Jordan Davis has recently released his phenomenal new EP – Buy Dirt. Here, we interview Davis about the project, collaborating with Luke Bryan and how the past year, family and faith have shaped his music.
Hey, how are you doing?
I’m doing great. Thanks for hanging with me.
You must be so excited to finally be able to hit the road again?
We are excited, it’s the first time I’ve ever been this long without playing live music so it’s gonna be good to get back. We have a lot of music that we’ve released but never played.
That must be crazy, because you’ve released two incredible projects and it must be weird thinking that you haven’t actually played them live.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, we just got word today that we’re number six on the country charts with ‘Almost Maybes’ and I’ve never played it full band to a crowd, so that’s pretty crazy.
Honestly, I feel like that song has been out for much longer than a year.
I know, there’s other songs like ‘Church in a Chevy’ too that I’m ready to play out live. There’s been such a great response and that’s another list of songs that we get to put into the show. We’re excited to get into rehearsals and start seeing where they all stake out.
100%. I know that you worked again with Paul DiGiovanni on this project and you’ve worked with him quite a few times now, but you guys managed to infuse something really fresh into the sound – like on ‘I Still Smoked’ there are some really fresh ideas. Did that kind of come out through the pandemic? I can imagine it was strange, recording remotely in the studio.
I think some of that was what we were shooting to – this sound that we’re trying to chase down. Paul and I write together a lot, we get to have those conversations even before we start the production process. With ‘Trying’ and ‘Drink Had Me’ that started the second we started writing the song. It’s kind of cool to get to talk through those sounds. Like you said, we never made a record remotely, most of it just came from taking chances and doing our own thing with it.
Was it a very remote process – were these songs written remotely or were they a part of the transition period we’ve been in back to doing things in person?
So ‘I Still Smoke’ was a two or three year old song, so that was already done and then all the rest of them were co-written in person, but at a social distance. In the recording process, we were able to do it safely – everyone had to wear masks but at least we were able to go into the studio.
That must have been so refreshing, to tap into people’s energies. With this project, you really dived in a layer deeper again. You tapped into faith and family and also your own flaws – ‘Trying’ was such a standout track for me because I feel like everyone can relate to that song. Was that something that was really important to you to reveal all the different parts of yourself in these projects?
I think a lot of that came from the pandemic and the shutdown, being able to see everything outside of music and the importance of faith, family and friends. You can’t help but write what you know as a writer that was another reason why I wanted to get this EP out before everything opens back up. The pandemic definitely aided in these lyrics being a little deeper than some of the previous tracks.
It must have been nice as well to spend time with her and have that time with her. It must have been special to reflect on that in these songs.
It definitely was – that was one of the silver linings of this, getting to spend time with her and watch her grow up. It was really special to get to spend some time with her. Now we’ve got another one on the way, I guess I looked at some of the events, when she started walking and I thought I would not have been home for that and I’m probably not going to get that time again – god willing if there isn’t another global pandemic.
I don’t think any of us could deal with that! You kicked off this project with ‘Blow Up Your TV’ that was a John Prine-inspired track that was an external cut. Obviously we lost John Prine during the pandemic, but what did that song and his music mean to you? Can you talk about the first time you heard that track and why you decided to record it for the project?
Yeah, I can remember the first time I heard it. My dad would always play his music, we had a hunting camp about an hour and a half outside of Shreveport and my dad would always play his music when we were driving to it – we listened to John Prine and Neil Diamond, those kind of singer-songwriter guys. The first time I heard ‘Spanish Pipe Dream,’ I was probably about ten years old. I remember liking the song but it wasn’t until we lost John Prine during the pandemic. I’ve never listened to more of his songs than I did then.
I remember that time, I think I listened to his music for two weeks straight.
Yeah, I think anytime you lose a legend like that, you know it’s something about knowing that we’re never going to get another John Prine, it makes you appreciate the music he left us with so much more. For me ‘Spanish Pipe Dream,’ ‘throw away your papers’ that for me was the past two years of wanting to stop looking at the news because it was all just craziness. You know ‘Blow up your TV / Throw away your paper / Go to the country / Build you a home / Plant a little garden / Eat a lot of peaches. / Try an’ find Jesus on your own.’ That song and those ideas were the catalyst to the project.
It was a beautiful lead in and it sort of sets the scene, knowing what influenced your music and infusing loads of different elements into your music. Obviously you’ve then got this mammoth collaboration with Luke Bryan and I know you guys have been friends for years. How did it go from knowing him and playing golf to deciding to sit down and record some music together?
Yeah, I mean Luke really is one of the best guys, he’s a really genuinely good guy. I got to know him over the past couple years and get to hang with him. We talked about everything but music and so when we finished ‘Buy Dirt,’ Luke stood out to me because I feel like the values of that song were the definition of Luke Bryan. So I sent him a text message and told him how much the song meant to me. I had a good feeling that he was going to resonate with it, I was just hoping that he had time – he’s a busy guy. So, yeah, he jumped on it and wanted to be a part of it. I do know how busy he is with his own music and everything else that he’s got going on. It meant a lot that he took the time to sing that with me. I’m very grateful.
At the end of the day, Luke Bryan is a huge superstar and you’ve both got amazingly successful careers, but the real message of it was just doing what you love and ‘call it work’ and going back to the roots of ‘putting money in the plate at church’ just simple things that are so important in life. I think that’s what we’ve all hopefully got out of this pandemic – learning how important that message is?
I mean the pandemic was a terrible thing for everybody, but it was a major learning phase for me. Sometimes we can complicate this thing and a lot of things that we really don’t need. It took everything else going away to realise that you need to focus on the things that are going to be here no matter what. It’s a special song to me, so I’m very grateful to Luke.
Then obviously you’ve got this amazing video with Hannah Brown. How much fun was that to be able to record with people again and be able to give that song the attention it deserves?
It was fun and it was so cool for Hannah to jump in on the video. It’s cool to have a vision and thought and then brought it to fruition. Hannah’s in LA and she’s busy as can be. I sent her a message on direct message on Instagram – I’m now I’m realising I send a lot of people messages. So anyway, I was just grateful – that song just fit Hannah. It was really cool that she was able to make it work and play on her very public dating career. She’s got a boyfriend now and she’s rocking and rolling and made the video ten times better. It’s awesome.
Talking about going back on tour, are there any particular songs that you’re excited to see the reaction to – obviously it is really fun to play the big songs, but sometimes it’s also fun to have the stripped back moments and share that with the audience?
Yeah, I mean ‘Buy Dirt’ is one that we’re really excited to play, but also ‘Church in a Chevy’ from the self-titled EP – we had such a great response to that track with the engagement and with people reaching out. I have so many really cool messages saved of how that song affected people. That song means a lot to me and so I’m excited to play that one, it’s been so cool to see the reaction to it, I put the song on the EP because it meant a lot to me but it was one of those that I never thought I’d play live, but now I think I might get kicked out if I don’t play the song live.
Well we can’t wait to hear it live again and we can’t wait to get you back to the UK soon. Congratulations on the EP and on the new baby.
Thank you and thanks for hanging with me today.
