Ward Davis

A singer and songwriter with a rich, smokey voice and a fondness for the outlaw country ethos, Ward Davis is equally comfortable with raucous tales of Southern life and introspective meditations on the honky tonk world. He first gained attention in Nashville as a songwriter, placing songs on albums by Trace Adkins, Wade Hayes, Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson, and Cody Jinks. After Davis co-wrote three songs for Jinks' 2018 album Lifers, he went on tour with the like-minded Jinks, thereby raising his profile as a practitioner of lean, literary neo-outlaw country. Davis made his breakthrough as an artist with 2015's tough, flinty 15 Years in a 10 Year Town, while his rock influences informed 2020's Black Cats and Crows, and 2025's The Bordello Sessions was a deeply personal acoustic live set.