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June 23, 2020 • 45 mins

Wells goes down south to get to know award winning country artist Jordan Davis. He tells us about the last-minute decision to leave Louisiana and move to Nashville.


We hear about how he honed his craft as a songwriter and he opens up about which of his songs his wife hates.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is a Wells cast with Wells atoms and I
heart radio podcast. Yep, Wells Cast time. I don't know
what time Wells Cast time is. It might be in
the morning. Might wake up for yourself a strong cup
of Joe, throw a cross on the toaster, and say,
you know what time for podcasts? Maybe you're late night,

(00:22):
probably pretty wasted, cocked on a bottle of BlackBerry brandy,
and you're like, you know what podcast time? I don't know.
Maybe you're a middi day podcaster, or maybe you just
stumbled upon this podcast and you're like, what the hell
is this? Well, it's a podcast where I talked to
famous people and I find out where the hell they
came from. So basically that's that's basically, it's whatever time
of the day it is for you, welcome in who
else cast? For me, it's like mid day, what day

(00:43):
of the week? No clue because quarantine, so we're in
a time flux. But I think it's in the middle
of the week, But I could be wrong. I have
no idea at all excited about today show. I gotta
be honest with you. Oh dude, I got a new
chair and it's too squeaky Is it too squeaky? Oh,
it's so cool, but it's way too sque e Alright,
excited about today's show. We're going back to nash going

(01:04):
back to where I got my start. It was a
couple weeks ago we had Hunter Hayes in the show,
and we're gonna kind of stay in the same vein
that country music star. We're talking to a man who
actually grew up in Louisiana, much like Hunter Hayes. Moved
to Nashville around two thousand twelve, which I think is
a little bit after Hunter Hayes, but close and lots
changed for him since then. Man two thousand twenty a
CM Best New Male Artist of the Year nominee since

(01:28):
moving to Music City side a record deal with m
c A Nashville and racking up over a billion streams
of his debut album Home State, to touring the country,
playing for fans, and not in three consecutive number ones
with the platinum certified single You Up, which is a
song basically about a dude that's like, Hey, if you
ever dumped your girl, gonna be hanging around. Also take

(01:51):
it from Me, and most recently slowly Answer the Parking Lot,
which we've all done alone very drunk, or maybe it's
just me. Whatever. He's one out a songwriter. He's got
a brand new EP out now, very excited to have
on the Wells Cast today. The man who. The only
thing better than his silky, sultry vocal tones is that
beautiful beard his. In just a couple of moments, we're

(02:13):
gonna sit down and find out where the hell Jordan
Davis came from. Stick around. You know what time it
is Wells Cast time, Jordan Davis. That beard is looking

(02:36):
mighty find my friend. Quarantine looks good on you apparently,
thanks man. Yeah, dude, it's been uh, that's been one
less thing that I've seen. Everybody's going like the quarantine
mustaches and stuff, and I have I definitely haven't had
to do it. I've been working on that for a
little longer than just the quarantine. So yeah, it's been
going good. Yeah, you got everyone's an impostor to you everyone.

(02:59):
This this is bulls here in like Game seven of
the Stanley Cup Finals right now, though, dude, this would
be a killer like playoff whenever the Preds had their
big playoff run. Yes, a couple of years ago. That
was definitely fitting in in Nashville with the with the
hockey playoff Beard. I did the quarantine Beard the for
the first half of it that first month, and unfortunately

(03:22):
for me, I grow facial hair like a fourteen year
old Hispanic boy, so it didn't look good and uh,
we had to shave that puppy off. But it's good
to see you, man. Thank you so much for coming
on the Whales cast. I do appreciate it. Thank for having,
of course congratulations on this on this self titled DP
dropping man. Thank you man. It's I'm I'm so excited

(03:42):
to have these songs out, you know, to have a
new project out. It's been over two years. It feels
like ten uh since you know, we've had like a
full body of workout. But I am and it's it's
it's six songs. I'm really proud of them and happy
they're out in the world. Is it's a scary thing
to drop me music right now with these with the
times we're living in and the inability to tour behind it.

(04:05):
I think with me, it's been it has been just
so long that like I wasn't uh, I wasn't that nervous.
I knew my fans like we're long overdue for some
new music. So yeah, that kind of like took away
the you know, the anxiety of it, but it is
it is weird, you know. I definitely didn't think that
it will be as weird to like put this music

(04:26):
out now, because like now it's you know, you don't
have that, like you said, there's no tour or anything.
It's just you're just releasing music out there and hoping
that people like it. And and there's and there's just
this target that we're aiming for to hopefully get back
on the road who knows when, but it is just
a just a crazy time right now in music in general.

(04:46):
Is the idea to come out with a long play
later or are you just dropping the EP? Yeah, well
we're gonna have a whole album probably in October. So
this is just kind of just something that when we
really as we were gonna have, you know, when we
saw touring was kind of open the air, we kind
of just sped this up and getting it out, which

(05:07):
I'm glad we did because a guy, I couldn't have
gone another couple of months with without you know, no touring,
no new music, nothing, And I felt like I had
to remind myself, like am I really doing music? And
like is it? But yeah, we are gonna come with
the full project probably around October. What makes you most
excited about this record in comparison to your past releases.

