After His CMA Wins, Jordan Davis Thinks Back on ‘Buy Dirt”s ‘Unreal’ Origin Story
After winning Song of the Year for "Buy Dirt" at the 2022 CMA Awards, Jordan Davis was all but speechless.
"I don't know, I've lost my mind. I don't know even know what I'm saying up here," he joked backstage in the press room at the show, after stumbling over the words to express his gratitude for his award. "I'm very very grateful to be here, though."
But the trophy — monumental as it was — was still the least important thing on his mind. As he spoke about the experience of winning Song of the Year, Davis mentioned his brother (who co-wrote the song), his duet partner Luke Bryan and the powerful songwriting lessons he learned from watching "Buy Dirt" make its impact on listeners.
"I think early on [in my career] it was kind of [about] what was catchy, what was hit-y, what was uptempo," he explained. "Songs like 'Buy Dirt' made me realize that writing from your heart, writing honest, that's truly what impacts people."
With his CMA trophy still fresh in his hands, Davis admitted that he couldn't wait to get back to work. "I wanna go write songs right now," he gushed. "I wanna get ['Buy Dirt' co-writers] Matt and Josh [Jenkins] and Jacob [Davis] and go to a cabin somewhere and try to channel what we did the day we wrote this song."
After all, he said, the real magic of the music business lays in the creative process.
"As special as this night is, and it truly is, being in that living room of a cabin — the second 'Buy Dirt' was said, and the second that melody fell out and the chorus came out — I mean, we've all been able to witness this song from the birth of it," Davis continued. "To think this came out of a cabin in Murfreesboro at 9 AM after a quick Bible study, is crazy. That is just how special and unreal music is, and how grateful I am to get to wake up every day and write songs. There is no beating this. It's crazy. This is crazy."