Sue Bonzell:                This is Up N Country on 93.7, The Bull. It’s powered by V Livecast. I’m your host, Sue Bonzell. Let’s get this show started.

                                    He survived a head-on collision and just got a call from Tim McGraw. I am so excited to introduce you guys to Brandon Davis. Hey, Brandon.

Brandon Davis:             How’s it going?

 Sue Bonzell:                I’m great. So, I understand you’ve had an interesting week or so. You got a phone call from Tim McGraw. Tell me about that.

Brandon Davis:             Well, number one, I got a phone call from Tim McGraw. So, that’s how we lead off with this. It’s one of those moments that you don’t even dream about, and yet, somehow it’s reality, so. Really and truly I had no idea what was going on. I just knew I was supposed to get a very important phone call, and I waited all day until the time slot where I was supposed to make sure no matter what, I was available to answer this phone. And when I picked it up, none other than the man himself, Tim McGraw, is on the other end of the line and-

 Sue Bonzell:                Oh, my God.

Brandon Davis:             … This is the shocking moment in itself. You’re talking to Tim McGraw. So, you’re kind of floored. I’m half speechless, sweating a little bit, and have no idea what to say. And the next thing you know, he asks if I want to go on tour with him.

 Sue Bonzell:                Wow.

Brandon Davis:             Yeah. It’s a moment that I’m never ever going to forget.

 Sue Bonzell:                So, I’m going to assume this is probably the biggest tour that you’re going to be going on yet.

Brandon Davis:             Yes, ma’am.

 Sue Bonzell:                So far.

Brandon Davis:             Yes, ma’am.

 Sue Bonzell:                Wow. That is incredible. You’re going to be going with Russell Dickerson and Alexandra Kay, two, I mean, amazing musicians as well. So, that is super exciting, starting up in April, I understand, going through June. And where is going to be your favorite place to go visit that you haven’t visited yet?

Brandon Davis:             Honestly, I’d say heading up towards New York, that’s probably one area that I’ve yet to really even come close to traveling outside of music. So, getting to go up towards New York, and I’m getting to go down to play Orange Beach down there and lower Alabama. So, it’s going to be incredible to getting to touch the coast, getting to touch the Northeast. It’s going to be great.

 Sue Bonzell:                Oh, I am so excited for you. I watched the video of you getting that phone call and I got chills myself. I was like, “Oh, my God, this is so exciting. This is so cool.” I could just die to get a phone call from Tim McGraw, and then asking you to go on tour, that is pretty incredible. So, very exciting stuff for you. Now, I mentioned that you survived a head-on collision and kind of changed the trajectory of your life. Tell me about that.

Brandon Davis:             It’s one of those moments that really puts life in perspective, because it was 2019, my wife and I had three kids and she had one on the way, and the normal day-to-day stuff takes place and you think everything’s fine. And the next thing you know, out of nowhere, life changes and takes a hard sharp turn, and I got hit head-on by distracted driver. I got taken to the hospital because the injuries I’d sustained during the wreck were life-threatening. And I had to go in, make sure and take care of my colon. I had holes in my small intestine, lacerations on my liver. So, just anything to make sure that whatever was going on inside, wasn’t going to cause me to go septic and not be here. So, thankfully, I had a good team of doctors, amazing wife who was by my side, throughout the entire thing.

                                    And when I woke up, I was good to go and patched up, albeit very sore and out of it. But I sat back and said, “Look, I don’t get why this happened. And I don’t understand it.” And she said, “It happened for a reason. You just don’t know yet. It’s going to come. You’re going to find out why. Just hasn’t happened yet.” And I said, “Look, all I know is that I’m looking at life and realizing that there’s a lot I haven’t done, a lot of dreams I haven’t chased, goals I haven’t reached.” And I said, “How can I tell my kids, go chase your dreams, if I’m not chasing mine.” So, that’s when we started trying to dive deeper in my music.

 Sue Bonzell:                So, I find that really, really interesting, because I think a lot of people, when things like that happen, it doesn’t make sense, like you said. And then it comes into perspective and you go, “Okay, life is short. What am I doing?” And I love that. So, what were you doing before you went into full-time musician?

