- 2 months ago
Jordan Davis joins Katie Neal to talk about his 2026 plans and his own ultimate 'Totally Private' dream concert, inside our Nashville studios at the Hard Rock Cafe.
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00:00Jordan Davis, welcome. Thank you for doing this. You are my last interview of the year, buddy.
00:05Oh, that's awesome. We did it.
00:07Yeah, we did it.
00:08Putting a bubble on 2020.
00:10Oh, my God. I know. It feels like it's been the longest year and the shortest year at the same time.
00:15Which I'm sure that you also feel that.
00:17Yeah, it's definitely the...
00:19He kind of like...
00:20Look back on shows that you played in January.
00:23Well, you can't notice we were overseas.
00:25It's in January, so it's like...
00:26Somebody said that the other day.
00:27He's like, dude, it's crazy to think we're in Australia.
00:30And I was like, wait, that was this year?
00:32That feels like that was six years ago.
00:35No, it is nuts.
00:37It's nuts.
00:37Are you doing anything for New Year's?
00:39No.
00:40So, we're playing the Citrus Bowl.
00:41So, we'll be in Orlando.
00:42Oh, you are?
00:43Oh, my God.
00:43Yeah, we'll be in Orlando.
00:44We'll be in Orlando.
00:45Down to the Citrus Bowls for New Year's.
00:48That would be a good one.
00:48I...
00:50People are, I feel like, you either love New Year's or hate it.
00:52I hate, like, a halfway New Year's.
00:53Like, I either want to be in...
00:55Ride by nine and miss the whole thing or I want to be out until 3 a.m.
00:58Yeah.
00:59Yeah.
01:00And I lean towards the 9 o'clock one, but...
01:02Yeah, same.
01:03Which is easier now.
01:05Like, all the kiddos, you know, so you put them down and, you know...
01:10We'll just act like it's...
01:11Let's act like it's midnight at 10.
01:13How about...
01:14You know, we'll watch...
01:15We'll watch a different ball drop and celebrate it then.
01:19What do they do for toddlers?
01:20Whereas I did, like, a New Year's Eve.
01:21I've seen somebody post about that before.
01:23For toddlers, I'll do it.
01:25I'll do it for myself.
01:26Like, let's...
01:27I'll do it a New Year's Eve.
01:28I love that.
01:29I feel that.
01:30More and more, like, I do with, like, new music releases.
01:32Like, whenever I'm...
01:33Like, I stay up till midnight when Taylor Swift puts...
01:35This new album out, but I'm like, God, I wish she would do this at, like, four.
01:38I know, right?
01:39I don't want to have to...
01:40I don't feel like staying up till 1.30, listening to the songs, and then following...
01:45You're not in love with the record, and then you end up staying up till 3, because you
01:47go back and listen to it again, so...
01:49Exactly.
01:49Exactly.
01:50Are you...
01:50Do you do New Year's resolutions?
01:53Uh, yeah.
01:54Yeah.
01:54I'm...
01:55I mean, me and Kristen usually try to do...
01:57Yeah, like...
01:58We do them.
02:00I don't know how good we are at sticking to them, but, like, I've never been, like...
02:05You know, it's just something to...
02:09I feel like it's something...
02:10You're gonna get busy, because I feel like the holidays is...
02:13This is, like, my favorite time.
02:15I mean, you're, hey, I love Christmas, love New Year's, but it's like you have those...
02:19The two weeks where...
02:20You have nothing to do, so it's like, I'm gonna wake up at 5 a.m., go to the gym, swim...
02:25Start doing cardio, because you have nothing going on, and, like...
02:29Yeah, it feels so good.
02:30Like, this is so easy.
02:31I'm crushing this.
02:31Like, it...
02:32Yeah, you're like, wait, what?
02:33This is...
02:33I feel awesome.
02:34Like, why?
02:35Why do I not do this for 365 days a year, and then you start to...
02:40Then the world picks back up.
02:42You come out of the holidays, and you're like, oh...
02:45This is why I don't do this, like, so consistently.
02:47I know.
