INSIGHT Magazine May 2019 | Page 9

ising country music star Jordan Davis began his music career in Calhoun County, and he returns for a performance at Knox Outdoors Music Festival on May 4. R said “We were playing there like two nights a week and they didn’t have anything outside. So him and a buddy went over there and built a deck so that they could play on it. Davis won Best New Country Artist at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards, and was nominated for New Male Artist of the Year at the 2019 ACM Awards after success with No.1 Platinum-certified hit “Singles You Up” as well as his most recent No. 1 hit “Take It From Me”. I’ll be honest with you, we had a blast at that show. It was fun. That was a cool bar. That’s a great college bar. The Louisiana native has special ties to Alabama, having played his first show in Jacksonville. Davis opens up about that show at Pelham’s as well as his success in an interview with Insight Magazine. Tell me about the iHeartRadio Music Awards. What was your experience winning Best New Country Artist? It was awesome. We were able to go out to LA and, I guess I didn’t really realize how many other big artists were going to be there. Like we were a couple of rows away from Katy Perry and John Legend, and it was just wild. It as just a really, really cool night. You played your first show in Alabama. Tell me about it. Yeah, first state I ever played in, the great state of Alabama. It was funny, I played a radio show the other day with Riley Green and he said something about Jacksonville and I was like “Dude I played my first ever show in Jacksonville. We played on this back deck at this place called Pelham’s.” And he goes “Dude, I built that deck.” He INSIGHT You’re working on a new album. When can we expect to hear some of your new music? We’re looking at some dates to cut some new music and try to get it out as soon as possible. So that’s definitely kind of priority one, and then still out with Old Dominion right now and then start up with Rascal Flatts in the summer. So it’s busy, but it’s a good busy. I’d much rather be busy like this than four or five years ago when I was sitting around hoping something would happen. You’ve been on the road touring a lot in the past year. Is traveling all over the country a bonus for you? Yeah, absolutely, and I love to travel. So many cities that I know that I’d never been to that I actually got to check off the list and actually got to spend some time in. Like not just went through it on the way to somewhere else but you know like Portland, Maine. You know I never thought I’d go to Portland but I was able to go up there and you know band in oregon is a beautiful place and I was able to spend two days and just really kind of hang out and just see the country so as a person that just really loves traveling. There’s just no better business than mixing something you love with another thing you love. May 2019 9