Brandon Davis:             I was a design engineer for fire sprinklers, so, any sprinklers you see inside the building, that was what I was doing. I was doing 3D modeling and a lot of project management in that way. And the music was my big hobby that I had going everywhere, from early in the morning, riding in the truck to work, write a song around then. Same thing on the way home from work. That was my time slot of being alone, where I could really get creative. Then you get home and it’s normal day-to-day. But when music picked up, even though the nine to five was still there, it was something like, “Okay, let’s go to work. Let’s come home. Let’s have family time and then go to work.” And gears really switched. But the goal was to make music full-time. And thankfully, all this hard work’s paid off, because that’s exactly what we’re doing.

 Sue Bonzell:                And it happened fast for you. So, you mentioned your wife Destiny. So, was she the one that kind of pushed you to get going on the TikTok and the Instagram and all of that? Because that I think has launched a lot of new country artists.

Brandon Davis:             Yes, ma’am. She found a very opportune moment. That and the pandemic, because, remember we were sitting there in the middle of a brand new lifestyle that you had no idea what to do with, we realized that, “Hey, let’s see what we can find avenues for music.” And I thought, Facebook and YouTube, and that was the normal avenue. We had tried it and it wasn’t really hitting off. And she found TikTok and said, “Hey, look, I’m realizing that there’s a lot of artists on this app and they’re going and putting their music up and people are listening. Why don’t you try TikTok?” And that’s exactly what we had planned for. But I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I was like, “Look, I’ve seen ads for TikTok. I’ve seen crazy dances and people [inaudible].” It’s like, “I got two left feet and dad jokes. They don’t work that way.”

 Sue Bonzell:                Oh, you actually might be popular on TikTok with two left feet and dad jokes. So…

Brandon Davis:             You never can tell. You never can tell. One of those, one way or another, it’s going to either go well or it ain’t. So far, I haven’t had to be a dancer, luckily. But no, I mean, we went back and forth on whether or not I was going to do it. And finally she said, “Look, we’re driving back from Pigeon Forge, it’s Father’s Day, you’re in the car, you’ve got to know where you can go. Just sing. I don’t care what it is. I’m going to pull out the phone and start recording you. Just start singing.”

 Sue Bonzell:                I love it.

Brandon Davis:             And so, we started. I sang whatever coverages I can think of and a few of my originals. And the next night, I was trying to get a bottle of water out of the fridge. And she runs up behind me and says, “Baby, baby, baby, sing Brad Paisley, sing Dierks Bentley, sing Chris Stapleton.” And I just turned around and did what I was told. And I didn’t think nothing of it. The next day, she’s like, “Hey, by the way, I’ve been posting all these TikTok, take a look at this.” We had some decent numbers in that video she took in front of the fridge, had 1,600 views, which then turned into 20,000 and carried on to where it was in the millions. And now we had from no followers to 200, to hundreds, to thousands. And it was insane.

 Sue Bonzell:                That is so cool. So, I’ve seen some of the videos. Your wife’s beautiful. Your family is just adorable. You have four kids. How old are they?

Brandon Davis:             So, I have a six year old, a five year old, a just-turned-four year old yesterday and a two year old.

 Sue Bonzell:                Oh, my goodness. You are busy.

Brandon Davis:             Yes.

 Sue Bonzell:                And do they like to sing with you?

Brandon Davis:             I’ve got every one of them singing along. They each have their own song. Malia’s my songwriter. She likes to write her own stuff more than she likes to sing along with mine. Brantley’s got his favorite niche to where he really wants to crank up a couple songs that we’ve released here lately, and even got him to finally hop on the microphone with me down in Florida.

 Sue Bonzell:                Awesome.

Brandon Davis:             And then you’ve got Easton and Granger, which it don’t matter what song you turn on, they’re just in the back saying whatever they can to it.

 Sue Bonzell:                So, are they all named after country singers?

Brandon Davis:             So, Brantley is actually after Brantley Gilbert. You’ve got Granger, which is Granger Smith. Easton, which was kind of a double whammy, that was Easton Corbin and Easton for baseball brand because I’m a huge, huge baseball player.

 Sue Bonzell:                Okay, fair enough.

Brandon Davis:             And then you’ve got Malia who is the only odd one out, with a not-so-country music name, but she’s got Hawaiian roots in hers.

 Sue Bonzell:                You know what? So, she just needs to get famous in country music like you and then she’ll just be Malia.

Brandon Davis:             Exactly.

 Sue Bonzell:                So, there you go. Everybody will know her. So, I mentioned your wife and you’ve talked about your wife, kind of getting you going on the TikTok and everything. How did you guys meet?

