With Bluebird Days, Jordan Davis didn’t just top charts—he rewrote the record books, becoming the first artist to snag Song of the Year trophies for two tracks off the same album. The five-times platinum “Buy Dirt” and three-times platinum “Next Thing You Know” helped fuel four straight No. 1s for Davis, pushing his career total to eight. Now, with his new album Learn the Hard Way, the Louisiana hitmaker isn’t just in the game—he’s winning it.
“My biggest fear is making the same record or not growing, or not becoming a better writer, or not pushing the boundaries when it comes to recording songs,” said Davis, ASCAP Songwriter of the Year. “I truly hope that people who hear this record can hear that, that we did something different.”
While it might have been tempting to repeat the formula for his commercially and critically acclaimed Bluebird Days, Davis was determined to take a different approach. The result is a 17-song collection that unquestionably elevates Davis from country music’s most consistent support artist to 2025 leading man status.
The album is home to his Carly Pearce collaboration “Mess With Missing You,” his Marcus King jam “Louisiana Stick,” his most recent No. 1 song “I Ain’t Sayin’,” current Top 10 “Bar None,” and his critically acclaimed “Turn This Truck Around.”
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Jordan Davis: “We Took Some Chances”
“We took some chances,” Davis said. “We changed things up in the studio, and we approached songwriting differently. I tried to make something that we haven’t done before. I honestly think we did it.”
Instead of leaning into trends, Davis leaned into his influences. For the first time, he intentionally wrote songs he hoped would showcase his adoration of artists, including Jim Croce and The Allman Brothers. Davis started writing appointments to dive into his favorite artists for inspiration.
“Looking back, if I’m outside fan looking in, it’s kind of like, ‘Alright, where’s the Jim Croce stuff?’” he said. “Songwriting is something that all of those influences were incredible at. But where was the musical side of those influences?”
He wanted Southern rock and rootsy soul to flow through Learn the Hard Way, and he thinks it does.
“We really wanted to make a more organic-sounding album,” he said. “There were a lot of the same writers on this album as Bluebird Days, so it was fun for all of us to really challenge ourselves to do something different in the writing room.”
Jordan Davis Didn’t Want to Remake ‘Bluebird Days’
The success of “I Ain’t Sayin’” is another confirmation that taking chances can pay off. The song, written by Travis Wood, Steve Moakler, Mark Holman, and Emily Reid, topped the country radio charts in the U.S. and the U.K., an impressive accomplishment as consumers often value different artistic elements in other countries. Given that country music themes and production can be specific, it’s sometimes complicated for the genre’s songs to top international charts. It’s also the first of his radio singles that Davis didn’t write.
“I think as long as you keep the universal connection at the core of the music and when every writer sits down, they remember that no matter how personal the song, that at the end of it, they have to release it into the world for people to find their connection to it, it works,” Davis said.
The fact that Davis recorded the song at all required him to set his ego aside. The “I Ain’t Sayin’” writers accomplished something with the song Davis couldn’t. While he is satisfied with how his influences show up on Learn the Hard Way, he couldn’t recapture the magic of his early songs “Singles You Up” and “Take It From Me.” He and his producer had discussed writing new songs that circled back to his early hits, and Davis tried. A lot. He listened to his titles and knew “I Ain’t Sayin’” was better. Instead of spending his time trying to beat it—he opted to record it.
Then he got to call the writers and tell them their song had gone No. 1—a heartwarming experience for him that reinforced that he had made the right decision.
‘Learn the Hard Way’ Required a Reset
Davis admitted that Learn the Hard Way was the hardest of his three albums for him to write. It’s why there were two years between albums two and three. He didn’t plan it that way, but about a year into the writing process, he realized he was out of ideas and didn’t like what he had. The father of four had to reprioritize his life, putting his roles as a dad and husband back on top, and then live his life.
“I think you do have to kind of live a little bit of life and find that inspiration,” he said. “The more stories you get to hear, the more you get to talk to people, the more places you get to see. It’s where those songs live anyway.”
Now Davis couldn’t be prouder of how the album came together.
“I do think that there’s a new side of some of these songs that I haven’t shown in past records,” he said. “One of the best things about living in a town with so many talented writers and getting to work with a lot of them is you leave every write inspired to get better. I hope I always feel like I have yet to write my best song, and I’m going to keep that mentality for as long as I keep sitting down and trying to make words rhyme.”
(Photo by: Patrick Tracy)
Learn The Hard Way Tracklist:
- “Her Way Or The Highway” (Jordan Davis, Paul DiGiovanni, Travis Wood, Josh Jenkins, Mark Holman)
- “Bar None” (Lydia Vaughan, Hunter Phelps, Ben Johnson)
- “Mess With Missing You” with Carly Pearce (Jordan Davis, Paul DiGiovanni, Travis Wood, Hillary Lindsey)
- “In Case You Missed It” (Jordan Davis, Jacob Davis, Paul DiGiovanni, Travis Wood)
- “Ain’t Enough Road” (Jordan Davis, Luke Dick, Ashley Gorley)
- “Son Of A Gun” (Jordan Davis, Jacob Davis, Josh Kerr, Lauren Hungate)
- “Jesus Wouldn’t Do” (Jordan Davis, Jacob Davis, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins)
- “Learn The Hard Way” (Paul DiGiovanni, Jon Pierce, Travis Wood)
- “I Ain’t Sayin’” (Travis Wood, Steve Moakler, Mark Holman, Emily Reid)
- “Good Gone Bad” (Jordan Davis, Matt Dragstrem, Chase McGill )
- “Memory Don’t Mess Around” (Jordan Davis, Jacob Davis, Paul DiGiovanni, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins)
- “Keeping The World Away” (Jordan Davis, Jacob Davis, Paul DiGiovanni, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins)
- “Know You Like That” (Ray Fulcher, Thomas Archer, Jordan Rowe, Michael Tyler)
- “Only All The Time” (Jordan Davis, Jacob Davis, Travis Wood, Mark Holman, Matt Roy)
- “Turn This Truck Around” (Jordan Davis, Devin Dawson, Jake Mitchell, Josh Thompson)
- “Louisiana Stick” with Marcus King (Jordan Davis, Paul DiGiovanni, Chase McGill, Ashley Gorley)
- “Muddy The Water” (Jordan Davis, Paul DiGiovanni, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins)
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