(05:29):
I think just kind of the growth of it. You know.
One of my favorite things is when I was fans
of people to be able to see kind of their
growth through their records. You know, always point to Airic
Church is one that like has I feel like just
evolved so much from those early records to where he's
at now and with me, you know, the last couple

(05:50):
of years, some of these songs that I wrote on
my first album were before I even I've met my wife.
Uh you know now you know I have a six
month old daughter. Man, it's just a totally different you
know round personally, and I don't know, it's just just
just I think growth as a songwriter as well in there.
And so I'm hoping that that that people are kind

(06:12):
of seeing seeing me grow up a little bit. Lord
knows I needed to so. But like so, the lag
time on records coming out is long. Like I was
reading some interview with Billie Eilish and she was like
I wrote that when I was seventeen. I'm completely you know,
she's like when I'm nineteen, but like you know, she's like,
I just completely it's comple like different chapter of my life.

(06:33):
Is this already like a past self of you? Even
though it's out now, it doesn't feel as long ago
as like supposedly like some of the some of the
songs off a home state where I was just like, goodness, gracious,
like that's that that song feels, which some of them
were five six years old, you know, especially now I
wrote in two thousand fourteen, and then they just kind

(06:56):
of stuck with, you know, each round of going in
and cutting. You know, those songs just continue to make
the cut, and now they don't. I don't feel so
so distant from you know, the church and the chevys
or detours or cool any mores. It still feels like
it's it's still kind of me right now. I was
looking at your numbers and they're absolutely bonkers. Over a

(07:20):
billion spins and streams and whatever when you kind of
compile it all together, which is it's just astronomical. As
a guy who worked in radio for twelve years to
get that much traction is so hard to do. Is
it one of those things that like, is that your
new norm? Like that's what you expect to happen going forward.

(07:41):
Is there a song that is going to have a
hundred and seventy one million streams on this self titled record?
I know, man, it's crazy. Uh, you know, I hope so,
like because I am a fan of like I'm still
to this day a fan of records, like listening to
entire projects. So like you know, of the and like
you said, the billion stream the that's like one of

(08:04):
my favorite compliments I have because it is the whole
thing's the whole Home State project. You know, being streamed
a billion times is pretty wild. It's not just singles.
It's made that ways and leaving New Orleans and songs
that we play now in shows and it gets just
the reaction just as much a reaction as slow to

(08:24):
answer the parking lot and take it from me, so
you know, and we put a lot of work into
to the writing and and and just the the whole
flow of the project. So to see the whole project
do well and not just a single song it does, Man,
it just feels great. Well, I'm excited to have you

(08:45):
on the show. I don't know if anyone told you
kind of what the idea for this podcast is, but
I'm kind of fascinated with origin stories and how people
got to where they are. Um, you know, obviously someone
who has over a billion streams, a lot of people
know who you are, but then it might not know

(09:06):
how you got to that point. A lot of people
listen to this show one for sport, encouragement or you know,
just a little bit of inspiration and whatever the hell
they do. So I was wondering if you have a
couple of minutes to talk about how Jordan Davis got
to be well, the man that I'm talking to right now,
where'd you come from? Man? I was born and raised

(09:27):
in Streetport, Louisiana to a very musical family. My uncle
was a songwriter who actually still lives in Nashville and
still write songs. You know. My dad rode around the
house and my mom was piano at the church, and
so like, music was something that just from day one,
like I couldn't get away from. I went to school
actually to study environmental science, uh, which I'm doing nothing

(09:51):
with now, but you know, mom was big on us
going to school, going and getting a degree. And my
brother actually was first to move to Nashville. You know,
he's still writes song is a co writer and take
it for me and a lot of other you know,
a lot of new stuff coming out in October, a
lot of stuff on the EP. But you know, a
country musically just one of those things that I always say.
I was around it so much that I never realized

(10:13):
how much I loved it, which is weird to say,
but it's just like I never thought of it as
as it being a potential career. It was just something
that was a huge part of my life, something I loved.
I wrote songs as like for fun or if I
was going through something, I would write it. But it
wasn't until I graduated from l s U in two
thousand and twelve, got a job with a buddy of

(10:35):
mine and who had an environmental company in Baton Rouge,
and I remember one day I was late to work.
I kind of got in trouble and he calls me
into his office and he said, look, man, like you
know you're not in college anymore. This is this is
the real world, this is real life. Like you can't
do that, Like you know you can't you You gotta
show up on time. But that and he asked me that, man,

(10:56):
are you happy here? And I was just like, I mean, yeah,
I like it. You know. It's he's like, man, well
what do you love doing? Like what are you passionate about?
And I was like, man, passionate about music, songwriting. That
day he told me, he was like, well, you need
to move to Nashville, Like you need to go to Nashville.
You need chase being a songwriter. You know, at the time,
I was single. Um, you know, I didn't have any money,

