Jordan Davis is celebrating the one year anniversary of his terrific ‘Bluebird Days’ album and preparing for the next phase of his career by playing new song ‘Good News Sold’ out on his UK tour right now.
Davis found his passion for music at an early age, influenced by his brother, songwriter Jacob and after graduating from LSU, Jordan moved to Nashville to pursue his musical dreams, where he signed with UMG Nashville. His debut single, ‘Singles You Up,’ released in 2017, became a chart-topping hit, paving the way for his acclaimed debut album ‘Home State.’ Known for his soulful voice, heartfelt lyrics, and knack for storytelling, Jordan Davis has since solidified his place in the country music scene with massive hit songs like ‘Buy Dirt’ and ‘Next Thing You Know,’ earning critical acclaim and a loyal fanbase. We were thrilled to catch up with him before his show in Birmingham to talk all about his career and what lies in store for him in the next phase too.
Thank you for your time today Jordan, especially on show day, we appreciate it very much. How’s the trip going? How was the jet lag?
I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. We’re 15 to 20 days into the tour now so we’re over the jet lag and enjoying it! I slept on the plane on the way over but it still took me a couple of days to adjust. I’m now in the phase where I’m starting to think about the re-adjustment when I’m back home! (laughing)
Are you managing to stay in contact with the kids back home? Do they understand where you are or are they still too young for that?
They’re still a little too young I guess. My daughter might have a basic idea – my wife showed her where I am on a map and she said that it looked really far away. My wife came out here for a week and tonight’s show in Birmingham is actually her last show before she flies back home tomorrow morning.
I’ve been face-timing the kids at 2pm here everyday and then again after the shows before they go to bed. The six hour time difference works quite well for me in terms of my routine too.
You’ve built up a strong relationship with fans in the UK and Europe since you first played here in 2018 with Old Dominion. Has that been something that’s important to you because not every Country musician has that as a priority?
It was something that was important for us to do from day one, I wanted to build a fan base overseas. The fans over here are amazing and the shows are a lot of fun so every time you get that combination you wanna go and play it, right? We also get to see a different and beautiful part of the world at the same time, which is a privilege as well I think. The history and people over here are amazing. I’ve had support from people over here from day one and it’s great to be able to pay that back.
It’s also good to take some time away from the States and rest some of the areas a little too. So we can achieve both things and still play great shows! Every show on this tour has exceeded our expectations and I’m grateful for that in so many ways.
When you tour here do you change your setlists at all? For example, when Lady A tour here they often say they feel like they can play deeper cuts that American audiences wouldn’t be that interested in hearing.
We keep it mainly the same. We bounce around once in a while to shake things up for us and to keep things fresh. Every once in a while we’ll do some covers but over here right now we’ve been dong a couple of medleys of the two albums I’ve released so far with a few of the deeper songs in.
We don’t get over here enough so I don’t want to waste ten minutes on cover songs when I know that there are songs that people are desperate to hear of mine! The biggest thing for me this tour has been managing my vocals – we’ve played a lot of shows and have never had more than one day off in the last 15 days which is a heavier schedule than we are used to – I’ve never had to sing this much before so some nights I have to be a little careful.
The medleys are a nice way of shouting out deeper songs. I guess by the time you release your next album you will have to start dropping some fan favourite songs to include some of the newer ones because there’s only so much space on any setlist!
Yeah! We’re kinda getting to that spot right now where we’re going ‘I don’t know where we are going to put that song in the time we are allowed.’
I’ve seen people online moaning that you are not playing ‘Detours’ for example………..
Yeah. The medleys are a good way to give people a little taste of a number of songs, for sure. ‘Detours’ is a song that I may play tonight because I’ve seen that online too! (laughing) But it’s tough man. Do we take ‘Church in a Chevy’ out for ‘Detours?’ Do we take ‘Lose You’ out which is one of my favourite songs? I wish that I could go out there and be Taylor Swift and play for three hours but I can’t! (laughing)
You’re playing a new song on this part of the tour called ‘Good News Sold.’ Tell me a little about the origins of this song.
My brother, Jacob, wrote this song. He wrote it and sent it to me a couple of years ago. It actually made its way around a couple of other artists first and I thought they were going to record it but they never did. I remember being a little mad at that and I asked him if it was his idea! I was, like, ‘Dude, I would have wrote that song with you!’ I might not have wrote it as good though! (laughing)
Do you get first dibs on his songs?