02:48I was thinking about this this morning.
02:49I was like, I...
02:50I wonder what it would be like, because I see so many of my friends who have, like,
02:53a very, like, normal, everyday job that...
02:55Like, they do.
02:55They get to do the same thing.
02:56They have, like, the same breakfast.
02:57They have the same routine.
02:58And I'm like, I can't remember...
02:59I couldn't tell you the last...
03:00Last time I did the same thing three days in a row.
03:02Ever.
03:02No.
03:03And that's the...
03:04You know...
03:05We always talk about, like...
03:07I'll see people, like, on TikTok or Instagram.
03:10It's, like, these people I follow that are like, oh, here's my schedule.
03:13I wake up at 5 a.m.
03:15I do this.
03:16I work out.
03:17I journal.
03:18I read.
03:19And...
03:20And then I want to be like, when do you work?
03:21Like, how do you...
03:23Yeah.
03:23Where does your money come from?
03:23When are you in that?
03:24Like...
03:25When are you in that?
03:25Like...
03:25I know.
03:26It's like, dude, I woke up in L.A., New Mexico, and Phoenix, and...
03:30In a three-day period.
03:31So, like, my life doesn't fit that.
03:34But...
03:35But, hey, hats off to them.
03:37I wish I was more like that.
03:39No, I know.
03:39So...
03:40What would you say have been...
03:41I know you were talking about, like, you were overseas in January.
03:43What do you feel like have been biggest...
03:45Highlights for you, both musically and personally, from this year?
03:48Yeah.
03:48I mean, musically, you know...
03:50The Australian run was pretty awesome.
03:53It was our first time going over there.
03:54Yeah.
03:55And it was far exceeded expectations.
04:00You know, so much so that we're turning around and going right back
04:02beginning of next year.
04:05But...
04:05That was definitely a highlight.
04:07You know, just mainly because it was.
04:09It was the first time.
04:09Yeah.
04:10And it went really well.
04:12So, the headlining tour, we just wrapped up.
04:15A couple months ago, was a lot of fun.
04:18You know, obviously, brand new record.
04:20Record out that we're really proud of.
04:22So, those are three of the big wins.
04:25On the music side, and then personally, you know, welcoming a brand new record.
04:30Getting a new baby this year was pretty awesome.
04:34So, that was definitely...
04:35Definitely the highlight on the personal side.
04:37Welcome and sweet.
04:40Sweet Sadie to the world.
04:41She's been awesome.
04:42I was going to say, how are the kids?
04:44I saw you're like...
04:45I think it was your Thanksgiving post.
04:46And I was like, God, those are all such cute kids.
04:49Yeah.
04:50They're some Rugrats, man.
04:51They are.
04:52They're cute kids.
04:53My boys are driving me crazy.
04:54Yeah.
04:55You know, I say that.
04:56It's just, they're getting to the fun age where it's just...
05:00Chaos, but they're all doing great.
05:03You know, Eloise started kindergarten this year.
05:05This year, you know, Lachlan, my oldest boy, is...
05:10Starting to go to school like four days a week.
05:11So, it's awesome and crazy at the same time.
05:15Because, you know, our house is always just utter chaos.
05:20It's loud stuff going on.
05:23And then they start going to school and...
05:25You know, you drop them off, you come home, and the house is, like, quiet as a church.
05:28You're like, wait.
05:30What do I do now?
05:31So, you get used to the noise, but...
05:35But it's good.
05:36They're growing up, and everybody's happy, and it's been a good year.
05:40That's good.
05:41I was going to say, boys that age, I feel like, just have an endless amount of energy.
05:45Like, you're like, where does it come from?
05:46It's the Energizer Bunny.
05:48And that's the thing.
05:48It's like, they're, you know...
05:50Getting into sports, it's just like...
05:55It's become...
05:55It's the fun age, where, you know, they want to go do stuff with me.
05:58They want to, you know, go...
06:00Go to the camp, or go out and just do stuff and hang out.
06:04So, it's a...
06:05It's fun, but, yeah, it definitely makes for long days.