(11:17):
which was great because, like you know, it wasn't like
I had to break this lease. I was a month
a month at this spot. I was at and uh
Man within three months through within three weeks, I was
had my apartment packed up en route to Nashville. So
very long story short, but but yeah, it was just
kind of on a whim one day. I don't I

(11:39):
want to say whim, but it was just it took
him kind of giving me that kick of like, hey man,
if you're not super happy here, you're young, go do
what your passionate about, Go to find something you love
that was songwriting, and I knew Nashville's it was where
I needed to be. Did you just turn a story
about you getting fired into an inspirational follow your dream story?

(12:00):
I wish I wasn't. It wasn't a firing. It was.
It was definitely a scolding, but it was definitely it
wasn't a firing. But yeah, somewhat, Well, yeah, I guess
I did you know? I lived in Nashville for twelve years.
I did radio there, and all my friends were musicians.
And there's nothing more beautiful and more true than the

(12:24):
saying that all writers and musicians are beautifully delusional. And
I love that you were able to make that story.
You know, he just told me to follow my dreams. Well,
I heard you got fired, But hey man, however, you
want to cut it up, so I can't, so your
long story short of me? We're gonna long story long it.
So you grew up in sreport in Louisiana. You kind

(12:47):
of hinted at like, I didn't think that I was
gonna fall in love with country, which makes me assumes
that growing up you were into other types of music.
Was a Cajun? Was it? Blues? Was it? Was it?
What was it that you were really drawn to back down, man,
I was My dad was a massive fan of songwriters,
so like dude, I was heavy into Jim Crocy, John Pryn,

(13:11):
Don Williams, Christoper Stofferson like all those, you know, some
of the greatest songwriters that ever lived. But you know,
he was in control of the music when we were
in the car, so we didn't have a choice, so
we listened to whatever Dad wanted to listen to. And
so very early on it was those guys, which I'm
I'm happy for because I mean, it was such a

(13:33):
strong base of of some of the best best songwriters
to ever lived. You know, from early on, I'm getting
a strong dose of that to where you know, then
I grow up and get an iPod and I'm from
that generation, so I have thousands of songs at the
spin of my on my little iPod nano, you know,

(13:55):
and I could listen to whatever I want to listen to,
and I did. Man, I fell in love with like
our be Like I'm a huge I'm still a huge
usher fan. Uh, Southern rock and roll like the Black
Crows and huge rap guy coming from Louisiana. Little Wayne
was like my my dude and uh and so like.
But but it was just this huge melting pot of
of just so many different influences in genres that that

(14:19):
I just enjoyed listening to. I didn't think of it
as like, oh, I'm a country guy or I'm just
a Oh I like rap music or R and B music. Um,
it was just like, man, if I liked it, I
listened to it. And I'm still that way, you know today,
I feel like if if, if the music is good, um,
I don't necessarily look at the genre of it. I'm

(14:42):
just like, man, that that song moves me. I feel
something when I hear it. I'm gonna keep listening to it.
It's funny. We had Hunter Hayes on a couple of
weeks ago, and he's also a Louisiana boy, and it
makes total sense to me because, I mean, Louisiana just
is a melting pot. It's just so many different types
of arts and culture and people and food, you know,

(15:05):
like everything there is a million different things, and so
it makes sense that a lot of the musicians there
are are obviously huge Cajun or blues or folk or
you know, bluegrass or country, like it just kind of
all is everything. So it makes a whole lot of
sense to me. Um, you went to l s U.
I went to Old Miss. So I mean, you know

(15:25):
it's fine whatever. Uh, congratulations this year, dude. I've had
some good times and Oxford good gracious, I've had some
good times. If I could go back and do college
over again, I would have gone to Old Miss. I'm
being dead serious. My brother tells this story. He says,

(15:48):
he's two years older, and I am. He went on
like a visit to Old Miss. And so he gets
over there and he's there for the weekend, and he said,
he goes and he sits down in the d and
some d you know. I think he was looking at
some engineering him and he said. The dean told me,
he goes, Uh, Jacob, you are coming here because you
heard oh Miss has the prettiest co eds in all

(16:09):
the country. That is true, and you will fail out.
I think the dean told me the exact same thing.
But it just took me five years to graduate, So
it's fine. It's okay. I mean, you grow up in
this kind of like almost like Partridge family Louisiana version

(16:30):
style house or everyone is a musician, everyone is talented,
Like are you all gathering around like on the weekends
and whipping out guitars and trading licks and stuff like
how did that work? Growing up? You know, my dad
would play songs at night. He played like old Johnny
Cash songs, or he would he would make up these
just kind of dumb songs for us to like go

(16:52):
to bed, or like my sister would you know, say
something and he would kind of just riff on this,
you know whatever. My mom was always practicing piano, so
we would sit around and sing with her. But it
was just kind of like it was there was always
music being played. So my mom always had something playing.
So that whenever I would go to a friend's house

