10 Questions with ... Jon Pardi

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We continue our series featuring performers at the upcoming (February 22-24) Country Radio Seminar (CRS) "New Faces of Country Music Show" with Capitol Nashville's Jon Pardi. He's coming off a breakthrough year in 2016, which included a #1 album debut for "California Sunrise," his first career #1 single, "Head Over Boots," and a hectic touring schedule. He's currently out with Dierks Bentley's "What The Hell World Tour." Pardi grew up in Dixon, CA, just outside Sacramento. Right after high school, he made the move to Nashville, pursuing a music career. By 2010 he was signed to Capitol Nashville and already touring with Bentley. His 2012 debut single was "Missing You Crazy," which peaked at #29, setting up "Up All Night," which reached the top 10; both appear on his 2014 debut album, "Write You A Song." Pardi's second album, "California Sunrise," was released last summer, yielding airplay, critical acclaim, and earning Pardi a #1 debut. It also firmly established Pardi's unique musical lane, which is based in traditional Country, with touches of a Bakersfield sound, and a raw, edgy, energetic live presentation.

1. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with All Access. Congrats on being selected for the "New Faces of Country Music" show at CRS 2017. You've played to most of these folks before, but the setting is a little bit different. Can you tell us what it means for you to play this show - and if there's any different preparation for the show?

You always want to treat a show like it's another night on the road, because that's our dream. It's fun. Playing shows is fun. It's an honor to be chosen for "New Faces," and every year that you start getting singles on the radio, you start wondering, "So what is this 'New Faces' show? What is this all about?" Then you hear what it's all about. And then you finally get to play it. I've been on the radio for almost five years now, so it's a big deal to be like, "I'm here! Everybody, I made it! I'm finally playing 'New Faces,' even though you all know me!" Haha! But it's their moment, too. It's radio seminar. That's a big night for them. We're definitely going to come into it with a planned set list, and we want to make the best out of that 25 minutes and just have a good time. I don't want to feel like we have to impress anybody. Of course, we want it to sound good, but I just want everybody to have fun. Country Radio Seminar is always a good time. To get everyone in one room and have that big performance that they're all excited about and ingrain other artists that are going to be on the same stage. It's an honor, and it's awesome to have everyone across the country in one room.

2. Where were you when you found out that you had been selected to perform at CRS 2017 New Faces, and how did you react?

My manager gave me the call and said, "We're going to do 'New Faces.' This is a huge -" Well, first she actually started and said, "Hey, I've got great news!" I love when managers call me with great news! Haha! I forget where I was. The end of 2016 was really busy. Like, busier than I wanted to be. Right when we heard about "New Faces," it turned into more work, because we had to do the video. We were on tour somewhere, and that's kind of a general answer - "I was somewhere when I got the phone call," haha. But I was really excited! And I know how much it meant to Capitol Promotion. My promotion team has been working hard. Those guys have to sell me to Country radio, and it's been great! We've had a great relationship with Country radio. For promotion at Capitol Records, and me and management, and everybody that has been working really hard, this means a lot. It comes full circle when you have a team that works really hard and you work really hard, and when you get a phone call like that, it's awesome!

3. I always like to talk to artists about the first time they heard their single on the radio. When "Missing You Crazy" came out, where were you and how did you feel when you first heard that on the radio?

It was a dream come true for me. What else do we want as an artist? You want to be played on the radio that you grew up listening to. The best thing about Country radio - it's a historic thing! I was watching a Frank Sinatra documentary yesterday, and he was talking about when he got started on radio - I know this is way off subject - it was during the Great Depression, and movie tickets were 15 cents, but if you were on the radio, that was free, and everybody had a radio that they could listen to. My point is, being played on the radio was always a dream of mine. That's where I heard all the people I loved. When I first heard it, I guess we were in town and we were doing a guitar pull that night for a radio station; they played the ad for the show, and then they played my single. That was so cool to hear: "And then we've got Jon Pardi! Rah rah rah! And then we've got his new single! 'Missing You Crazy!'" It was really cool. I was with my record rep at the time, and of course, I was on radio tour. He was like, "Yeah! We're on radio tour slaving, and we got to hear our song!"

4. In the format right now, just thinking of Country music globally, there are so many influences bringing this thing together. We've got Pop, Rock, R&B, and they all come together to make today's Country sound - very different than it was 10 or 20 years ago. You have a real traditional sound. Is that what you listened to growing up, and were those your influences? Did your music listening growing up encompass all the things that we hear on Country radio right now?

