From majoring in resource conservation to songwriting in Nashville, Jordan Davis has had quite the journey throughout his career thus far. After finding himself a little unhappy with his job after college, Davis made a bold move to Music City to pursue his passion. He received a publishing deal in 2015 and was signed to UMG Nashville less than a year later. Since then, the Louisiana native has been named an “Artist to Watch” by Rolling Stone, Amazon Music, and Spotify and released his debut single, ‘Singles You Up,’ earlier this year. His unique style of music combines classic storytelling lyrics with the tech-tinged production popular among artists today. While it may come across as contradictory on paper, Davis’s unparalleled sound is progressively drawing in fans as his single reaches more listeners each day.
‘Singles You Up’ is featured on Spotify’s Hot Country, New Boots, and Wild Country playlists, and is currently sitting at number 36 as it continues to climb the country airplay chart. “Sometimes I gotta call some people to make sure that I’m seeing stuff right,” Davis laughed as he tried to put into words what it felt like to have such success with his debut single. “Just the first time putting a song into the world, you never know how it’s going to go over, so when you see it having success it’s kind of crazy… I see names on the charts that I’m by and I’m such big fans of everybody on there. It’s just crazy to see my name up there, but I’m loving it!” Davis co-wrote the song with Justin Ebach and Steven Dale Jones – and don’t worry, you haven’t fallen behind on what the kids are saying these days, the guys coined the phrase themselves. While congratulating Ebach on his engagement, one of the guys casually said, “You were smart not to single her up.” Jordan explained, “When that got said we all looked at each other, like we’ve never heard it put like that, and about an hour and a half later we had the song.”
The single actually came along after Davis had most of his record done. “I was done writing for it, I had all the songs that I thought were going to be on it, and ‘Singles You Up’ was one of the last songs written. It was just one where, the second I heard the demo on it I knew that we needed to start playing it out,” Jordan recalled. “The first time we played it out the reaction we got from it was unreal. I kind of knew then that it needed to be on the record, so we started moving stuff around to put it on the album, and then the more we kept playing it out it just kind of, you know… I guess cream rises to the top.” It got to a point where it was obvious to everyone that ‘Singles You Up’ would be Jordan’s debut.
Davis has slowly released some other songs from the record to give fans a better idea of what to expect from the project. Jordan’s influences come from all over the spectrum and this album is a representation of all of that. “I’m a huge John Prine fan, so the songwriting is something that I’ve always tried to be true to,” he said, first and foremost. As he grew up he was introduced to rock and roll and quickly became a fan of bands like The Black Crowes and Kings of Leon. Also worth mentioning, Davis is a huge fan of the R&B singer, Usher. “Influences are there for you to kind of put your own spin on what they do, so it’s just kind of a mashup of the music that I love,” he said. Jordan had a hand in writing each and every song on his forthcoming album, so most importantly, he hopes that fans can really appreciate the songwriting that went into it. The album isn’t set to be released until sometime next year, but Davis plans to continue to drop some new singles between now and then.
With such a focus on lyricism, one of the challenges Davis has tried to overcome is how to go about his live performances. “That’s been, I think, the biggest hurdle for me. I’m such a fan of writer’s rounds and I love just getting a guitar and playing a song just acoustic. But I know that fans enjoy a great show. They’re coming to have a good time and to be entertained and I think we have some songs that can do that. So I think for me it’s finding that balance between making a spot in the show that can make the songs that are so lyrically-driven stand out and just mixing in the right amount of big, full production to let my band guys really show how talented they are. It’s something I’m still kind of wrestling with,” Jordan explained.
The singer is currently on the road with Kip Moore for his Plead the Fifth Tour, and Davis looking forward to learning from some of the best in the business. “I can’t think of two better guys to look up to in the way they’ve done music than Kip and Drake,” said Jordan. “Just going out and learning from those guys – learning from the way they put shows together to the way they interact with the fans to the way they draw out setlists – I think I would be doing myself a disservice if I just went out there and focused on having fun and spreading my music. I’m really excited to get out and kind of steal some things from them in the nicest way possible. I’m such big fans of them so it’s going to be a lot of fun!”
Although only a few songs have been released, we’re already predicting that Davis is going to be a force to be reckoned with in country music. Conserving nature is nice, and unquestionably important, but we think Jordan is still on a career path to changing the world through his music.
You can purchase your copy of ‘Singles You Up’ on iTunes and Google Play, or stream it on Spotify and Apple Music.
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