06:08I bet.
06:08Have you taken any of them out hunting?
06:10Yeah, or they're probably about that old, right?
06:13Yeah, so, my old...
06:14My four...
06:15My four-year-old, he's ready to go.
06:16He wants to do his first duck hunt this year, so...
06:20After the holiday, I'm going to take him out and...
06:25Put him in some camo and some waders and, you know, just take him out with his little beef.
06:30Maybe gun and let him act like he's duck hunting.
06:33So, that's all he wants to do, so...
06:35Oh, my gosh.
06:35But, yeah, we did a lot of fishing this year, though.
06:37So, we were...
06:40Bad news for Brim on Percy Priest this year, so we had a lot of fun out on the boat.
06:44That's awesome.
06:45I, before this, I was looking at your Instagram and I was cracking up what you had just posted
06:48about, like, what I mean when I say I'm going to have...
06:50One more drink and I think it looked like you were, like, at a wedding or something, smoking
06:53a cigar, having a fabulous...
06:55Yeah, that was...
06:58That was the first weekend...
07:00A friend of ours got married and we went down and it was an amazing wedding and...
07:05And we had the first weekend away from the kids, so me and...
07:10Really?
07:10Yeah, me and Kristen cut loose and, yeah, I just so happened to...
07:15Hop up with a DJ, tequila in hand with a cigar and...
07:20I was really feeling...
07:22I was really feeling the vibes that night, you know, so...
07:25It looked like it...
07:26It was a blast.
07:27This might be a stupid question, but not having facial hair...
07:30I don't know, but I would assume that, like, you wake up after smoking a cigar like that
07:34and your beard has got to...
07:35And be, like, full of smoke.
07:36No, Kristen hated me for, like, three days.
07:38I mean, it was, like...
07:39Oh, that's...
07:40Oh, that's...
07:40Like, how do you get that out?
07:42I know, well...
07:43And that's the thing, it's like, there's no...
07:45hiding cigars like you know there's no cologne there's no beard oil
07:50shampoo that you can you can uh use to get rid of that so that was the things like
07:55i love smoking cigars um you know we used to on the road you know
08:00post-show we would always sit around smoke cigars and for that reason i quit
08:05i was like man i love smoking cigar at the time i hate
08:10smelling that cigar for two days after so uh yeah she wasn't
08:15a fan of me she stayed away from me for the for a few days after that hey
08:20over cures do you happen to have a go-to one i feel like dad of four you've got to have
08:25something good you know my my old hangover cure was you just you just jump back on
08:30the bike uh you know usually brunch i feel like in college
08:35even my early nashville days you know that was always kind of like well everybody's feeling pretty
08:40rough i might as well go to brunch and see if a buddy mary can fix this uh yeah or uh
08:45uh a manmosa a beer and orange juice that that was usually my my hangover
08:50cure now i've never heard of that a manmosa a manmosa yeah
08:55that's uh that's good i don't know where i heard that from but uh i was at a restaurant
09:00and everybody was drinking mimosas and i was like man i'm not doing champagne
09:05buddy mary's not feeling right and a buddy of mine's like dude you should get a manmosa
09:08and i've been hooked ever since
09:10i was like that's genius uh so uh yeah now
09:15nowadays it's um you know i really just slam water
09:20i like just like i know i'm dehydrated i try to stay away from like tylenine or advil
09:25uh so i'm just like all right it's almost like my punishment to myself
09:30you know where you wake up and you're like you didn't need you didn't
09:35need the fourth glass of eagle rare you did you should have just you were
09:40good at three uh the fourth was a little aggressive yeah
09:45uh so yeah it's almost like that's your punishment to yourself to be like all right you gotta you
09:50put yourself here you gotta ride this thing out so uh it really is now just like hydrating
09:55you sneak in like the light blue gatorade i can't remember uh oh god
10:00that is my favorite one yeah those are awesome so gatorade and water i had a
10:05pretty bad hangover i can't remember how long ago it was and i door dashed because i could not leave
10:08the house a light blue
10:10gatorade and you know sometimes they take like their own personal liberty and they just are like
10:13well they're out of that so i got you this
10:15and they brought back like the most like neon pink like a red one yeah no i can't do this
10:20yeah that's this isn't what i asked for this this gatorade was very
10:25specific purpose and yeah and you show up with a fruit punch gatorade and
10:30and uh now i want to yeah so that's uh oh my gosh
10:35yeah that's my that's my fix um yeah unless you're on vacation and
