Davis Roberts, a 2025 graduate of The Bolles School in Mandarin, has topped 1.5 million Spotify streams on his country single "Bless My Heart" and signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music and Twelve6 Entertainment.

The Bolles Bugle reported Sept. 24 that Roberts is the first country artist from Jacksonville to reach 1 million streams on a single song.

That claim could not be independently verified.

But the numbers tell a story: Roberts has six songs with more than 100,000 Spotify streams each and more than 50,000 monthly listeners, all from a catalog of just 10 tracks. He has not released an album.

From the football field to the recording studio

The path started on the football field, not in a recording studio. Roberts played three years on the Bolles football team before a shoulder injury halfway through his senior year ended his athletic career. He was also president of the Bolles Young Life chapter.

Roberts released his first song, "Give Me Another Shot," on April 16, 2024, during his junior year at the school's San Jose Boulevard campus. He followed it with "Dock Into a Honky Tonk" that same month. By March 2025, with only three songs to his name, he performed his first official show at Murray Hill Theatre in Jacksonville.

After graduating in May 2025, Roberts enrolled at Lipscomb University in Nashville. The move put him at the center of the country music industry. In September 2025, he released "Bless My Heart," which the Bolles Bugle described as blending blaring guitars with country music in a near-punk-rock style.

The song launched Roberts from hobbyist to professional. In May 2026, he signed with Warner Chappell Music and Twelve6 Entertainment, a Nashville-based publishing partnership. Warner Chappell is the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, whose roster includes songwriters such as Tom Petty. The deal enabled Roberts to release two new songs that month.

Taking his time with every career decision

"I have been very careful through every decision," Roberts told the Bolles Bugle. "From signing a publishing deal to signing with management, I have taken my time and prayed through every decision because it is very important who you are surrounding yourself with."

Roberts told the Bolles Bugle his goal is "to write a No. 1 hit song." As of Sept. 24, he had 10 songs released and no album.