Ward Davis

Ward Davis initially attracted notice around Nashville through his songwriting, landing cuts with Trace Adkins, Wade Hayes, Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson, and Cody Jinks. The link with Jinks proved especially significant; after the pair collaborated on three tracks for the 2018 album Lifers, Jinks invited Davis to open shows on the subsequent tour, exposing more listeners to his spare, story-driven brand of neo-outlaw country.

Born in Monticello, Arkansas, Davis relocated to Nashville in 2000. He soon established himself as a staff songwriter while also pursuing performing opportunities and logging time as a keyboardist with Ray Scott. Throughout his first ten years in town he tried to align with mainstream expectations, yet commercial traction remained elusive until 2011, when David Adam Byrnes included “My Kind of Crowd” on Premium Country. In 2009 he had formed the Beagles alongside Rick Huckaby and Matt Nolen; Trace Adkins later cut Davis’s “So What If I Do” for the 2013 release Love Will…, and the Beagles appeared on A&E’s Crazy Hearts: Nashville the following year.

After parting ways with the Beagles, Davis issued the EP No Bridges in 2014. The next year brought another milestone when Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson recorded “Unfair Weather Friend” for their duet album Django and Jimmie, an event that clarified for Davis that his place lay outside the city’s commercial core. His debut full-length, 15 Years in a 10 Year Town, arrived in 2015 and reflected the classic outlaw-country lineage.

Davis again joined Jinks to co-write “Big Last Name,” “Can't Quit Enough,” and “Colorado” for Lifers. Once that project was out, Jinks added Davis to the tour itinerary, giving him a platform to promote the Asunder EP. In 2020 Davis delivered the harder-edged sophomore album Black Cats and Crows, which entered the Billboard independent country albums chart at number 30.