Jordan Davis’s Journey: From Bartending to Country Music Fame

This week on Backstage Country, Alaina Smith is joined by country music hitmaker Jordan Davis as co-host. Tune in and listen as Davis talk about his debut album, the song that made people consider him a songwriter and playing shows in New Zealand and Australia. 

Smith and Davis talked about his debut album and if he wanted to release “Slow Dance in a Parking Lot” as a single. Davis said the song always felt different and something that always stood out to him. He added, “The story came from a very honest place. Lonnie Fowler is who I wrote this with, and this was truly his first date with his wife. He told me that they had a dance in a parking lot on their first date when he was taking her home.” Davis chuckled, “I was like, ‘Dude, if that's not a country song, I don't know what is.’” 

He continued, “At the time I wrote it, I was still bartending. I was still trying to get something going. I remember I just had this guitar vocal from the day me and Lonnie wrote it and just kind of started sending it around town. This was the first song that I felt people started taking a look at me as a writer. I'd had a couple meetings and a couple songs that I felt pretty good about, but this is the first one where I [felt], ‘All right, if this one doesn't perk some ears, then maybe I need to move back to Louisiana.’” 

Smith shared how she saw videos of Davis’s shows in New Zealand and Australia where the crowd are singing his songs and how she couldn’t even hear him. Davis said it was crazy and exceeded expectations. He added, “We have an amazing fan base in Australia but I didn't expect that. One of the coolest moments ever on stage was playing in Brisbane, the weather was kind of rolling in. I brought along a buddy of mine named Luke Combs.” 

Smith laughed and joked “Oh yeah, that guy. So nice of you.” Davis chimed, “I let him close the shows just cause I'm a nice guy. But the weather was coming in and I was getting nervous because I could see lightning and clouds coming. And even in our ears, we thought, ‘Hey guys, we might have to cut this short and try to get Luke on as fast as possible.’” 

Don’t miss out on the magic! Listen to Jordan Davis’s songs and subscribe to his YouTube channel.