Ward Davis walks us through his collaborations with highly-acclaimed artists and the reality of Nashville

February 28, 2025

Mike Dotson,

Ward Davis. // photo by Mike Dotson

Ward Davis w/ Clint Park
Knuckleheads
Thursday, Feb. 20

On Thursday night, Arkansas singer-songwriter-troubadour Ward Davis played Knuckleheads, with Clint Park opening and then providing backing vocal and lead guitar during Ward’s set.

Our photographer Mike Dotson was there to capture it all and got to chat with Davis about his work.

Your song “15 Years in a 10 Year Town”—Were you writing about your personal experience with the grind of “making it” in Nashville?

Ward Davis: I wrote that with a guy named Pat Alger. Pat’s an old head songwriter guy who co-wrote “Unanswered Prayers” and “The Thunder Rolls” and a lot of that Garth stuff, but also “Small Town Saturday Night.” Anyway, when I lived in Nashville, I became friends with all these old guys and they were the guys that wrote the songs I grew up listening to, a lot of them. I used to hang out at a bar called Dan McGuinness with Pat and a guy, Tony Arada, who wrote “The Dance” and there was this old record label executive named Paul Lux who would come in there, and he was famous for dropping Johnny Cash from his record label.

Man, I saddled up with those guys. Pat and I, that was the first or second song we wrote. It was my idea when [we] started it and I was pretty beat up about it by that time and we started it one week and in between starting it and the day after, well the day we went in to finish it was the day after Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard recorded “Unfair Weather Friend.” We finished that depressing song about how terrible the music business is the day after the biggest day of my career. So there’s some there’s a happy ending to it, I guess, but it is my story. Nashville is, they say it’s 10 year town. One day I looked up and it was 15 years and so it is a hard realization that this should have happened 5 years ago if it was gonna happen.

Your song “Unfair Weather Friend,” which you co-wrote with Marla Cannon-Goodman was cut by none other than Willie Nelson and the late Merle Haggard on the Django and Jimmie album. What—if you can put it into words—did it mean to have someone who are icons of country music and surely major influences record your song?

Yeah, everything! I grew up, that’s the country music my Dad put in me. Putting it into words, I cried for a couple days after it happened. You really can’t man, it’s a pat on the back that nobody deserves and a feather in the cap as well. But that song was the thing that made me go, “You know, maybe Nashville…maybe it isn’t my thing.” You can’t make a living with Willie Nelson recording one of your songs. I hate to say it but you can’t. He doesn’t sell a lot of records but those are the kind of songs I was writing, ’cause I’m a songwriter. But I will tell you that was the song that made me think maybe Nashville wasn’t my ticket but also, when I hear it now, I can’t believe it still. It is insane.

Ward Davis. // Photo by Mike Dotson

Nowadays, it seems like there is music originating from there that just doesn’t seem to cut it for folks looking for that traditional country sound. We are seeing more popular artists coming out with a new country album and some are winning big. Would you share a few names of some artists who you feel are currently doin’ it and doin’ it right?

I got no problem with anybody doing it. That’s my thing—If Beyonce wants to cut a country record, albeit for me to tell her not to. I’ll tell you, that that kind of thing is polarizing to the traditionalists which creates the audience. I don’t listen to it. I don’t want it to go away because without that, then what am I? Now, as far as the new ones coming up, I know that Nashville is kind of coming on board and starting to sign guys out of our world. Good for them, but I feel like there’s this cry for a savior in Nashville.

Nothing bad to say about Zach Top at all—it’s great—but I have heard more about Zach Top in the last six months than I’ve heard about anybody, which tells me that Nashville is looking for a savior and you can’t manufacture that. You can’t shove it down everybody’s throats. It’s an organic thing and there’s guys like Sturgill, guys like Cody, Charles Josh Meloy, Whitey Morgan, and all these underground guys—They are already there.

You can look at somebody like Cody and man, Cody is selling out the same venues that Miranda Lambert is selling out, so you got to think that, Nashville is trying to create, shove things down our throat which is what they’ve done all along. I don’t think it hurts our cause or hurts our place at all. I think that we don’t need a savior. I think it’s all out there. I think the masses are coming along. But Billy Strings! The answer is Billy Strings. He’s a freak of nature.

We all went through COVID and all the lockdowns a few years back which brought so many to a halt doing what it is they do best. Singing their songs out in front of fans who honestly need live music to help them cope with whatever they are going through. Can you tell me what it was like for you to be on lockdown instead of performing and how it felt when things started to open back up?

Ward Davis. // photo by Mike Dotson

COVID was awesome for me, and my career. I needed a break, first of all. Clint saw it. Clint was out on the road with me. I needed a break. I had a great team of people working with me. They woke up the day after the shutdown and said, “Alright, we have to make money, period. That’s it—If you don’t, you’re gonna go bankrupt,” and I was already going bankrupt. So we start doing the online shows, coming up with every kind of merch idea we could. I was doing Zoom meetings with people where all I did was get drunk and talk to them which was really detrimental to my alcoholism, or really good for it.