10:40you just yeah you just get right back on it yeah so we talked about what highlights of 20
10:452025 were what are you looking forward to in 2026 yeah 2026 is the
10:50you know it's it's actually we're doing we're doing a headline tour and
10:55europe and australia uh kicking the year off february and march over there
11:00and then coming back and still playing uh a decent amount of shows next year but
11:05you know we're not playing as many as we as we usually do so i'm actually
11:10looking forward to you know a year that's a little lighter than what we've been doing
11:15uh mainly because i've really like i think as busy as i've been
11:20in with with touring and making learn the hard way um
11:25i really haven't been able to to really sit down and and write like i'm
11:30like either been coming into town and writing for a couple days or bringing buddies out
11:35and um you know writing on the road uh so i'm really excited
11:40excited for next year to to continue writing and making a new record um
11:45i i feel like i'm really excited to to get back to songwriting
11:50and uh and and i'm glad that next year is a little lighter so that i can do that so i'm really stoked to
11:55to make a new record and uh and and do some touring overseas it's gonna be a great year that's awesome
12:00yeah i was looking at your touring schedule and i was like this is either lighter on purpose or he hasn't announced some stuff yet
12:05but i you leave for europe like right at the end of february and then you do like all of us
12:10australia new zealand is that like you leave for that month and then you don't come home at all or do you get
12:15some time to come back in between there yeah we're gonna come back for a week in between um okay
12:20you know we did like this is a long time to be gone yeah you know and we did
12:25we've done it before you know we went to uh i felt
12:30like the last time we did europe i was gone for way too long and uh you know it's just tough to
12:35be away from the kiddos that for that much time but um yeah this year i'm gonna go
12:40over and and then come back for like 10 days and then head back to australia that would be
12:45a good way to break that up because like any parent like any dad right now has got to be like
12:48what you got like that's so hard like it's
12:50great that you get to do what you love but being away from your kids that long has got to be i can't
12:52even imagine norton yeah it's uh
12:55it was tough and you know and i i did no pun intended learn it the hard way but uh
13:00you know because once you're over there you want to enjoy it and you want to you know it does
13:05like it you know the flights are long and you kind of got to get adjusted once you get over there and
13:09uh
13:10but yeah it i feel like we broke it up great um so like that'll be
13:15good for me to get back see them and then take back off to australia but uh but yeah i mean
13:20it was purposeful you know and and not playing as many shows as we have um
13:25you know for that reason and it has been it's like i didn't uh
13:30you know i know i've talked to you about this like you know songwriting is why i got into music and
13:35i i just feel like last year i didn't devote the time i needed to
13:40to it that like i should have i'm still super proud of the record we made um
13:45but uh but i'm excited this year to to really uh kind of bring that back to the top of the
13:50priority list and uh and and really go in and make something really cool in studio
13:55and then you had a little bit of downtime with the holidays and you're planning on doing some
13:58hunting do you have anything else that you guys
14:00have got planned yeah i mean really just uh you know i mean
14:05all the families coming up to nashville um you know it really does like
14:10you know it's christmas and uh you know all my buddies kind of revolve everything around
14:15you know hunting trips uh so we have a some really cool hunting trips planned what are you
14:20doing obviously like no we're getting to check off a bucket list hunt for me we're
14:25going to uh nebraska to hunt uh the north plat at the end of january
14:30uh which has been a place i've wanted to duck hunt for a long time
14:35uh and taking some good buddies up there to do that um i'm going to arkansas next weekend to
14:40one of my favorite places uh to to duck hunt and then me and my brother do
14:45a um you know we call it deer camp uh we bring all of our high school
14:50buddies up and some college buddies and uh we just you know go deer hunt for two or three
14:55three days and and get to catch up and uh so it kind of always revolves
15:00around somebody else's hunting camp that we're going to uh but
15:05i'm excited that you know obviously my daughter's first christmas this year