(17:13):
and there wouldn't be music, I would be like, Mandy,
you'll not like listening to music like all the time,
And I'm like, y'all, really that's weird, Like why don't
y'all do that? But it was, man, it was just
just something that was always. It was just always there.
You get into Louisiana State University, you go to Baton
Rouge from Shreveport, which isn't too far of a drive, right, No,

(17:34):
it's like three three hours, three and a half. You're
studying this major, you know, my parents are the exact
same thing. It was like, you know, you need to
study something so you can have a job after. You know,
that's what we're paying for school for. Are you like
paying the bills by like bartending and like playing music
in college? Dude? Never never had like a music gig,
never played never you know, Uh, I bartended at Fleming's Steakhouse,

(17:56):
but never never got into playing live until I moved
to Nashville. You know I would do. I was, and
this is no lie. Uh I was writing songs. But
but see, when I moved to Nashville, it wasn't for
the record deal. It wasn't for touring, it wasn't for
all that. It was just to write songs. I wanted

(18:18):
people record my songs like you know my uncle as
a songwriter. I wanted to be a songwriter just like
my uncle. So I just wanted to publishing deal. That's it.
Like that was my goal, like my end all be
all goal. When I moved to town and I signed
my record deal with only playing one full band show,
people don't like, I promise you hand on the good

(18:39):
Lord's book. One time I had played with a full
band in Alabama and I came back and um and
was offered a record deal. They knew I was green
and they knew that. Like it wasn't like I like
blew them away, but they were willing to, uh, willing
to kind of kind of learn with me. And but yeah,

(19:00):
it was. I was just I never like that. That
was just something that a I kind of had this
backwards look on Nashville as I thought, like, you moved
to town, you wrote songs. If somebody heard your songs
and wanted to make a record on you, that's how
you got the record deal. So when I was when
I first came to Nashville and people are asking me like, hey,

(19:21):
are you doing the artist thing? I don't even know
what that meant. I was like, I don't know, I'm
just a songwriter, and they'd be okay. So I kept
getting overlooked on like all these publishing deals. I wasn't
getting publishing deal. I remember one time I went in
to talk to this kind of the guy that when
I moved to town. He was kind of like that
mentor for me. Um. Then I kind of told him

(19:45):
one day like kind of frustrated. I was like, man,
I see all these other people getting publishing deals, and
I'm getting overlooked and like I feel like I'm writing
better songs than them. And he told me, he was like, yeah,
what they want to be artists there. They want record deals.
And I was like, yeah, everybody keeps asking me that

(20:06):
and like what what does that mean? And he's like,
you know, they want to they want to record deal,
they want to put singles out on a tour. Better
to do. And it was like if I say I
want to do that, will it help me get a
publishing deal? And he was like probably. So from that
day on, I was like, hey, man, I'm an artist.

(20:28):
But yeah, that's that's that's how that was about first.
That was the first time I considered myself an artist.
I'm blown away that your boss in Louisiana was like, yeah,
you should go to Nashville even though you've never played
a live gig, you should totally do that. This seems
like I told him, you know, we I had played

(20:48):
like songs around like we were you know, hanging out,
like so if we had like a fire, like had
people over one night, UM, I would play the guitar,
I play some songs that I was working on. UM,
but like and I told him all like, hey, I
don't want to do you know, I don't want all that.
I just want to write songs get him pitched. He
had heard me play and sing, so it wasn't like

(21:11):
like a new thing that he was just like, oh yeah, man,
go up there and figure it out. Yeah, but yeah,
it definitely was. It was definitely a backwards way of
of getting a record deal. Do you think that that mentality,
in a weird way was able to help you in
your career because you not to like do like a
bachelor reference, but it's it's such like a you're there

(21:34):
for the right reasons thing, Like you're there for like
you want to create music. You love the craft and
the creation of it, and great if I get a
tour behind it, but really I want to create something
and people seeing the like authenticity of the musician in you.
Yeah no, I dude, Like I mean you you hit
it right on the head. And I think that's why

(21:55):
early on I was still right. I was writing songs
the way I wanted to write them, singing the stuff
that I wanted to sing about. I was an artist.
I was going for that. I just didn't know it
at the time, and I think it took a little
while too, I guess, kind of catch up to what
I really needed to be doing. I say that I
fell into it backwards. I say that I never knew

(22:15):
I want to do. It was just one of those
things where I knew that I wanted to make music
that meant something to me, and I was hoping that
in some way somebody else would hear it and maybe
they would get it and that would kind of allow
me to play shows like acoustic shows or writers rounds
or do like these cool little things that I love doing.
At the time, it kind of put this chip on
my shoulder when everybody was kind of getting I was

(22:37):
getting overlooked, and I was feeling that I was doing
things just as good, if not better than some of
the other you know people, and that we're getting these deals.
So it just kind of made me dig my heels
in more and be like, you know what, man, this
is how, this is how I want to write songs.
This is what I I'm either gonna make it or
I mean, they're gonna make it or I'm not. But like,