After coming out, the thing that happened during COVID was the private show. People who would normally go to shows but had means to hire people like me, hire us to the house we want live music, bring it to the house, and invite 40 friends. So there was a whole world of guys out there that could but there weren’t a lot who would. I would and so I worked. I stayed at home and worked. Then when they opened up I hit the road and started doing acoustic shows. I got COVID a few times and it sucked, but when I get it now, it doesn’t because I had it so many times. It was hard in a lot of ways but we survived, we made it through, worked, and our numbers grew. We got more fans because we worked it. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world for me. It was a hard thing, but we made it out.

Many of your fans are fans of a particular young man. Cody Jinks, sure you probably get tired of hearing Cody Jinks name?

Nope. Every time I hear Cody Jinks’s name, I make money.

Everybody knows that you sound better singing Colorado than he does anyway, right?

Ahh, yeah I mean everybody!

I don’t know if he’ll see this but I’ve seen you both sing it and?

He knows…

Ward Davis. // Photo by Mike Dotson

What can you tell me about the bond you guys have and what that relationship means to you?

Man, Cody and I are, I mean, best friends. Never had a cross word with the guy. When I met Cody, I knew he was special. I didn’t know how far his reach would grow. But he’s my best friend and we have a really good working relationship. I got a call yesterday. I’m gonna be [sorry top secret info at this time, folks] with him which will be cool.

Oh, that’s news!

Ah! Shit, Shhh. We’re going to [Top Secret info], got songs on his new record. We work together but even when we work together it’s such a small part of it. Alright, we gotta go work. We will go sit and we’ll write, put our heads together, and do our best. I mean, I still got a knot on my leg from falling off a motorcycle. I was down there for four days and we worked for about six hours total. If we don’t burn out, we’ll finish this later.

You guys have a lot of popular songs you have co-wrote together. What is your favorite?

It has got to be “I’m Not the Devil” because it was our first one—My only gold record. That song changed my life. If it were my favorite song, “Colorado” or “Same Kinda Crazy as Me” but “I’m Not the Devil” means so much to me. That was my first atta boy outside of Nashville. Yeah, “I’m Not the Devil.”

I have friends who are singer-songwriters. Do you ever put any thought into up and coming artists looking up to you and how you interact with these other artists such as collaborating with Cody?

That seems silly to me that anyone would look up to me for any reason. I don’t know—This life is really hard. This craft is really hard if you care about it. It’s humbling. I’m no one to look up to—There are way greater, bigger more successful people to look up to than me; Bob McDill, Wayland Holyfield, or Merle Haggard.

I feel like the people relate to you since you come across as an honest person, a genuine person. People feel your songs, they hear the stories in your songs they can relate to, and it gives them hope.

I try to be honest in my songwriting. It doesn’t always necessarily mean honest to myself but honesty to the song to say that like, “I ain’t ever took a sniff of cocaine or shot no heroin in my veins”—I really haven’t. But there is another line in the song: “I ain’t no whiskey in my veins. I ain’t numb from cocaine.” I never done cocaine but in the song it sounds like I had. I try to keep it all as real as I can. I try to live an honest life. I haven’t always. It is more important to me now than ever, but if people relate to me, it’s ’cause I’m a human being. We are all human beings. I try to stay human.

I have a girlfriend and she tells me I’m special. If I’m special, then everyone in town is special. I don’t see myself as anything special. I got really fucking lucky as shit—I can’t even tell you how lucky I am. It’s insane how lucky I am.

I think sometimes what makes people special is the effect they have on others.

I’ve got a lot of things I’ve done that I am proud of. I don’t wanna play the “aw shucks” card, like I don’t realize I have had some extraordinary things in my life and career. And people often in interviews ask about the things that I have done.Cody, Willie, and Merle thing. I tell people when they ask about the Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard thing… Yeah, absolutely I wrote a song that Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard recorded but it wasn’t Pancho and Lefty! So what’s the big deal? There is only one Pancho and Lefty. But it’s easy to stay humble. It keeps things in perspective.

You have a couple young girls of your own. Do you sing Taylor Swift songs at their birthday parties or can you have Cody Jinks come sing them?

No, I do have a portrait of Taylor Swift hanging in my living room. But no I don’t know any of her songs by heart… I don’t think Cody would either…[laughing] Cody listens to metal, man! We used to get drunk and we were listening to metal songs and I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Even if I did, I didn’t know what they were talking about, So he would play something and then he would hit pause. He would tell me what it said then hit it and then pause and tell me what they were saying. And I remember this epiphany… I was like, “This is poetry! That’s all this is! It’s poetry! It is beautiful!” He’s like, “Yeah! Old people used to hate it! It’s wonderful!”

Ward Davis