93.1 WPOC's Fall Y'all Concert Series presented by Jack Daniels is excited to bring Jordan Davis with Seaforth & MacKenzie Porter to Baltimore!
December 17
Rams Head Live
Jordan Davis transformed himself from a Nashville newcomer into a countrywide chart-topper with 2018’sHome State. Inspired equally by the old-school songwriters of his parents’ generation and the high-production dynamics of modern country radio,Home State was a once-in-a-decade debut, filled with fresh material — including the Number 1 hits “Slow Dance in a Parking Lot,” “Take It From Me,” and “Singles You Up” — that bridged the gap between the classic and the contemporary.
That unique sound owed its diversity to Jordan’s roots in Shreveport. Raised by a family of songwriters (including his uncle, Stan Paul Davis, who wrote hit songs for Tracy Lawrence during the 1990s), he grew up in the cultural melting pot of northern Louisiana, within a day’s drive of New Orleans’ jazz clubs, Mississippi’s juke joints, and East Texas’ country saloons. Music was everywhere, and Jordan happily soaked it up. “I never felt drawn to one specific genre,” he remembers. “I was just drawn to songwriting. It didn’t matter if I was listening to folk music or southern rock — if it was a well-crafted song, it would pull me in.”
Years later, Jordan’s the one pulling people in.Buy Dirt, his eight-song follow-up to his self-titled EP and his debut album,Home State, is a record for the modern-day Spotify generation — for music fans whose tastes are all-encompassing, influenced by genre-crossing playlists and the ever-widening range of contemporary country music. Songs like “Drink Had Me” and “Lose You” mix Nashville twang with poppy punch, rooted in beats that owe as much to the dance club as the honky tonk. At the same time, Jordan fills Buy Dirt with the same ingredients that made classic country so great: southern storytelling, timeless melodies, a blue-collar work ethic, and the willingness to break new ground.
“I’ve always loved artists who take risks,” he says. “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.”
“When Covid hit, I was worried that I’d lost a career that I’d spent my entire life building,” he admits. “It took me a couple months to realize I already had everything I needed — a roof over my head, a beautiful daughter that I could watch grow up, and an amazing wife. I had my family, faith, and friends. As humans, we always want what we don’t have… but it’s good to take a step back and refocus on what’s really important.”
The conversation depicted in “Buy Dirt” reminded Davis of a night he spent with Luke Bryan. The two musicians had first met at an awards show, then bumped into each other on the golf course throughout the years that followed. “We sat around the fire after a golf tournament one day, smoking cigars and talking about everything but music,” 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.”
These days, Jordan Davis has much to be grateful for. With Buy Dirt, he stakes his claim as a country innovator, both expanding and modernizing his sound without abandoning his love for the classics. It’s there — in the grey area between eras — that he’s built his career, digging deep into his own sonic territory. And there are diamonds in the dirt.
Fall Y'all is brought to you by Jack Daniels & the U.S. Marines