(22:57):
I'm not changing the way I right, I'm not doing
anything different than what I moved to town to do.
And that's really when it when everything switched. I got
introduced to Universal by a pitch meeting for I can't
even remember who it was, but there was two songs
and one of the songs was slow Dancing the parking
lot that was getting pitched. The artists passed on all

(23:18):
the songs, but I got an email from A and
R at Universal saying like, hey, we want to have
a meeting with you. And I was still like, why
do you want to? They passed on my songs, why
don't they want to meet with me? And that was
the first meeting where they're like, hey, we're a fan
of what you do. We're a fan of the way
you write songs and your voice. Can we talk to
you about coming in and possibly signing a deal? And
at first I was like I was scared to death,

(23:40):
you know, going back to talking, you know, I had
a bunch of great people around me. They were just like, look, man,
this is the way you write music, this is why
you came to town, and this is gonna allow you
to keep doing that. So go take the meeting, go
see what they have to say, and and I thank
god I did. So was this meeting for the publishing
deal or for the record deal. This was for the
record deal. It was within three months of the publishing

(24:02):
deal and the record deal. I mean it was like boom,
I had gone. I had four years, four and a
half years nothing and then almost like just overnight. It
was that fast with both. And what were you doing
in those four years while you were trying to obtain
those deals? Oh? Man, I was. I found this this

(24:23):
bar out in Donaldson out west of town, east of
town called ellen Dale's. It's not there anymore, but it
was right by the airport. I was the like Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
and I would work a double on Sunday. I got
to make my schedule. It's just me and this other bartenders.
It's a small, family owned spot. It was awesome because
if I had a big right coming up that week,

(24:46):
I could just swap with the other bartender, uh and
I could have that whole day to write and not
have to worry about going into work. But but yeah, man,
it was four years of what I would wake up.
I would how to write from you know, ten to two,
ten to three somewhere in there, and then I would
head out to the to the bar for work at

(25:07):
three thirty four, worked about one and just kind of
wash rents repeat for the first almost five years of
being in town. Even when I signed my publishing deal,
I was still uh spoiler alert, publishing deals don't pay
a ton of money, but uh, I still kind of
had that gig for a little bit. Uh, even after

(25:29):
I signed my my first publishing deal. All right, so
you're slinging drinks, you're writing and co writing in your
off time. Are you going around and playing like Losers
and Bluebird? Are you? Are you doing that kind of
whole thing, writers in the round, listening room, that kind
of stuff. I was doing, like listening room. I got
to play Bluebird not long after signing my publishing deal.

(25:53):
But you know, it's mostly just like rounds in town.
Remember taps and tappas. I guess it's just tap over
in Bell Court. Yeah, that was like my first spot.
I was playing like around at uh so just kind
of anywhere in town that like my buddy would call me,
you know, I'd have a friend call me and said like, hey, dude,
I had to spot open up in a round. Can
you come over here and play three or four songs?
And then whenever it got time to kind of start

(26:15):
doing the band thing. I was too nervous to play
in town. So I would book these like no name
bars in North Alabama or Mississippi, and I would go
down there and play for like a hundred bucks, you know,
spend six hundred bucks getting my band and everybody down there.
But like I knew I had to get better at it.
I was like, dude, I know, I looked so uncomfortable
on stage. So that was the early on live music route.

(26:48):
This might be wrong, but that I read something of
like the way you got signed was you were at
some party and you played a song and you were
too drunk, so you didn't like kind of kill it.
Can you tell that story? Yeah, I was out, so
we had just the Detours I was writing. This was
about the time we wrote Detours off the EP. My

(27:10):
buddy Dave Turnbull has a has a spot east to town,
over off this river, this river, So we went over
there and we were fishing all day. You know, I
was looking for a publishing deal. He was signed to
a company called ole A at the time. And when
I was out there, Dave told me, he's like, he's like,
he asked me, he's like, hey, man, if you signed
a publishing deal yet, and I was like, no, man,
I'm still, you know, looking, and he's like, well, dude,

(27:31):
my publishers coming out here today, so you should, you know,
talk to him, see if you can get a meeting.
I had a good buzz going on at that time,
and I was like, well, damn, man, I wish I
would have known that, like, you know, because if we
have a fire tonight, we're probably gonna start playing guitar
better than that. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened.
So we build a fire, we're hanging out and Dave's like, hey, Ben,

(27:51):
you know who ended up the guy that first signed me.
He's like, hey man, this is my buddy Jordan. He
just moved to town. Uh, he's still looking for publish
and deal. Jordan plays some song, so they hand me
the guitar and I am just tank and like, can't
remember anything, start butchering my songs, and dude, I felt terrible,
and even Dave kind of felt bad. He's like, man,

