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Jordan Davis — Learn The Hard Way (MCA Nashville)

Earlier this year Jordan Davis cracked Australia and New Zealand as main support for country music’s man of the moment Luke Combs.

The two had hooked up throughout 2024 on the Growin’ Up And Getting Old tour.

And bringing Davis along for the ride was a bold move by Combs.

You see the singer songwriter responsible for 2023’s hit-laden Bluebird Days is a threat hiding in plain sight.

Not just to Combs — but to just about every established country star seeking to stay one step ahead of the bullish new breed.

Davis boasts that happy knack for tapping into the genre’s most comforting tropes and familiar story lines and, at the same time, striking out on his own.

This time he brings pals Carly Pearce and Marcus King along for the ride.

And it’s the juxtaposition between trad country queen Pearce and blues rock disruptor King that reveals best of all Davis’ desire to push the boundaries.

Learn The Hard Way might not be better than Bluebird Days (the bar, after all, was set dizzyingly high) — it’s a remarkably different record.

But different is good for Jordan Davis.

All of those hard miles on the road trailing Combs appear to have fuelled a new burst of compelling creativity.

Davis found the winning formula with Bluebird Days. But this is a new day.

And Learn The Hard Way’s a lesson in country music’s relentless evolution.

Jordan’s Learning The Hard Way… and learning fast

Rootsy ballad Jesus Wouldn’t Do is one of the finest country songs we’ve heard all year.

Its simplicity is its strength as Davis bares all against a backdrop of subtle slide and achingly effective acoustic riff.

And there’s an instinctive urge to reach for the nearest lighter as one of the softest songs here hits home hardest.

Elsewhere the two-time ACM New Male Artist of the Year nominee sways effortlessly between pared down trad country and bluesier bursts (check out the ZZ Top-fuelled Good Gone Bad).

Pearce collab Mess With Missing You isn’t all about the canny, alliterative title.

Producer Paul DiGiovanni manages to capture the best of both artists and create the illusion of two bar room buskers bouncing off a shared connection.

Of course, Davis doesn’t have to try hard to be believed.

That voice drips with persuasive intent and the Shreveport native has never sounded better jamming along with King.

The duo are simply stunning on Louisiana Stick — an exercise in Cadillac Three-styled country rock.

Muddy The Water, by the way, might be the perfect set closer: Davis plants the seed for what’s to come with an intensely emotional sign-off.

Learn The Hard Way is easy listening if cool as fuck country’s your thing.