(laughing) Most of ’em! Except for that one, it seems! (laughing) I love the message of the song and I think the world needs a song like that right now because there’s a lot of bad news out there and it’s a song I think people need to hear.
We wanted to say thank you to the UK fans by letting them be the ones to hear it first.
On the back of your two huge songs in ‘Buy Dirt’ and ‘Next Thing You Know’ do you feel a pressure when it comes to releasing a new song because there’s an expectation that you’re going to tap into the emotional side that those songs were so beloved for?
Yeah, I do try to mix it up a little bit. ‘What My World Spins Around’ is just a fun song that sounds and feels good. ‘Tuscon Too Late’ is another song that is kinda not as deep as ‘Buy Dirt’ or ‘Next Thing You Know’ but I know I have a reputation as this sentimental, ‘deep’ guy, right?
I’m OK with that. Those are the songs that come out when I sit down and write, it’s the real life stuff that I’ve always been drawn to. I’m not saying that I would ever push that away but I am still trying to write some fun, uptempo stuff too.
There was a massive evolution between ‘Home State’ and ‘Bluebird Days’ in terms of you as a person and a writer. I guess you are starting to work on the next project now – will there be another evolution or do you think you have found your lane for now?
I feel like I am comfortable where I am right now. When you go back to ‘Home State’, a lot of those songs were written before 2017 and some were written before I’d even met my wife and I was in a totally different space as far as my life was concerned.
I then get married, have kids and what comes out of that was ‘Bluebird Days.’ I feel like that is who I am right now so the new music won’t be as drastic as the leap from ‘Home State’ to ‘Bluebird Days’ but there’s definitely some new sounds that we’ll experiment with and a new kind of flavour on the new record that I think will be very cool.
Can you give us an update on the project or a potential ETA at all?
We’ve got a few songs recorded right now and we’re cutting a few more when we get back home to Nashville. I would, hopefully, like to get a new album out there by the end of this year. We’ll see. We’re working to get it out this out this year – we have a lot of songs that we’re fired up about and want to get out there so maybe a fourth quarter release would be a target but I’m often a little off when I talk about exact dates! (laughing) Possibly early next year.
Are there any writers in Nashville that you haven’t worked with yet that you’d love to get into a room with for this upcoming project?
Oh gosh. I love my team that I write with but I’m always looking to get into a room with new people too. The Warren brothers are guys I’d like to write a song with. There’s a bunch of new artists that I’m pretty fired up about – I haven’t written with Ashley Cooke yet, who’s out with us on this tour right now, I think that would be pretty cool.
The Isbell brothers are also dudes I think would be great to write with. Dan and Reid. I must be into wanting to seemingly write with brothers, right? (laughing) I’ve written with them before but I think I need to get back in a room with them again. Me and my brother are going to be on their ‘The Brothers Hunt’ podcast, it’ll be coming out shortly. I love those guys to death.
Tom Douglas is one of my favourite writers of all time so I’d love to get something in with him on this next upcoming project.
Let’s backtrack on Ashley Cooke a little. You’ve taken her out on a couple of tours now, almost in a mentor role I think. Was there an artist that did that for you at the start of your career, acted and guided you like a mentor would do?
Yeah, it was Kip Moore. He took me out on three different tours. I did the opening slot under him and the Cadillac Three one time and direct support with Jillian Jacqueline playing first and then he took me out again as direct support. Man, I love Kip to death. His band are great and I’ve always loved the way he approaches his live shows – I’ve kinda took the idea of my live show from him, he had a big influence on me in my early twenties.
What do you do away from the industry to relax, decompress and unwind? I hope you get the chance to do whatever it is a little after you get back home from this tour!
Spending time with my family is my number one thing, any time I get to spend time at home with them is great. I love being outdoors: hunting, fishing, whatever. We’ve got a farm a little bit outside of Nashville and we can go out there and unwind – that’s the best kind of time there is, to just get out there and unwind. Anything outdoors re-centres me and allows this job to be a lot easier!
Jordan Davis’ new song ‘Good News Sold’ is out this Friday (23rd February) in all the usual places.
