Jordan Davis was well aware that he’d have a lot at stake when he turned his attention to making his second album.
“The first album is kind of where you showed up to the party and then the second album is going to decide whether or not you get a chance to stay,” Davis said during a phone interview.
Davis not only showed up at the party with his debut outing, “Home State,” he made himself a VIP by scoring a pair of No. 1 hits on “Billboard” magazine’s country airplay chart (“Singles You Up” and “Slow Dance in a Parking Lot”) and a third single, “Take It From Me,” which topped out at No. 2.
Davis’ second album, essentially, earned him a lasting reservation at the table of country music and came with expectations that the music would once again make a real impression. The 36-year-old Louisiana native decided the key to the 17-song “Bluebird Days” was to open up as a songwriter. He said approaching songwriting from a center of honesty was the most important.
“I went back and listened to records, listened to my favorite songwriters and tried to write music like they did,” he said. “To me, it was always being able to grow with artists, being able to see growth in their writing, and you kind of felt you got to ride the ride with them.
“Fortunately, it paid off,” he said.
He continuously expresses gratitude for the release, which does prove honesty has indeed been a good policy for Davis. “Bluebird Days” has given him three more No. 1 singles, “Buy Dirt,” “What My World Spins Around” and “Next Thing You Know.” A fourth single, “Tucson Too Late,” has reached No. 4 on “Billboard” magazine’s Country Airplay chart, and he’s released a new single, “Good News Sold.”
Davis has taken the songs on the road, which started with a 2024 tour of Europe and the United Kingdom. He will be stateside through September before heading north of the border in October for a run of shows through Canada. Davis will first stop at Wilmington’s Live Oak Bank Pavilion this Friday.
“This is definitely our biggest production package we’ve ever brought out,” he said of his headlining shows. “But I think the main thing I’m most excited about is, now, we have this catalog of music that I’m just really, really proud of. I don’t feel like I’m going out any more and playing songs that I hope people like. I know my fans react to these songs. I know they connect with them. And they’re not always the radio songs. They’re not always the singles.”
“Buy Dirt” became a pivotal song for Davis. Featuring a guest vocal from country superstar Luke Bryan, the song about valuing faith, family and friends became his biggest hit so far. It also set the tone for “Bluebird Days” and appears on the album, in addition to being title track on Davis’ 2021 EP, “Buy Dirt.”
“That was the song that started this record, which is a huge reason why I carried it ove” Davis said. “If I don’t have ‘Buy Dirt,’ I don’t have this album. So I felt like it needed a place on there. I think in all honesty the reaction to it is what gave me the confidence to be more personal, and to be more real with songwriting.”
“Bluebird Days” retains the basic style Davis established on “Home State” — a mix of rootsy country with a good bit of pop textures and some groove, particularly in songs like the full-bodied ballad “Money Isn’t Real,” the “You’ve Got My Number” and the poppy album-opener “Damn Good Time.” But the album is decidedly deeper and more personal lyrically, with good examples being “What My World Spins Around,” about his wife Kristen; “Fishing Spot,” about Davis’ relationship with his late grandfather; and the title track, which is about his parents’ divorce and the impact it’s made on how he approaches his own life and marriage.
The success of the second album has made Davis one of the hottest artists in country music today. Ironically, a decade or so ago, Davis wasn’t sure he wanted a career in country music on any level.
That wasn’t because Davis wasn’t a country music fan. In fact, he grew up in a musical family. His father wrote and sang songs around the house and so did his brother, Jason, a country act in his own right. His uncle was making his mark in Tennessee as a songwriter and Davis began writing songs as a teenager.
“My uncle, Stan Paul Davis, moved to Nashville in the ‘80s and had a lot of success throughout the ‘90s and is still writing great songs to this day,” Davis said. “So I knew there was an occupation of a songwriter.”
Despite that, Davis went to college at Louisiana State University; he earned a degree in environmental science, and took a job after school with an environmental science company. He liked the work and knew he could make a good living in the field. But Davis found himself coming home from work each day and writing songs. After about a year of that routine, he decided to move to Nashville to join his uncle.
The notion of being a solo artist still hadn’t occurred to Davis.
“It never even crossed my mind,” he said. “It took having a conversation with a friend of mine who said: ‘Hey man, there are some people who are interested in you as an artist and looking at you to sign a record deal. You need to go home and think about if that’s something you want to do.’”
Davis was bartending at the time, tired and struggling to make it as a songwriter.
“I was kind of ready to jump at the first person who gave me a job that wasn’t pouring drinks and running food out,” he remembered.
Now, a decade or so into his music career, Davis feels good about where he is with his career, his music and his comfort with being authentic on album and on stage. He questions if he’s become a better writer.
“I would like to feel the more songs you write, the better you become at it,” Davis said. “I think the big thing is being confident enough to put them out into the world and kind of show that side of yourself. I hope that’s the takeaway that I have from just being in town for 10 years and writing songs for 10 years.”
Davis performs May 3 at Riverfront Park in downtown Wilmington; tickets are available here.
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