Brandon Davis:             Facebook, believe it or not.

 Sue Bonzell:                Facebook, really? No kidding?

Brandon Davis:             Yeah, it was, “Hey, this person is someone you’re friends with.” I was like, “Oh, I am. Well, she’s actually really pretty.” I just on Messenger said, “Hey, how are you?” And sparked a conversation that led to a ongoing conversation, which I finally convinced her to turn into a date. Even though she tried to cancel, I think, four or five times, because she was scared to death of me, and whether or not it was time for her to start dating me or not. And, thankfully, she said yes. And we went out on that first date and the rest is history.

 Sue Bonzell:                Wow. And that was how long ago?

Brandon Davis:             That was January 20th of 2017.

 Sue Bonzell:                Well, you got a little anniversary to celebrate. I mean not the wedding anniversary, but the meeting anniversary. That’s kind of a big deal, right?

Brandon Davis:             Yes, ma’am.

 Sue Bonzell:                Because you’re going to have to be celebrating. I like it. I like it. So, you wrote a song for your wife, called Destiny. Beautiful song, by the way, I watched one of your videos when you were singing it to her and it was very emotional. It was really, really beautiful. I’m wondering if you’d be willing to sing, if you’d like to sing that song, or maybe a different song for us.

Brandon Davis:             Oh, absolutely. Be more than happy to.

 Sue Bonzell:                Great.

Brandon Davis:             Let’s just grab the old guitar.

 Sue Bonzell:                Okay.

Brandon Davis:             (singing)

 Sue Bonzell:                I love that song. Thank you so much for playing it. There’s so much heart in that song and I could see why that would make her cry, in a good way.

Brandon Davis:             Thank you so much.

 Sue Bonzell:                In a good way. That is awesome. So, okay, we’ve talked, we’ve done some things, we’ve answered some questions about your music and your tour and all that good stuff. I found a game and I’m going to modify it to my own. I found this game, is called the Hot Seat. So, I’m going to put you in the hot seat. You ready?

Brandon Davis:             Let’s do it.

 Sue Bonzell:                So, like I said, I’m going to do it my way. So, I picked out some choice cards here. So, this is the little hot seat cards. So, we’re not going to do all of these. I want you to point to the one you want me… Look, we’re going to do this virtually, point to the card that you want. So, go. Tell me when to stop.

Brandon Davis:             Stop.

 Sue Bonzell:                This one right here. Okay. This is appropriate around the holidays. What is the worst gift you’ve ever received?

Brandon Davis:             I’m going to have to dive deep. Let’s see. So, I think, honestly, one of the worst gifts I ever received was, it’s going to sound horrible because it’s good stuff to have and I love it now, but it was a pair of socks from my grandmother that were, I could call them old man socks now. But it was old man socks. And I was sitting there, opening all this stuff. I’m probably 10 years old, super into Batman, sports. And all of a sudden I opened this one gift and it’s these greenish-brown colored, old man socks. She goes, “You’re going to look so sharp in them when you’re wearing them to church,” I’m like, “I ain’t going to look sharp wearing these nowhere. You going to look sharp in these wearing nowhere. I love them, Granny. Love them, Granny. They’re awesome.” But majority of time I get good gifts. My mother helps my granny out a lot, but that was the one I couldn’t go sporting the old man sock.

 Sue Bonzell:                And you said you like them now, right?

Brandon Davis:             I’ll take any socks now because now when you’re running around with four kids in the house, you’re happy to find your laundry.

 Sue Bonzell:                Well, you’re happy to find matching socks too. That’s always the thing.

Brandon Davis:             Exactly. That’s why I always wear boots and jeans. Can’t nobody see what color they are underneath.

 Sue Bonzell:                Can’t tell. There you go. I love it. Okay. That was the worst gift ever. How about now, ready? There we go.

Brandon Davis:             Stop.

 Sue Bonzell:                I’m going to go with that one right there. Okay. Oh, this is good. Who is your celebrity crush?

Brandon Davis:             Celebrity crush. Believe it or not, I’ve always had a crush on Carrie Underwood just because she’s always had that powerhouse voice. And, hopefully, my wife doesn’t hear this and come up after me, but no, it was probably Carrie Underwood.

 Sue Bonzell:                Yeah. Well, and I can say this, she’s not bad looking too. Now you know.

