Davis Nolan’s passions: Music and meteorology

Neil Orne
·3 min read

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – News 2’s Meteorologist Davis Nolan is probably one of the most familiar faces in Middle Tennessee.

However, did you know when he first moved to Nashville in the early 1980s it wasn’t just for the weather?

“I’m serious about being a meteorologist, obviously, but the reason I took a job in Nashville instead of somewhere else was for the music,” said Davis.

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Davis has a true Nashville story, more than 40 years ago he left a larger TV market for a weather job in Music City and a pursuit of a career in music.

In fact, his love for music is as deep as his love for meteorology.

(Source: Davis Nolan)
(Source: Davis Nolan)

“When I was in the third grade, I had a little transistor radio in New Orleans that my parents wanted me to listen to that was live from the Blue Room of the Roosevelt Hotel, which is where they played old big band music,” recalled Davis. “I listened to the local pop station because that is what I liked the most.”

Before you start picturing Davis in a cattleman hat, three chords and a honky tonk dream — he quickly became interested in another genre.

“I grew up with a lot of progressive rock music like Yes, Genesis, Jethro Toll, Moody Blues, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer,” said Davis. “But I wasn’t as talented as those kinds of guys, so the music was more a simplified version but inspired by progressive rock.”

You read that right, no country, no western — Davis rocked!

MTSU’s Center for Popular Music houses thousands of musical artifacts

However, one moment hit him like a bolt of lightning. It was in 1998, and Davis was performing at Centennial Park just after a tornado had pummeled the city and everything changed.

“I’m seeing trees down all over the place, you know, and I’m one of the only people at the time, or out of a few people in the country, that had learned how to utilize doppler radar and this new storm tracking that you see us do every day,” Davis explained.

“And I’m sitting here playing my music, which I’m so serious about, but I’m looking at that and it’s like an epiphany moment,” recalled Davis. “It’s not like I wanted to stop playing music, but I’ve a different kind of record deal here. I’m actually able to save lives with this technology that not many people have been exposed to yet.”

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(Source: WKRN)
(Source: WKRN)

Nolan’s rock and roll past now lives on YouTube, in pictures and through a very talented daughter who arrived not too long after that moment in the park.

“My daughter is Amanda Nolan and she’s carrying on the music thing, and she’s quite talented,” Davis said with a big smile. “She does a lot of acapella stuff, but she’s also working on some music with a producer out in L.A. that I’m hoping we’ll hear about one day in the future. She’s carrying on the torch shall we say!”

Davis did go on to be a bigtime rock star in Music City, but just on a different stage.

To go to Davis Nolan’s YouTube Channel CLICK HERE. You can choose “Playlist” to hear the songs in order.

To go to his daughter Amanda’s YouTube Channel, CLICK HERE.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.