15:10uh my kristen's family's coming in so we're having everybody come to nashville uh
15:15for christmas and new years and um and just getting to spend time with them some down time
15:20uh to kind of relax and recharge um that's that's really what
15:24that's really what
15:24that's really what
15:24i look most forward to of like we talked about earlier the days of waking up
15:29where there's nothing to do but watch football cook food and and and
15:34hang out with family i'm excited for that i feel like it's gotta be nice for you guys to like having
15:38four kids you get to be like
15:39hi you're all coming to us for the holidays we could not possibly travel to you
15:43i think i think that's one
15:44why we decided like hey let's keep going with kids because with every one
15:49yeah
15:49it's becoming easier to say i don't know if we can make it over there we got the kids you
15:54know uh so yeah it's it's great that you know they all get to come come here
15:59and you know good for them too that they they get to hang with grandkids and um
16:05you know maybe it gives me and christen a break to go do some other stuff while the
16:08kids hang with the grandkids so
16:09uh there's there's there's there's multiple wins on that so yeah yeah for sure um
16:14then also want to talk about your latest single this is the third one from the album turn this
16:18truck around talk about
16:19just writing the song and where the idea came from yeah uh man that was with josh thompson
16:24devin dawson and uh jake mitchell three crazy talented songwriters
16:29uh and and it's and it's really fun too because you know in the
16:34creative space of songwriting you know some days you're swinging for the
16:39chances or you just know you're going to walk in with the group you're writing with and
16:43write a great song and some
16:44sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't that's just you know the part of working
16:49in in a creative world and trying to make something up every day but uh
16:54this was special because i i just had a feeling i hadn't written with devin in forever
16:59um and i mean i absolutely love the dude to death and and it's like
17:04you know you go in thinking all right we're gonna get something great today i know it
17:09you had i had a feeling and it's just really cool when it actually happens and
17:14i knew the day we left that turn this truck around was going to be a song that i was going to record
17:19and um and and felt like it was going to be a big one and it's cool to
17:24kind of start seeing it pick up momentum uh but you know i'd always kind of thought about
17:29you know when i was a kid me and jacob would be in the back seat and
17:34my dad would all you know we if we were fighting or arguing he would always turn around and say
17:39hey boys don't let me turn this truck around you know i'll i'll turn it we'll go back home and
17:44uh you know we kind of started talking about i can't remember what the
17:49first idea was and for some reason that saying and my dad popped in my head and
17:54and i kind of threw that out and uh we just kind of ran with it from there but uh
17:59uh man and two it's just a fun day of writing like uh i think you
18:04know anytime you're around people as good as as those three guys are it makes you want to be better
18:09um i just remember that it's just a really really really fun day
18:14day of creating and um another day where you just say like man i'm blessed to get to do this and
18:19um and happy to see that that people are loving it the way they are yeah it is it's such a great song
18:24so you're going to do something for us um in january you're going to play a totally private show here at the hard rock
18:29listeners gonna win and they're gonna get to come and it's just like you the four of them it's one of my favorite things i've ever
18:34given away on the radio but like this is someone's dream obviously to come see you play a private show like
18:39this who would be the person that you would want a private show with that like
18:44like if you could be oh gosh if we're if we're doing anybody like john prion would have
18:49been the guy that i would have given every cent i had to
18:54to be in a room to just hear stories and and listen to him sing
18:59and uh but man that i mean there's you know chris state
19:04you know to be that that close to
19:09that voice would be pretty sick but yeah you know i think with
19:14it
19:14if i had to say anybody it would be john prion um he
19:19was why i fell in love with it you know why i started writing songs
19:24songs uh so that would have been my my dream living room show that's a great
19:29one thank you so much for doing this
19:34thank you so much for watching
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