Jordan Laney is an educator, project director, cultural organizer and event producer based in McDowell, North Carolina. Laney worked previously in rural health, non-profit development and academia. From 2016-2021, she served as a faculty instructor and Postdoctoral Teaching Scholar for Equity and Inclusion in the US at Virginia Tech where she developed courses on Appalachian traditional cultures and bluegrass music. She holds a PhD in Cultural and Social Theory (Virginia Tech), an M.A. in Appalachian Studies (Appalachian State University), and a B.F.A. in Creative Writing and Folklore (Goddard College). In 2017, Laney was inducted into the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society (Bouchet Society) at Yale University for her work advocating for Appalachian and First Generation college students. Her dissertation,  "Recreating and Deconstructing the Shifting Politics of (Bluegrass) Festivals” was awarded IBMA’s Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholarship Award. She currently teaches academic courses for Warren Wilson College’s Music Department. 

For over the past decade, Laney has worked with cultural heritage and traditional arts institutions including the National Endowment for the Arts: Creative Forces, local arts councils and the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area’s Music Trails program. In 2025, she was a recipient of the NC America 250 community grant to launch the Beyond 1842 Project, a community archive and oral history program in McDowell NC.  Since 2025 she has served as the music coordinator for Foothills Watershed, a new venue and bike park in Old Fort, NC and as the music director for the Trails and Trains Festival. An active member of the International Bluegrass Music Association, she chairs the IBMA Leadership Bluegrass program supporting industry leaders and musicians.

Passionate individual and community well-being, Laney is a highly sought after Mental Health First Aid trainer and trauma informed yoga instructor. Her group and individual classes emphasize the mind-body connection, somatic release and self-care. 

She is the founder of the independent cultural organizing project, the McDowell Folk Alliance and the podcast The Bessie Lee Society.