{"id":15947,"date":"2019-06-14T08:42:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T14:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1807891"},"modified":"2019-06-14T08:42:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T14:42:05","slug":"why-jordan-davis-swapped-sharks-for-nashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/why-jordan-davis-swapped-sharks-for-nashville\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Jordan Davis Swapped Sharks for Nashville"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span> 24m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

When he was faced with a fork in the road, and he had to make a decision, Jordan Davis<\/a> chose happiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds so cheesy,\u201d David told me when we caught up this week, \u201cbut it was really just a happiness thing. It was one of those things where I felt like my heart wasn\u2019t fully in what I was doing. I felt that tug to give music a chance. I was only 24, and I told myself that if I was ever going to give Nashville a shot, that was the time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he\u2019d made his choice to chase that neon rainbow, Davis was already well on his way to a lifetime in environmental science. He\u2019d graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in Environmental Science and Resource Conservation, then worked at Ocearch tracking sharks through the ocean. (There is even one white shark pup that Ocearch named \u201cSingles You Up\u201d in honor of Davis\u2019 debut single.)<\/p>\n

After he made the move, and he was where his heart told him to go, the move meant that Davis would have to give up his steady paycheck and turn to his go-to college job: bartending. He did that for three years, at a bar just east of downtown Nashville. \u201cWe live in such a keeping-up-with-the-Jones world, and that made it tough to see my friends excelling in their careers. I was 27,\u201d he said, \u201cand I was still bartending.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that said, the silver lining for Davis was surrounding himself with songwriters. \u201cI was meeting people who have been songwriting full time, for a long time. And I feel like that made me a better songwriter during those years,\u201d he said. \u201cI was much happier being in Nashville, and waking up to write songs every day.\u201d That was also the time when he was honing his show skills. \u201cMy first paid gig was at a bar down in Jacksonville, Alabama. I made $200. But I had to pay my whole band so we didn\u2019t make money. And there were only about seven people in there, on a Monday or Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was exactly what I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Davis eventually got comfortable on all the stages, even when that stage is just Jake Owen\u2019s bus.)<\/p>\n

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TGIF, y\u2019all. Please enjoy this video I took of @JordanCWDavis<\/a> and @jakeowen<\/a> singing a 1989 Shenandoah song on the bus. @Shenandoahband<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/xdZEDyYuyr<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Alison Bonaguro (@alisonbonaguro) May 3, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now that he\u2019s in Nashville \u2014 writing, singing and playing for a living \u2014 Davis told me that some of the songs he loves the most are the ones he grew up on. The ones that make you ask questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad was a huge fan of singer-songwriters, like Don Williams, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, and Jim Croce. They\u2019d write lyrics so well that I\u2019d always have questions. Like, \u2019Who is<\/em> bad, bad Leroy Brown?\u2019 And so my dad would have to explain that, and he loved that. Until I was about nine years old and he had to hide some stuff from me, like when I asked what it meant when there\u2019s a hole in daddy\u2019s arm where all the money goes,\u201d he laughed. That famous lyric is from a 1971 Prine tune, \u201cSam Stone,\u201d about a veteran with a drug problem.<\/p>\n

Prine was obviously a vast influence on Davis, because when I asked him for a few of his favorite songs, ones he wishes he\u2019d written, he said this: \u201cAnything that Prine has written, like \u2019Hello in There,\u2019 \u2019Spanish Pipedream\u2019 and so many more. But I also wish I\u2019d written songs that are out now, like Brothers Osborne\u2019s \u2019Stay a Little Longer\u2019 and Cole Swindell\u2019s \u2019Break Up in the End.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis\u2019 next tour stop<\/a> is on Saturday (June 15) in Peoria, Illinois.<\/p>\n

Embedded from www.youtube.com<\/a>.