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\n\tWhen it came time to make his third studio album, Learn the Hard Way<\/em>, out today (Aug. 15) on MCA Nashville, ACM and CMA award winner Jordan Davis tells Billboard<\/em> he \u201cwanted to take some chances.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n\tThe 17-song album, which follows 2023\u2019s acoustic-leaning Bluebird Days<\/em>, strikes a balance of uptempo, radio-friendly hits and more emotional songs, with moments of creative risk-taking.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI feel like songs like \u2018Memory Don\u2019t Mess Around\u2019 feel a little bit outside of what I\u2019ve done on past projects. And I wanted to have fun,\u201d Davis says. \u201cThe last record I put out was pretty personal to me and covered a lot of things I never thought I\u2019d write about. I wanted to make a record that I had fun recording and would be fun to play live. So really those were the two goals, and I feel like we accomplished both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tPerhaps chief among those left-of-center songs is the swampy rocker \u201cLouisiana Stick,\u201d featuring vocals and scorching guitar work by Marcus King.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt was not just his singing and guitar playing on it\u2014he was a huge influence on that song,\u201d Davis says. \u201cI\u2019ve been a fan of his for so long, I came into that writing session wanting to write something that felt like Marcus King making a song in New Orleans. I was listening to a lot of his music and to have him come in on this song about my home state and dip back into that style of music was special. He\u2019s an amazing dude, a super talented guy.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDavis co-wrote 13 of the album\u2019s songs, bringing in writers such as Ashley Gorley, Lauren Hungate, Hillary Lindsey and Travis Wood. Themes of love and loss permeate the album on songs such as \u201cI Ain\u2019t Sayin,\u2019\u201d his current Billboard Country Airplay top 10<\/a> hit \u201cBar None,\u201d and \u201cTurn This Truck Around,\u201d the latter of which was inspired by Davis\u2019 childhood.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI still remember my dad and his old Suburban,\u201d he says. \u201cMe, my brother [and frequent co-writer] Jacob and my sister fighting in the backseat and that was his go-to line: \u2018Don\u2019t make me turn this truck around,\u2019\u201d Davis recalls. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe would say that while taking us to school and we would joke that we need to keep fighting because we didn\u2019t want to go to school. It was one of those days where writing songs feels like it\u2019s second nature and it\u2019s one of my favorites off the record and just felt fun.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRecently, both his personal life and career have been in full-throttle mode; he and his wife Kristen welcomed their fourth child, daughter Sadie, in July. This fall, he\u2019ll bring this new slate of songs to fans on his Ain\u2019t Enough Road Tour, which launches stateside in September with openers Mitchell Tenpenny, Vincent Mason and Mackenzie Carpenter, before heading to the UK and Europe in 2026 with Avery Anna and Solon Holt.<\/p>\n \n\tBillboard<\/em> caught up with Davis to discuss his new album, collaborations, his life off the road and more.<\/p>\n \n\tYou mentioned you were listening to a lot of Marcus King\u2019s music while writing for the new album. Any songs or albums in particular?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt was \u201cGoodbye Carolina.\u201d That entire project [Carolina Confessions<\/em>] is fantastic, but that was the one song that, really, there was just a feel of that song. Between that and another song of his called \u201cHomesick.\u201d There was something that he was doing, that I was like, \u201cI\u2019ve got to try to do my version of that,\u201d and what came out of it was \u201cLouisiana Stick,\u201d so I appreciate Marcus for that. We just wanted it to be that kind of groovy South Louisiana, a rock song. And man, he crushed it.<\/p>\n\n