Country hitmaker hits the stage at the Clewiston Sugar Festival

Jordan Davis was aware he’d have a lot at stake when he turned his attention to making his second album.

“I don’t know how true it is, but I believed it,” Davis said in a recent phone interview. “The first album is kind of where you showed up to the party and then the second album is going to decide whether or not you get a chance to stay.”

And Davis had not only shown up at the party with his debut outing, “Home State,” he’d made himself a VIP by scoring a pair of No. 1 hits on “Billboard” magazine’s country airplay chart (“Singles You Up” and “Slow Dance in a Parking Lot”) and a third single, “Take it from Me,” which topped out at No. 2.

So not only did Davis’ second album need to earn him a more lasting reservation at the table of country music, but it also came with expectations that the music would once again make a real impression.

The 35-year-old Louisiana native decided the key to the album that became his recent 17-song release, “Bluebird Days,” was to open up as a songwriter, and like songwriters he admired, be more honest and vulnerable in his songs.

Honesty has indeed been a good policy in Davis’ music. “Bluebird Days” so far has given him two more No. 1 singles, “Buy Dirt” and “What My World Spins Around.” A third single, “Next Thing You Know,” recently reached No 2 on “Billboard’s” country airplay chart and he has a fourth single, “Tucson Too Late,” climbing the charts now.

Davis is getting to play his songs. He started 2024 with a tour of Europe and the United Kingdom and will be on tour in the states through September before heading north of the border in October for a run of shows through Canada. He’s bringing out his most elaborate show to date.

“This is definitely our biggest production package we’ve ever brought out,” Davis said of his headlining shows. “But I think the main thing I’m most excited about is now we have this catalog of music that I’m just really, really proud of. I don’t feel like I’m going out anymore and playing songs that I hope people like. I know my fans react to these songs. I know they connect with them. And they’re not always the radio songs.”

“Bluebird Days” retains the basic musical style Davis established on

“Home State” — a mix of rootsy country with a good bit of pop textures and some groove, particularly in songs like the full-bodied ballad “Money Isn’t

Real,” the “You’ve Got My Number” and the poppy album-opener “Damn

Good Time.” But the album is decidedly deeper and more personal lyrically, with good examples being “What My

World Spins Around,” which is about his wife Kristen, “Fishing Spot,” which captures Davis’ relationship with his late grandfather, and the title track, which is about his parents’ divorce and the impact it’s made on how he approaches his own life and marriage.

And the success of the second album has made Davis one of the hottest artists in country music today. Ironically, a decade or so ago, Davis wasn’t sure he’d pursue a career in country music on any level.

That wasn’t because Davis wasn’t a country music fan. In fact, he grew up in a musical family. His father wrote and sang songs around the house and so did his brother Jason, who is a country act in his own right, while his uncle, Stan Paul Davis, was making his mark in Nashville as a songwriter. Davis himself began writing songs of his own as a teen-ager.

Despite that, Davis got a degree in environmental science and spent a year working in that field before the pull of songwriting made him decide to move to Nashville to see if he could join his uncle in making a go of things as a songwriter.

The notion of being a solo artist still hadn’t occurred to Davis.

“It never even crossed my mind,” he said. “It took having a conversation with a friend of mine who said ‘Hey man, there are some people who are interested in you as an artist and looking at you to sign a record deal. You need to go home and think about if that’s something you want to do.’ At the time, I was tired of bartending. I was struggling getting a job as a songwriter. So, I was kind of ready to jump at the first person who gave me a job that wasn’t pouring drinks and running food out.”

Now a decade or so into his music career, Davis feels good about where he is with his career, his music and his comfort with being authentic on album and on stage.

“I don’t know if I’ve become a better writer. I would like to feel like the more songs you write, the better you become at it,” Davis said. “I think the big thing is being confident enough to put them (songs) out into the world and kind of show that side of yourself. I hope that’s the takeaway that I have from just being in town for 10 years and writing songs for 10 years.”