(28:13):
I should have thought about that, you know, because we
were hanging out fishing, having beer all day, and the
next morning I'm like driving into town and my brother
is kind of beating me up on it. He's like, dude,
you had a chance last night to like play some song,
and he said, dude, you blew it. And uh but
luckily Ben sent me an email. It's like, hey man,

(28:35):
you know, I realized the other night it was it
was kind of a weird situation. So that like two
days after that, he had me into his office. And
that's how I got that meeting by screwing those songs
up so bad, and it did let my first publishing do.
Oh god, that would give me so much anxiety that
I don't I know, I always every time I tell
that story, I bet you there's like don't follow that route,

(28:59):
like want to that well because also like I'm a
I'm a terrible singer and a like a serviceable guitar player.
But I've been to that that party so many times
and been handed the guitar so many times and got
like halfway through Blackbird, I'm like, I remember the lyrics. Oy, yeah, dude,

(29:21):
it's a scary. It's a it was like I didn't
sleep at all that night. I remember just being like dude,
and because I mean, like I said, I was, you know,
four years into town. So like every meeting, I was
putting so much pressure on myself, you know, to like, dude,
you gotta you gotta make this work. You gotta make
this work, to where I beat myself up so much
because I mean, it was at that time where I

(29:43):
was kind of like, hey, I'd put a two year
kind of limit on me moving to town because I
moved to town later. You know, I was twenty six
and uh, and I was just like and then here
I am four years and I had another opportunity that
kind of blew it. I was almost to the point, man,
where I was like, dude, so I need to go
back to Louisiana and get a job and call my

(30:05):
buddy up that you know, hey, man, didn't work out.
You got a job, and I burned four years of
my life because you suggested this. Dude, you got a job,
why don't you just fire me and like let me
stay bet. You have a lot of great songs, but
I think I think it Singles Up is my favorite one,
just because I'm engaged now. But it's a song that

(30:26):
a lot of guys can relate to. It's like, hey man,
if this ever goes to ship, yeah, I'm wanna be here?
You know absolutely, that's that's exactly what that is. Where
did the song come from? I wrote that with Stephen
Dale Jones and Justin Ebach and Justin had just gotten
engaged and he said that a friend of his they
were somewhere in midtown. I thought that like losers a

(30:48):
red door somewhere, and one of them said, hey, you
were smart to never single her up, and Justin put
it in his phone. And so we're sitting in the
room that day and Justin said that he's that man,
is there anything to like, You're smart to never single
her up? And I was like, that's kind of cool,
Like it sounds cool. I've never heard it put like that.
So we started writing this song about having this amazing

(31:09):
girl that you never want to single her up. And
we got about halfway through, about an hour end or
right now, and I was like, guys, this is boring. Man, Like,
this is like I don't think this is the way
we need to do it. And I was like, but
if we switched it, because I don't know about you all,
but I've been in a situation where I've seen a
girl that was taken, but I always talked to myself like, dude,

(31:29):
I would be such a better boyfriend than the one
she had, And both both Justin and Stephen they were like, dude,
me too, man, Like I've been there and like immediately
like flipped it in this song like came within an hour.
I always say that. It's like, man, I can remember
so many times in college just being like guy, man,
if that girl wasn't dating that clown, I would be

(31:51):
such a better boyfriend. But yeah, man, that that's one
of my still one of my favorite songs to play
out loud. You're married now? Up? Does your wife like
to hear that song? We played? Thing? She doesn't mind
sings you Up. There's a few other ones that that
she's not too too big on, uh take it from

(32:14):
me being one of them that's about you know an
X and then uh also like going Around is another
one that she's not crazy about because that's about another
another girl. So yeah, but she shedn't mind sing was
you up? At all things? You Up? Is a huge song.
So she's like, well, hey, as long as it keeps
getting played. Yeah, that one paid for the West wing

(32:34):
of the house. Yeah, that one. That one feeds her Amazon.
Do you remember the first time you heard yourself on
the radio? I do, and like it was yesterday. I
was in Houston, Texas. We were in a Sprouts parking
lot and I was down there with my set, my
radio rep. We were sitting out there and I remember thinking,

(32:56):
this is like one of my first first weekends out
with her, and she's awesome. She's one of my favorite
people in the world. But we were sitting in this
parking lot waiting to go somewhere because she knew it
was coming up, and I remember thinking, like, why don't
we just go? Like we could. I could see the
house that we were going to. It was like, why
don't we just go over there and like walk in.

(33:19):
She's like, oh, we're not supposed to be there until five,
and I was like that's like four minutes, Like why
wng we head that way, And sure enough it came
on after before he before he Cheats by Carrie Nawood,
so like Carrie Underwoods, like wrapping up. The DJ comes on,
he starts talking and then I hear that first lick
opening lick the singles you up, and I remember just

(33:40):
being like, WHOA, what is that? And she's filming the
whole time and then it breaks into my song and dude,
I lose it. I end up saying a bunch of
bad words. So we couldn't post it because my mom
kill me. But she's Southern bad as it gets, and
she she probably thinks I I have a kid. She
probably thinks that I still haven't you know, tested me,
but like she's like super sother bad is So I dropped.

