Jordan Riley performs in free concert Friday

MOSES LAKE - Pop-rock musician Jordan Riley plans to overtake the Centennial Amphitheater at McCosh Park at 2 p.m. Friday for a free concert sponsored by area churches and the Moses Lake Spring Festival.

Riley's performance in Moses Lake in October was so well received that they wanted to bring him back during the summer, says Sean Sallis, youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Moses Lake.

"He's really good with the students," says Sallis. "He connects well with them."

Riley's excited to come back to Moses Lake. He tours extensively and says he's played more than 500 shows across the United States, but the October Moses Lake concert is one of the most memorable for him.

"Even though there wasn't a ton of kids, the feeling was like I was Beiber or something like that," he says. "There were times I had to back away from the stage because the excitement was overwhelming. It was really crazy because they'd never even heard of me. You never know how you're going to be perceived or welcomed, but it was one of the coolest shows I've ever done."

When describing his music, it's difficult for Riley to identify with one particular genre. He describes his music as more of a blend of different styles.

"It's hard to really pinpoint," he says. "It's kind of a high-energy pop-rock, kind of like Paramore meets Linkin Park meets Creed. It's hard to explain. My music is also very versatile. We go from maybe a heavier rock or pop-rock song, all the way to almost a ballad."

But it seems to be the content of the songs more than the sound of them that energizes Jordan Riley's fans.

"The songs I write come from experiences I have gone through, whether it be fights with my parents or relationships with friends or not feeling connected to people or loneliness of whatever it may be," he says.

Riley is able to establish a relationship with his fans through his willingness to expose himself onstage. It's a kind of mentoring, says Sallis.

"I even have kids in my youth group that don't tell me half the things they tell him," he says. "He's really connecting with kids."

That relationship with his fans is the basis of his new CD, "I Am Here."

"I'm here for them," he says of his fans. "I'm not your typical artist that rocks out and is like, 'Thank you and good-night' and I'm gone to the next city. I want to connect with my audience not just onstage, but offstage."

Riley's first public performance was at the age of three, when he sang "Away in a Manger" for his church's Christmas Pageant.

"I was always a shy kid and I always had a hard time being in front of people," he says. But music was his passion and that performance as a boy was just the beginning.

During his first year of college, Riley started jogging with a friend after class. They hung out after their jogging session and his friend pulled out a guitar and started playing. Riley began singing along.

"All of a sudden, the music just started flowing and a few months later we had a dozen songs," he says.

They sought out additional band members and formed a band. While the lineup has changed through the years, that band served as the push that got Riley into the music business.

"I came from humble beginnings," he says. "I used to work on a farm as a kid, I grew up in a little teeny town of 2,000 people. I'm just an average guy who's trying to make a difference in the world."