Rising Country Star Brandon Davis to Play Riverbend Festival
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — The 40th Riverbend Festival is about a week away.
One of the performers this year is Chattanooga’s very own Brandon Davis, who’s no stranger to a big stage and crowd.
News 12 caught up with the country artist to talk about his new music career, which skyrocketed with the help of social media.
Davis grew up with music, but he didn’t pursue it as a career until after a devastating car crash in 2019.
He was hit head on by a distracted driver, and had to have emergency surgery.
He woke up not knowing what had happened to him, and why.
“My wife said, ‘Look, you don’t know, you don’t understand it now, but one day you will.’ And I kind’ve soaked that in. Started thinking about all my priorities and where I was at in life, and I was like, ‘Look, there is a long list of things I haven’t done and goals I haven’t achieved and just dreams I haven’t chased,’ he said. “At the top of that list was music, and she helped me start.”
So the Chattanooga Central grad decided it was finally time to start following those dreams.
Davis always had the talent, but he has his wife, Destiny, to thank for helping him get noticed.
“My wife found TikTok, and despite me telling her I didn’t want to get on the app because I wasn’t sure I was the cool guy to get on there – I was a dad with dad jokes and two left feet that didn’t know how to do all the TikTok dances. But she said, ‘Look, just promote your music, just sing.’ So she finally convinced me to just start singing, and she recorded me.”
Brandon’s videos went from 1,600 views, to more than 100,000.
Then a video of him singing music by Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, and Jason Aldean “started it all.”
“And all of a sudden we’ve got a viral video with well over a million views and followers coming in by the thousands,” Davis said. “Within a few weeks we had a fanbase, and that’s something I didn’t know that we could actually accumulate in that kind of time.”
TikTok also helped Brandon land a spot on Tim McGraw’s tour last year.
“And that video went viral,” he said. “Next thing I know, his team was showing up to some of our shows, and they’re saying how much they love the music, and they’re really interested in just kind of seeing what we’ve got going on. And one thing leads to another, and I’m getting a phone call from the man himself, Tim McGraw.”
Brandon grew up listening to McGraw, so touring with him was a dream come true.
“He actually brought me, Alexandra Kay, and Russell Dickerson out to sing ‘I Like It, I Love It’ out on stage with him,” Brandon said. “We got to do that for almost every single show on the tour. And being an opener, you see the crowd that comes in when you’re first there, and you usually have a decent amount of folks that show up early. But when you walk out to the crowd that Tim McGraw has when he is right in the middle of the show, and everything’s at its peak and the energy is high, there is no kind of feeling that matches that energy that a crowd’s bringing to you in a moment like that.”
And we can expect Brandon to bring that same energy to his show at Riverbend next month.
He’s attended the festival plenty of times as a fan, so being on the stage this time – instead of out in the crowd – is extra special.
“Honestly, just excited to be playing my hometown and looking forward to seeing everyone coming out,” Davis said. “It’s going to be a blast, and we’re going to put on the show of our lives to make sure that everyone has as good a time as possible.”
He says to expect to hear plenty of songs you haven’t heard before, songs from his new EP, Jesus and Jesse James, and some songs that have been favorites for awhile.
If you want to see Brandon perform in person, check out his show at Riverbend on Saturday, June 3 at 5 p.m.
He’s also performing in Dalton, Georgia as part of the Off The Rails Concert Series on Friday, July 7 at 8:30 p.m.