(34:04):
I dropped a few bad words I couldn't use, but man,
it was. Dude, you never forget that that first time,
especially moving to town and like that being just such
a goal of mine. Uh, that one sticks with you
for for a long time. How do your parents feel
about your success now? Where they like that was an inevitability?
Or are they blown away? Where? How do they take it?
I think they're just as probably just as shocked as

(34:26):
I was that I'm where I'm at, you know, just
because you know, like you said, man, I never you know,
I never did the show thing. So it's like when
they come and see me now, you know, when I
was out on tour with Old Dominion or Rascal Flats
and we're playing these huge you know, either hockey arenas
or he's huge amphitheaters, uh, you know, we're opening up

(34:46):
for these iconic bands like the Flats. I think it's
just it's just crazy for them to see that and
and be like like where did this come from? They're
super surprised but super happy, and they've been super supportive
of just to move to Nash Show in general. You know,
after moving to town, I've realized that that wasn't always
the case with you know, people's parents, and because I
mean it is, man, it's a tough business, like and um,

(35:09):
and you know, no parent wants to see their their
kid embark on something that that most of the time
doesn't work out the way that they kind of see it.
But man, my parents are great and have been nothing
but supportive for me and Jacob, and it's been awesome.
You're a songwriter at heart, which is evident, and like
how well your songs are doing. But you you know,

(35:31):
you went to this town to have other people cut
your songs. Who would you love to have play one
of your songs that hasn't yet? Oh, man, if you
were to call me and tell me I got like
a Eric Church is cutting one of your songs, that
would be like, holy smokes, do you know a massive
Brad Paisley fan. That's one of like this thing when
the pandemic hit, we were slay to go out on
tour with them this summer and that had to go away,

(35:53):
and and you know, I don't think it's gonna work
out to get back out with them next year. So um,
you know that's like I was kind of heartbreaking. His
mud on the Tire record is one of one of
my favorite records of all time. And so yeah, like
a like a Church or Paisley like singing one of
my songs would be be pretty wild, pretty full circle.

(36:14):
What songwriters would you love to cover on one of
your records? Tom Douglas, Casey Bethard. And it's crazy, and
I'm sure you've probably heard a lot of them too,
but there's so many songs in town that like have
never been released, have never been recorded, that all there
is is a demo and it's you know, some of
the best songs that have ever been written. And I

(36:35):
feel like Casey and Tom are two that just have
this rollo deck of uncut songs that are amazing. I
was actually talking this morning. I wrote a song with
Hillary Lindsay and Jesse Frasier that's on this EP, and
Hillary singing on the track, and she just so her
voice is just so amazing that I want to just
be like Hillary, go and get twelve demos and just

(36:59):
record them and just them out like it. Just picked
the first twelve you see, and I guarantee it's like
it would end up being like a Grammy Award winning record.
But there's just so many talented writers in town and
so many amazing songs that I hope get heard, but unfortunately,
the sad thing is probably a lot of them won't.

(37:20):
But yeah, my two favorites, Casey Better and Tom Douglas.
The new EP, self titled Jordan Davis, is out now
almost maybe He's has been. The single that was released
has been out for a good bit. If people are
only familiar with that first single, what can they expect
from the rest of the record. Man, I'm all about
you know, even with Home State, like the balance is

(37:42):
such a big It's such a big thing with me
with my albums. You know, I have an amazing producer
in Paul de Giovanni, and we worked really hard and
having those songs that feel good and they're they're fun
to play live, because that's a huge thing of what
we do. So you have the songs like singles you
up almost maybe is taken from me, but but also
the balance of the songwriting with detours and church and

(38:05):
the Chevy and leaving New Orleans. You know, I hope
that it hits you is is, and I hope it
there's as much hard in it as as home state.
But it's just me, you know, this next chapter, in
this next kind of growth of me as as a person,
you know, as a new dad, as a husband, um,
just a little a little more, a little deeper look

(38:25):
into into me as a person, and growth as an
artist as well. I want to be respectful of your time,
so I want to let you go before I do.
Can we do some rapid fire questions with Jordan Davis? Absolutely?
All right? Here we go. First one favorite pizza to uh, sausage,
biggest mentor? O, my god, my grandfather's both of them.
What were they to you? Godly man, hard workers, blue

(38:48):
collar dudes? They were everything? Man? Just uh. I love
both of those guys a lot. Who's your first kiss?
Girl named Alicia in eighth grade? That's a late that's
the late first kiss? Too many As for be good?
I think yeah, I guess, so that's my first real
you know, like you don't count those like picks in
like fifth grade, playing like spin the bottle and stuff.
So yeah, Alicia, Oh my gosh, I'm blanking on the

(39:10):
last thing. That's probably good. Probably, Yeah, we'll just go
to Alicia. Alicia's gonna be listening to this being like
that motherfucker doesn't know. What was the first concert ever?
Went to John Anderson back in Streport at the Strand Theater.
You know, John Anders I guess it's probably early nineties

