Jordan Davis may still be considered a Nashville “newbie” by the ten year town standards, but that hasn’t stopped the Louisiana native from turning heads and making fans wherever he goes. And with a debut album in the works backed by MCA, he is destined to climb the charts and the stages at lightning speed. So how did this once upon a time environmental conservationist go from studying the outdoors to opening act on Kip Moore’s new “Plead the Fifth” tour? And does that spell competition for his brother, Black River artist Jacob Davis? The Country Note caught up with Jordan in between writing appointments and band rehearsals for his first full band Nashville show Sunday as part of the Kip Moore/Tony Hawk Music City Skate Jam. And since we’re going to see him there, we had to know:
CN: Are you going to join Tony for a skateboard demonstration?
JD: Haha! I wouldn’t be able to skate three feet without falling off the skateboard. But I am a huge Tony Hawk fan and I’m excited to meet him. I played his video games as a kid.
CN: And he’s probably going to watch you onstage as he and Kip are partnering with Harley Davidson to raise money for at risk youth and now, for Hurricane victims across the country! Are you ready for this show?
JD: Well, this is my first time playing in Nashville with full band so I’m kinda nervous.
CN: NO way!
JD: Yeah, I’ve played a thousand writers rounds in Nashville, but I just started playing with these guys and as much as I love acoustic, I’m really enjoying playing loud with these guys on stage. I’ll be fine once the show starts, but I’ll probably have two or three more butterflies than I usually do. It’ll be fun though-nothing a shot of Jack Daniels can’t fix!
CN: I feel like there’s going to be a lot of Jack Daniels on the road, because you are going on tour with Kip this fall! And Drake White for Kip’s Plead the 5th Tour! Quite impressive. Your tour list in general is quite impressive—you’ve opened for David Nail, Chase Rice, Cadillac Three. . . . any crazy stories from life on the road?
JD: Yeah! We did a tour with Chase and Cadillac Three on the West Coast. We started in LA or somewhere in Southern Cali and ended up in Vancouver all in a 15 passenger van. I can’t remember the miles but the numbers were something crazy and it was my first time on the West Coast so we had a blast. A lot of hotel parking lot sleeps and whole lot of fast food. It’s a constant grind, but a lot of fun.
CN: Any advice to give about life on the road?
JD: Okay. So when you start off touring and you’re still in a van, you don’t necessarily get hotel rooms. But we all got Planet Fitness memberships for like $10 a month. They let you pull the van and sleep in the parking lot. And when you wake up, you can workout and then get a free shower.
CN: What?! I have never heard that in my life! Planet Fitness membership when living life on the road! Noted! And on top of the Kip tour, you’re doing your own radio tour for your single, “Singles You Up”.
JD: Yeah, we’ve been everywhere really and I don’t expect it to stop anytime soon. I take my guitar player and my drummer and we do a trio thing. We fly in late night, do the station early that morning, play the single, a couple other songs off the album, maybe experience the food of the city, and then usually have to head right back out to the next city.
CN: Gosh, that sounds like a whirlwind! I don’t know when ya’ll rest. Now when we talk about songs off your debut album—for MCA might I add—not bad company—
JD: Tell me about it. Sometimes I still look at the roster and think, ‘holy smokes. Why is my face on there?’ Sam, Kip, George Strait—that’s pretty crazy.
CD: And amazing! Any date set for the album?
JD: Not set yet, but it looks to be early next year. We released “Singles You Up” in June and this past Friday, we just released the new one, “Slow Dance in a Parking Lot.”
CN: How do you come up with these titles?!
JD: Well “Singles You Up” came from a write I did with two other writers in town that I had known for a while, Steven Dale Jones and Justin Ebach. Justin had just gotten engaged to a publicist in town and we were all kinda talking and that saying got thrown out-that he was smart enough to “single her up”. But catchy song titles goes back to my influences like John Prine, Jason Isbell, Eric Church. Church does a pretty good job of ‘hiding titles’ as I put it. It kinda gives you just enough to know but you wanna hear the song and know why he wrote a song about it.
CN: Any other songs that you are working on that you are super excited about?
JD: Yeah. There’s a song called “Take It From Me” that I’ve had for a long time that’s fun to play out. There’s a song called “Going Around” that is close to 5 years old—I wrote it before I had a publishing deal and before I played my first band show. It’s cool to see a song withstand all the writing I did when it comes time to pick songs for a record.
