Jordan Davis’ ‘Buy Dirt’ Earns Him CMA Nominations For Second Year In A Row: ‘I Was Pumped’
“Buy Dirt” is a career-changing song for Jordan Davis.
Jordan Davis; Photo Provided
Jordan Davis’ chart-topping hit, “Buy Dirt” continues to be a career-changing song for the rising superstar.
When the Country Music Association announced the 56th annual CMA nominations on Wednesday (Sept. 7), Davis saw his name on the list not once, but twice for his song featuring Luke Bryan.
“I think that kinda speaks to the song and how it’s affected so many people. It’s been crazy, just the life of that song, but I was pumped,” he told Country Now.
Davis is currently nominated for both Single of the Year and Song of the Year and for the first time in CMA history, three of the five nominees for Single of the Year are collaborations. In addition to Davis’ “Buy Dirt” feat. Bryan, the other nominees include “Half of My Hometown” by Kelsea Ballerini feat. Kenny Chesney, “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” by Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde, “’Til You Can’t” by Cody Johnson and “You Should Probably Leave” by Chris Stapleton.
The “Almost Maybes” singer already had a day of golf planned, but once he heard the news, it turned into a celebration on the course with his brother and co-writer, Jacob Davis.
“I think that’s telling me I spend too much time out there,” he joked.
The other songwriters that had a hand in creating this hit song are Josh Jenkins and Matt Jenkins.
“Josh and Matt, I love those guys to death. We were all pretty pumped up.”
When writing a song, there’s no telling how well it will do among the fanbase, but as Davis explained, their job is to write the songs the best they can and hope that it resonates with their listeners as much as it does with them. They took the same approach with “Buy Dirt,” but regardless of what happened to it, they knew it was something they could be proud of.
“I do remember us finishing this one and Josh saying, ‘you know what? I don’t know where this song goes, if you cut it, if somebody else cuts it, but we should be really, really proud of this.’ We were at a writing retreat when we did that and that night when I started to come back to Nashville, I just couldn’t stop listening to it,” Davis recalled. “I was like, ‘man, he was right. This is a special song.’”
This will be the second year that Davis has been nominated for a CMA award, his first being last year when he earned a nomination for Musical Event of the Year with “Buy Dirt.” Although he did not take home the win last year, he was still “honored” to be considered.
“It’s definitely raised it’s his hand as the one to get acknowledged. Either way, we were honored. I always say it’s a win to be nominated. There’re so many great songs out there and if you look at both of these categories, there’s some amazing songwriters that have written some great songs. So it really is a win to be nominated.”
Following the release of his collaboration with Bryan, the Louisiana native dropped two other singles, “Next Thing You Know” and “What My World Spins Around.” These songs follow the same vein in terms of their addicting melodies and sentimental storylines and Davis teased that there is more of that to come with his next project.
“They are really a testament of what this next record is,” he shared. “I feel like I’m in a good writing spot, you know? I feel like I’m just more comfortable. I’ve been trying to avoid the whole thing that every artist says like, ‘yeah, this next album’s gonna be the best thing I’ve ever put out.’ It’s like, well, it should be ‘cause you should get better, but I can honestly say that this is the most real and honest I’ve ever been in releasing songs as an artist.”
He added, “Writing on some topics like ‘Next Thing You Know,’ I don’t think I’d write that song five years ago. I definitely wouldn’t write that song without kiddos.”
Davis explained that he has an upcoming song in the works which was inspired by his parents’ divorce, another topic he “never thought” he would write about.
“I really think it’s just me becoming more confident and knowing my fan base and knowing what I think that they want to want to hear from me. Those releases just felt like they fell in line with where we’re going with this next album.”
At the end of the month, Davis will bring his new songs along with some tracks from his debut album, Home State, to his back-to-back headlining performances at the historic Ryman Auditorium. He’s scheduled to play the Nashville venue on Sept. 27 and Sept. 28 with some surprise friends that will join him on stage.
“I’m excited. We have a lot of guests coming out to help us. Being in Nashville in the early week, we have a lot of buddies that are home so there’s gonna be some special guests joining us. To me, that’s kind of the pinnacle. The Ryman has such a special place in country music, has a special place in my career and my lineage. My grandfather used to drive down from Kentucky to watch shows at the Ryman so it’s gonna be a special couple nights.”
Davis revealed that he never thought he would get to play at the Ryman, let alone sell out both nights.
“I remember driving by that, touring it and being like, ‘man, what a special place in country music. It’d be cool to play here one day.’”
“You just gotta thank the good Lord for giving you the opportunity to do what you’re doing,” he said.
Soon he’ll be right back out on the road in support of Luke Combs’ The Middle of Somewhere Tour that kicked off earlier this month and will run through the fall.
“I’ve been such a fan of Luke, not only is a musician and singer, he’s just is just a really good guy and it always makes tours a lot better when you got a bunch of good people around.”
Davis will have a short break before he hits the ground running again, but this time, he will be joining Thomas Rhett on the road for the Canada leg of his Bring The Bar To You Tour. This stint of shows will launch on Feb. 9.
“Wherever TR wants me to play, I’m there, I love that guy of death.”
With each tour, Davis reveals that he strives to learn more and more about this craft and grow as an artist in new ways.
“Everybody has their ways of performing and their ways of putting their shows together and their set list and I think that it just kind of inspires you to make your show better, to make it smoother and to make it flow easier.”
Jordan Davis is next slated to perform on Sept. 9 in Fort Madison, IA.
Madeleine O’Connell graduated from North Central College with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Broadcast Communications before deciding to pursue her studies further at DePaul University. There, she earned her masters degree in Digital Communication & Media Arts. O’Connell served as a freelance writer for over two years while also interning with the Academy of Country Music, SiriusXM and Circle Media and assisting with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast. In addition to Country Now, she has been published in American Songwriter, Music Mayhem, and Holler.Country. Madeleine O’Connell is a member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
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