she would beg her to play the piano. She remembers lifting her hands up past her shoulders playing the high notes while Moe was playing her honky-tonk Rhythm and blues.

Cynthia claims to be Moe’s legacy as an entertainer. “They used to call Moe the last of the red hot Mamas! She could really Wow
a crowd. I’ve never seen anyone like her! I once watched her play at the Eagles Club for 2 hours. When she finally decided to take a break the whole place moaned. She was awesome!!

When I was little we had a Magnus chord organ I would play. I begged for piano lessons! My first piano lesson was June 1, 1964. I was so excited! The Skibas across the street let me practice on their piano since we didn't have one in the house.

I was a cocktail waitress at a restaurant called Ichabod Cranes. This was my uniform. It was the 70’s and Baby Boomers were partying at bars a lot.

Our restaurant was a hot spot in town. Every night at 11pm our bartender would pour the staff a shot of Cuervo to take the edge off the job of serving a bunch of intoxicated patrons.

One night after work while I was waiting for my boyfriend, I picked up my guitar and wrote "Jose Cuervo You Are a Friend of Mine" in about 10 minutes. First song I ever wrote. The rest is history. (Good thing my boyfriend was late that night.)

At one time Al Gallico was one of the most powerful publishers in the music business. I had made a demo of Jose Cuervo and a friend of a friend arranged for me to play it for him.

He was enjoying a #1 hit when I showed up. I remember him leaving his office singing "Jose Cuervo You Are a Friend of Mine." Ultimately he published the song. I brought him a bottle of Jose to celebrate our #1 with Shelly West.

Warner Brothers released my version of Jose Cuervo in 1981. Although it was never released nationwide, the record became a regional hit and went #1 in Los Angeles.

Later on, Snuff Garret brought the song to Shelly West’s recording session. Steve Dorff, who was producing Shelly, thought the song was too much of a novelty song. John Hobbs, who happened to be the piano player on my recording session, was also the piano player on Shelly’s session! He said, “Let’s do it. It’s a good song.”

John wrote a music chart in about 5 minutes. I believe it was a God thing! Jose Cuervo by Shelly West was the 1983 #1 Country music song of the Year in Billboard magazine.

Dennis and I now had a new, blended family. Dennis had 3 daughters - Stacey, Jessica and Kristi, and I had my daughter Julie who was 12 at the time.

I got pregnant on our honeymoon with our daughter, Denise. Fifteen months after her birthday, almost to the day, we had our son, Jordan.

Although I was still writing Country songs, I was about to embark on a new adventure - writing songs for children.

While living in East Texas, I performed lots of country gigs and wrote country songs.

I recorded an album of original songs, "Cowboys, Cuervo, & Texas" that told the story of my life on the ranch with my favorite cowboys. Two of the songs were translated into Spanish. This album was never published, but is now part of the Secret Songs of Cynthia Jordan!

Jerry Webb was my Magic Man while recording all of my instrumental music and some of my demos. Jerry read me so well that he knew when I was just playing the music and not really feeling it.

I couldn’t find a piano that played as well as mine anywhere in Nashville, so Jerry brought his recording equipment to my house, found musicians, and mixed everything to perfection. We worked together like peas and carrots.

These photos were taken at ASCAP in Nashville. This piano was used on many, many hits including Elvis Presley recordings.

In 2005, we moved to San Angelo, TX to be closer to oil (Dennis's field of work).

I found the history of San Angelo to be very fascinating! The town was founded with saloons, gambling and bordellos. It was the Wild West at its best.

I started dressing up in saloon outfits and hosting 1920s events in honor of the city’s history. It was a hit!

This experience of singing old honky- tonk tunes like my grandmother Moe inspired me to write the musical Miss Pearl’s Parlor that also became the novel, Pearl.