Hot off the heels of his phenomenal self-titled EP last year that included one of our tracks of the year – ‘Church in a Chevy’ – Jordan Davis is set to release his new EP – Buy Dirt – tomorrow.
Tomorrow sees mammoth hitmaker Jordan Davis release his new EP – Buy Dirt. Produced by Paul DiGiovanni, Buy Dirt follows last year’s self-titled EP release and follows up his debut album Home State in 2018. Davis co-wrote every song on the EP – except for the John Prine inspired “Blow Up Your TV.” As a husband and new father, on this project Davis finds himself in a different place in his life, and the songs reflect it. Davis stakes his claim as a country innovator, both expanding and modernising his sound without abandoning his love for the classics, whilst demonstrating yet again his ability to craft a tender and thoughtful song, without falling into trappings of cloying sentimentality.
“I’ve always loved artists who take risks”, says Davis. “I’m in a different spot in my life than I was when I released Home State. We all are! 2020 was a tough time for everyone. I was able to use that time to recenter some things in my world, and I didn’t want those lessons to go to waste. I wanted to create something special. The best way to that was to write honestly, and we did a lot of that on this record”. Sonically, Davis does not diverge too much from the path he laid out on Home State, but what he has done over the last year is tap into a vulnerability in every aspect of his life – from family to faith to past regrets – in a way that is deeply emotional and compelling.
The project opens with the vintage sounding ‘Blow Up Your TV,’ a short introduction that sets the scene for the project to come, before diving straight into the centrepiece of the EP – the vulnerable title track ‘Buy Dirt.’ On the track, country superstar Luke Bryan lends his vocals. Of the evolution of the track, Davis recalls “That conversation always stuck with me. Luke isn’t just a great entertainer; he’s a great Dad, a great husband, and a great friend, too. That’s what ‘Buy Dirt’ embodies. When I wrote ‘Buy Dirt,’ I knew he could relate to the song’s message. I took a chance and asked him to join me on the recording, and he said yes”. The track talks about what is most important to both singers and songwriters – not money or fame but humble roots and family. ‘You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy dirt.’ It’s a tender track infused with humility through to the plucky guitar accompaniment.
Throughout the track, Davis has interweaved tracks fans will be familiar from his previous projects, including ‘Need To Not’ and ‘Almost Maybes’ that are necessary to build out the project and position Davis as an artist as capable of stripped back vulnerable moments as of stadium-ready anthemic tracks. Other new tracks on the project include ‘Drink Had Me’ that is Buy Dirt’s equivalent of ‘Singles You Up,’ a fun and flirty track about a drink getting the best of him, resulting in him going back to a lover and the pre-released ‘Lose You’ that is one of the best love songs we’ve heard from Davis, singing to his wife about not wanting to imagine a world where he loses her. However, it is possibly the final two tracks on the record where Davis shines the brightest, showing the timbre of his vocal to perfection. On ‘I Still Smoked,’ he takes a trip down memory lane, ‘We were runaway flames in a back-seat fire / Growing up fast on renegade tyres.’ The meaty production allows Davis to sink his teeth in and let his distinctive vocal fly, before moving into the more stripped back track ‘Trying’ that may be Davis’ most vulnerable track to date, laying his flaws bare. ‘I ain’t made it up the mountain but I’m climbing / Still got some miles to go but hell I’m driving / Ain’t conquered all my demons but I’m trying.‘ It’s poignant, stunningly produced and allows Davis to lay his heart on the line in a very real way.
