<\/p>\n
It never takes long when you\u2019re listening to country radio to hear a song by Jordan Davis.<\/p>\n
Since 2017, this singer and songwriter from Shreveport, La., has put 10 singles on Billboard\u2019s Country Airplay chart \u2014 five of which have gone to No. 1 and none of which has peaked lower than No. 7. Among his hits: \u201cBuy Dirt,\u201d which was named song of the year by the Country Music Assn. in 2022; \u201cNext Thing You Know,\u201d which earned the same award from the Academy of Country Music in 2024; and his latest, \u201cBar None,\u201d a clever drinking song in which he recounts \u201cgetting goner than your long-gone boots.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can attribute Davis\u2019 success in part to the fact that his music makes sense next to virtually anything on the radio \u2014 it\u2019s wordy yet hooky, frisky but thoughtful, old-fashioned in structure yet sweetened with just the right amount of ear candy. His new album, \u201cLearn the Hard Way,\u201d is the work of a guy who\u2019s clearly absorbed the lessons of the market. Yet his homespun wit and his emotional specificity also bear the influence of the master he describes as his \u201csongwriting GOAT\u201d: John Prine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Davis, 37, talked about it over drinks at the Sunset Marquis ahead of a show scheduled for Thursday night at the Greek Theatre.<\/p>\n You use the word \u201cultimatum\u201d in the first line of the first song on your new album. Not a word you hear somebody sing every day.<\/b> What\u2019s another one?<\/b> Love a good gerund.<\/b> You know immediately when you come across one of those words or phrases?<\/b> The late Keith Whitley gets a shout-out in your song \u201cMess <\/b>W<\/b>ith Missing You,\u201d which comes after Morgan Wallen sampled \u201cMiami, My Amy\u201d and Blake Shelton announced he\u2019s making a Whitley documentary. Why is everyone talking about Whitley right now?<\/b> Period?<\/b> The Wallen track has <\/b>irritated some folks<\/b><\/a>.<\/b> Is there a song in your mind that\u2019s too sacred to sample or interpolate?<\/b> Read more:<\/b> Neil Young brings his hits \u2014 and his worries \u2014 to the Hollywood Bowl<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMess With Missing You\u201d features <\/b>Carly Pearce<\/b><\/a>. Why was she the right duet partner for that song?<\/b> As someone who started out trying to write for other singers, do you ever still write with another artist\u2019s music in your head?<\/b> Were those good songs?<\/b> The Nashville songwriters who do succeed in writing for others \u2014 what are they good at that you\u2019re not?<\/b> Gimme one.<\/b> It seems that most of the successful new acts in Nashville write or co-write their own songs, which hasn\u2019t always been the case.<\/b> Even so, you\u2019ve got several songs on your album that you didn\u2019t write.<\/b> \u201cBar None\u201d was an outside song \u2014 Ben Johnson, Lydia Vaughan and Hunter Phelps wrote it. Why\u2019d you cut it?<\/b> You\u2019re looking to be moved right away.<\/b>
Oh, I keep a list of words that I\u2019d love to use in a song.<\/p>\n
\u201cVandal.\u201d I got that from the University of Idaho \u2014 they\u2019re the Vandals. We were driving through one day and I saw a sign that said \u201cThis Is Vandal Country.\u201d I kept it for a really long time, and then when we were writing \u201cMemory Don\u2019t Mess Around,\u201d we did, \u201cStole every bit of my moving-on like a vandal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Songwriting is literally just dissecting words \u2014 like, how can we say this cooler?<\/p>\n
Yeah, and they\u2019re usually really sad. I asked a bartender once how he was doing, and he goes, \u201cMan, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m living longer or just waiting to die.\u201d I was like, Holy s\u2014. I wrote it down in my phone, and I\u2019ve thrown out that idea so many times in songwriting sessions. Everybody responds the same way: \u201cDude, I can\u2019t write that today.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the best vocalist in country music.<\/p>\n
Obviously, Stapleton\u2019s unreal. But for me, I\u2019m like, that is such a pure, clean vocal. And he was a great songwriter. I\u2019ve just always been a fan, which came from my dad. Whitley, Kristofferson<\/a>, Prine, Jim Croce \u2014 that\u2019s what he\u2019d have playing in the car.<\/p>\n
I think Morgan probably knew that was gonna happen. What I always tell people is that Keith Whitley\u2019s version of \u201cMiami, My Amy\u201d still exists \u2014 you can still listen to it. I kind of like Morgan\u2019s spin on it. I dig the interpolation thing that\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think so. I mean, even \u201cHe Stopped Loving Her Today\u201d \u2014 I\u2019d love to hear somebody bring a fresh take on that.<\/p>\n
Carly\u2019s one of the first people I met when I moved to Nashville. We kind of ran in the same friend group. I remember early on being like, \u201cGoodness gracious \u2014 that voice<\/i>.\u201d Still to this day her voice is one of my favorites out there.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a huge Tom Petty<\/a> fan \u2014\u00a0we used to cover \u201cYou Wreck Me\u201d and still do every once in a while \u2014 and \u201cTurn This Truck Around\u201d was definitely written in a Petty frame of mind. But I don\u2019t do it in the sense of when I initially moved to Nashville, when I was like, \u201cI\u2019m gonna try to get Brad Paisley or Eric Church<\/a> to cut this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, they didn\u2019t record any of \u2019em [laughs<\/i>]. When I started writing better songs was when I said, \u201cI\u2019m not gonna try to write this other than however it comes out.\u201d That\u2019s when I wrote \u201cSlow Dance in a Parking Lot,\u201d which I was told had way too many words in it.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s some people that are just a little more connected. But in all honesty, they\u2019re just better songwriters. I\u2019m not afraid to say that I can name 10 songwriters right now that are better than me.<\/p>\n
Hardy<\/a> \u2014 that guy is crazy talented. Jonathan Singleton is a better songwriter than me. Casey Beathard, Tom Douglas \u2014 those guys are better at writing songs than I am. And I\u2019m happy they are, because when I get to write with them, I get that pit in my stomach: All right, dude, you\u2019re sitting down with a good one today.<\/p>\n
Now more than ever, we\u2019re able to grab a phone and see what\u2019s going on with somebody\u2019s life on social media. So you can\u2019t really hide behind: \u201cHere\u2019s my record, see you on the next one,\u201d you know what I mean? There\u2019s a need for honesty and authenticity, and nobody\u2019s gonna be more honest or real than you yourself.<\/p>\n
To think that in a two-year period I wrote the best 17 songs in Nashville \u2014 that would be a lie.<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t stop listening to it. Listened to it probably 10 times the evening I got it, woke up the next morning, listened to it again, called my team and was like, \u201cI need to go record this song today because the next person that hears this song is gonna record it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and your memory, 1 \/ Me and this bar, none\u201d \u2014 that\u2019s genius. I\u2019ve been here for 10 years \u2014 how have I not written that?<\/p>\n