(39:31):
or something like that. What was your first car? Nineteen
sixty nine jeep wagon? Here? The wagon here? Did it
have the fake wood molding on the side. So they
started making that in seventy So I was the last
sixty was the last year that it was just illuminum
or whatever, metal siding all the way around. But the
brakes were iffy at best. And then there's a leak

(39:54):
in the gas tank, so that whenever I got to school,
I smelled like gasoline for being It was terrible, horrible car,
cool but horrible car. Yeah, God, and Alicia still kiss you, man,
that's amazing. Who would you call to bail you out
of jail. Let's see, there'll be a lot of there.

(40:15):
There'd be a lot of people. So I would call
my brother. He would fail me out. But if it
would be like like somebody, like a famous person to
bail me out of jail, I would call Jake. Jake
would get me out of jail. Did you not ask
a questions? Because he probably I've been there. Did you
have any posters on your wall growing up? I did.
We had h I mean, you know, huge L. S

(40:36):
U fans, So we had like Kevin Falk, you know
all those like early L. S U guys, Josh Booty
Saints fans too, So we have like Bobby Abert, the
Cajun cannon. Yeah, just like Louisiana sports guys. And do
you have a nickname? I do Stick Figure. It's been
shortened to stick now. So, like, I'm a pretty tall guy.

(40:58):
In my freshman year of high school, I was probably
six three a buck forty, and but I was I
was pretty good at baseball. So the first practice, I
was like the skinniest cat out there. And there's a
senior that when we were running the bases. Apparently when
I was running he was like, who's that skinny cat

(41:19):
and they're like, oh, I don't know some freshman and
they're like, dude, looks like a stick figure and dude,
it just stuck. I still people still in treports like
it got. It got so well received that my mom
still calls me stick pretty wild. I like that mom

(41:39):
leading into it too. Yeah, Jordan Davis, thanks so much
for being on the Wells Cast. The new self titled
EP is out. Now go listen to it wherever you
listen to music. If people want to support you in
your music, where should they go get your music? Jeez,
I don't know, like I say, now like a stream it.

(42:00):
I know everybody's moving to a streaming world, but yeah,
I mean Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, you know, if you
want to buy it on YouTube or on iTunes, you know,
have at it. Uh, you know, come to a show.
I mean that's that's like my my my thing is,
like you know, obviously listening to music, but like we

(42:21):
have a blast man, Like we're we I feel like
I've got one of the best bands in the business,
and we put a lot of work into our show.
So yeah, if you want to support us, come out
to a show. I promise you it's gonna be a
good time by the record at the merch table with
a T shirt. Right, Yeah, there you go. Is there
anything that I didn't ask you that you wanted to

(42:41):
talk about or promote? I think that's it, man, Dude.
I appreciate you having me on dude and talking about
the EP. Dude. I'm a fan, man, so love what
you're doing. And hopefully we get to get to talk
again soon. Yeah, hopefully at some point I'll be back
in Nashville. Thank you so much, man. Your story is
crazy and funny and super inspiring. And yeah, everyone out
there go check out the new EP, self titled Jordan Davis. Dude.

(43:04):
Thanks so much, man. Awesome, wells appreciated, brother. All right later, man,
stay safe out there. But I love that. I love that.
I mean there are the people who are famous, who
are hell bent and determined to be famous, and then
there are people out there that all they set out
to do was make something great, make something beautiful. That's

(43:27):
what he That's all he wanted, right. He was a songwriter.
He wanted to be a songwriter. He wanted to write
beautiful music that other people could go on tour with
and put on their records. And then someone was like,
this guy's six three, good looking, big beard. He needs
to be a front man. And I feel terrible for
doing the thing that I did, which was like the

(43:49):
Bachelor wrong reasons thing, the right reasons thing. But it's true.
He got into the music industry for the right reasons
because he wanted to make good music. It wasn't about
how a tour bus and groupies and giant mansion and
Beverly Hills. Anyway, super cool dude, really really interesting story again.

(44:10):
The new single is almost Maybe's. The new EP is
self titled Jordan Davis No wonder this one just killed
but he hasn't even a little told ray since you

(44:30):
want to, but I can't help but that I can't
take my eyes awful your favorite songs. Oh man, we've
all been there, right. That was a cool episode. If
you liked it, go uh rate and review on the
app and play stores all that stuff. And yeah, you

(44:50):
want to hit me up, you can Wells cast at
my heart radio dot com. You can also just tweets
me at Wells Adams or Instagram dm me. If there
are people that you'd like to here on the show, Yeah,
tweet to us about it and we'll see if we
can line it up. And so that's that, all right.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go have a beer now, all right.
I'm gonna go sit around a bonfire and play the guitar,

(45:12):
drink a bunch of whiskey and butcher some songs, and
who knows, maybe I'll get signed to a deal later.
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