Brandon Davis:             Agree.

 Sue Bonzell:                She’s okay. She’s all right. That’s a good one. So, how cool would it be if you did a duet with her?

Brandon Davis:             Be another one of those out-of-this-world type of things? Just thinking of these names, because Tim McGraw was one that I grew up listening to, and Carrie Underwood was another one that, I mean, that was high school and stuff like that for me. So, it’s just hearing these voices you’ve heard on the radio and people that you’ve idolized in this industry for so long, and to think you have an opportunity to do anything with them, let alone just meet them or talk to them. Just blows my mind.

 Sue Bonzell:                That’s so cool. Okay. So, we’re just going to put that out there into the universe, maybe a duet with Carrie sometime.

Brandon Davis:             We’ll see.

 Sue Bonzell:                Let’s put that out there. Just put that out there. Okay. Let’s do two more. You ready?

Brandon Davis:             Stop.

 Sue Bonzell:                Okay. Okay. What is the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done? On purpose, not getting into a head-on collision.

Brandon Davis:             Dangerous thing I’ve ever done on purpose? Oh, Lord. Probably when we decided to be stuntmen in the front yard. Out at my parents’ house growing up, we set up a ramp going downhill over a ledge in the front yard that was made out of old spare tires, a very unstable piece of plywood, some two-by-fours, and some old storage containers. And I’m not going to allude to how tall this ramp was, but it was tall enough that we should have been smart enough not to use it. And the fact that we didn’t come out with any broken bones after trying to use it is a blessing. So, that’s probably one of the most dangerous things I’ve done.

 Sue Bonzell:                So, bicycles, skateboards, both?

Brandon Davis:             Yeah, it was bicycles and not a very smart choice to have done it with a bicycle.

 Sue Bonzell:                Well, I’m glad you’re okay. Do you have brothers and sisters that you were doing this with?

Brandon Davis:             I have a younger brother and I also had cousins that live nearby. So, summer was filled with whatever we could make our time passed by with, especially when it came to being outside.

 Sue Bonzell:                A little mischief, that’s what you do with your siblings and your cousins, that’s for sure. Okay. Here we go. One last question.

Brandon Davis:             That one [inaudible].

 Sue Bonzell:                This one or this one?

Brandon Davis:             Yes, ma’am.

 Sue Bonzell:                This one right here. Okay. Okay. Oh, this is good too. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Brandon Davis:             To my younger self, probably the moments where I feel like I had to be hard on myself for things that I couldn’t necessarily control or things that I was doubtful of myself for, just to understand that there’s nothing you can do but your best. And as long as you did that, then you’re doing fine because I was always one to really be a big self-critic. And still to this day, am a self-critic, majorly, but that’s one big thing that I would like to instill in somebody young in life period, let alone my younger self, to be able to tell me now, “Hey, just follow your gut, do your best and you got this.”

 Sue Bonzell:                I think that’s great advice for anybody. Yeah, absolutely. So, for any new up-and-coming country artists, maybe behind you, what would you say to them? What kind of advice would you give them?

Brandon Davis:             Honestly, it’s just following your heart because that’s the one question we get asked a lot is like, “How do you make it in this industry? How do you get viral on social media? Or different things. And there’s no real way to say, “Hey, you do this, this and this, click this button and open this app, and that’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to take off.” But the fact is we just try to show everybody life here, and it’s life with the music that we share. It’s the stories that we write into that music. And we just put our heart into it and share that with as many people as possible. And, luckily, we’ve had a lot of people that have come up and said, “Hey, we love what you’re sharing. We love what we’re hearing. We appreciate it.” And if it weren’t for those people that were listening, I wouldn’t have nobody to play songs to. So, just follow your heart, be yourself.

 Sue Bonzell:                Absolutely. The authenticity goes a long way. So, well, I want to thank you, Brandon, so much for taking time to chat with us today. Thanks for playing the song and a huge congratulations going out on tour with Tim McGraw in 2022. Yes!

Brandon Davis:             Thank you so much. Cannot wait for this next year. It’s going to be one to remember.

 Sue Bonzell:                Thanks for tuning in to Up N Country, where we have new episodes every Tuesday. And be sure to visit upncountry.com for all of the episodes and information about our VIP Club, where you’re going to get exclusive backstage access. And if you’re on Instagram or TikTok, make sure to follow me, Sue Bonzell. I’ll see you next week.