CN: Are you just picking old ones already written or are you writing new ones as well?
JD: It’s a mix and match really-50/50. The song that really started the whole record is a song called “Leaving New Orleans.” I was in the airport in New Orleans, one of my favorite cities in the world, and saw a sign that said departing New Orleans. We started writing the song on the plane back to Nashville about a guy who is so reminded of his ex that he has to get out of the entire city. It’s kind of become the staple song and we’ve built out from that.
CN: So New Orleans started the record. Louisiana is where you were born and raised. You have a degree in environmental sciences?! How do you go from that to being a singer/songwriter with a major record deal in Nashville?
JD: We grew up on music-singing in the church choir and both of my parents played. My uncle actually was a very successful songwriter with cuts by artists like Tracy Lawrence. But it’s one of those things that you see it so much you almost put it in the back of your head. I knew it was possible to make a living as a songwriter, but I never thought about pursuing it as a career. My mom was big on Jacob (brother) and I both getting degrees. Jacob has a degree in environmental science and mine is in resource conservation. We’re both passionate about the outdoors and grew up hunting and fishing. That’s what I thought I was going to be doing for the rest of my life. Funny how life takes a turn.
CN: So if that’s what you were set on doing, how did it take a turn?
JD: Jacob had already moved to Nashville and signed a publishing deal. I was in Louisiana working for a residential erosion control company after graduating college. Writing is something I had done forever but I thought it was a tough way to make a living and I’ll just do it on the side because I love it and potentially not love my job but have security. I would write at night when I came home, all the while bartending, trying to pay off student loans. I was sending Jacob songs and he played a few for the people in Nashville. A guy from ASCAP called me about one of the songs and said I have a true knack for it and I should think about moving to Nashville to pursue it. I was sitting in my room one night and decided that he was right. The next week, I got my two weeks in and got ready to move.
CN: You mentioned bartending. It seems most of us in this town have those make ends meet while you pursue your dreams jobs. Did you get signed right away or did you have to bartend or do any other kind of jobs?
JD: Gosh no. Not even close. From the minute I got to town, it took me about four months to even find a bartending job. I don’t know why. I had seven years experience—I’m a pretty damn good bartender. I finally ended up bartending in Donelson for over three years while writing songs and trying to get a publishing deal initially. The record deal was not even in my thoughts. I had this goal of signing a pub deal within two years of moving to Nash. I wasn’t even close.
CN: I think that’s important for dreamers to know. It’s not a 10 year town for nothing. . . . and sometimes, bios on paper make everything look like it happened really fast.
JD: The first three years were pretty tough but I wouldn’t trade my struggles for the world. It made me a whole lot better songwriter. I wasn’t ready for a pub deal when I moved to town. I was still green and I didn’t really know how to put songs together. I had to learn how to write songs.
CN: Which is humbling and realistic coming from a songwriter—a very strong songwriter. You mentioned that you used to write FOR your brother? Have you written with Jacob? And would you collaborate?
JD: We haven’t collaborated yet but I know we will. He’s got two songs on my record and he’s got another one we might end up cutting. We write really well together. We do have different styles but nobody knows my brother better than me. We also have a lot of songs that we could do as a duo. We’re both enjoying solo time for now, but I know when the time is right, we’ll do something together.
CN: Any competition?
JD: We’ve never argued over songs. I’m pulling for him. I’m his biggest fan in the world and he’s mine. No song fights yet. . . .yet! Haha!
CN: Anyone else you would like to write with? Tour with?
JD: There are lots of writers in town I would love to write with-I love what Shane McAnally does—Josh (Osborne) is great too. I’m big on the Old Dominion guys right now—I’ve been wearing the new album out. I would love to play some shows with them. I love what Brothers Osborne do. Basically, if you give me a stage and tell me I can play on it, I’ll do it. I really don’t care who I’m opening for. I just wanna play!
We are counting on you being able to play any stage you want too! We had such a blast talking to Jordan and cannot wait to see him own the stage.
If you are in Nashville Sunday, September 10, check him and the guys out at Music City Walk of Fame Park for the Music City Skate Jam. If you can’t be there, we will be posting pics and video on our socials. Catch him on tour this fall with Kip and download his two singles, ‘Single You Up’ and ‘Slow Dance in a Parking Lot’. You can also keep up with Jordan at www.jordandavisofficial.com and on Twitter @jordancwdavis and on Instagram @jordandavisofficial.