What I grew up listening to was '90s Country. We all know '90s Country was traditional. My grandmother loved traditional Country music. She loved Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Randy Travis, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Mark Chesnutt. I could go on and on to all the stuff she listened to. She got me going as a two year old. I was listening with her, and at about six or seven I could start singing - not great or anything - but there are videos of me singing Hank Williams, Jr. and Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks and George Strait. That's what I listened to when I was really young. Then when I started to learn guitar, I got into Classic Rock. My mom loved Motown, so I was always a big Motown fan. But mainly traditional Country is always what I wanted to sound like, who I wanted to be as a Country artist. The best thing about today is that you can take all of that stuff and just channel that for a little bit. But it always came back a little bit Country. I think that's why Country is #1 for most Country artists, because they always get to listen to something else, and think, "maybe I'll bring this sound that I really love into my songs," and I think that's where we're at in the world today. Everybody has so much information at their fingertips, so keep it coming. I like mixing everything I grew up with together and making traditional Country. That's just who I am. I want to have fiddle and steel guitar, but I also want to be tearin' it up. I don't want to be putting you to sleep at the same time. I want to be able to sell beer and dance and laugh and have a good time. I always try to bring that into my traditional Country, and I think that's one of the reasons that you can sit here and be like, "You're more traditional, but you're also known as a rowdy Country music singer at the same time."

5. That's a perfect segue, Jon, because there seem to be signs - though small right now - of a return to more traditional sounding music at Country - and you are seen as a leader of this return. Do you feel like a torch bearer in that regard?

I can't claim that. I don't consider myself a leader in that, because if you listen to all of my singles that have been in the past that may have charted at 33 or maybe 10, they've always been more traditional. It's something I've always done. It's not like I woke up one day and had a reevaluation of my career and said, I want to be Country now. I have been doing my thing the whole time, so I can't be like, I have been leading this. I'm not that guy. But if I can help, I could probably help a little bit, especially with "Head Over Boots." There are a lot of underground guys that are doing really well doing really traditional stuff. For the most part, on Country radio, I think we just stuck with something. "Missing You Crazy" was traditional. "Up All Night" had that balance of a Hip-Hop kind of beat but it was also pedal-steel lead. "When I've Been Drinkin'" was super Country. I could go on and on. I think we kind of stuck with it. I think with Country radio, they get you, and you just keep coming and sticking with what you are, I think you can end up with a "Head Over Boots." It kind of led me to write for Country radio for the second record. I wrote for Country radio but as me - as a new and traditional Country artist. I always say, "The second record, I had four years of radio under my belt." So it kind of changes your way of thinking. But I didn't go the opposite way. I don't know what I did, but we wrote an album that was more fit for Country radio than the last one - let's put it that way.

6. So let's talk about your sound - it has a real Bakersfield sound to it. It's raw, edgy - is this how Jon Pardi came out of the box, or has your sound been developing?

When I see you again, I want to give you my college album I made. I was in a band called Northern Comfort out of Chico, CA. You gotta hear it. I was 18 or 19 when we were doing that. This was me before I moved to Nashville. It will be the same thing we're talking about. I came to Nashville wanting to play Country music. I said it in one of my first interviews. I'm one of those in-your-face rowdy honky tonk Country music guys. That kind of changed. You always want to be honky tonk. When you grow up with people in the industry that treat you really well, and you start getting that goal, like I want a #1. As a songwriter, your instincts make you write something that you know might work. I didn't come here and somebody told me to put on a cowboy hat. Shit, I fought for that thing for a long time! I knew what I wanted. As a new artist, sometimes it's hard to break molds and be who you really want to be. I really stuck with it, and I have to shout-out to Capitol and even Universal now. They have been nothing but open arms to creativity, traditional Country, accepting that Bakersfield - I've kind of got a little bit of that - and just really going with it and giving me full range of it. It's been a great time.

I want to say this, and it may come out wrong. Your music is a little throwback in that it's not perfect. It's not too slick. There's a rough edge to it. I love it. It throws me back to some of the Country outlaw stuff that I heard in the '70s. Those records weren't pristine. A lot of them felt live. Yours felt kind of live to me too in spots.

One of the best examples is Hank Williams, Jr., if you listen to his records; I particularly like "Outlaw Women." It's got swagger to it, but it's just Hank Williams, Jr. It's not polished. It's very kind of rough and tough. Even the slick '90s stuff - like the George Strait and Mark Chesnutt - that's still a live band... The stuff I grew up listening to - like Alan Jackson - it was a live band. Modern day age stuff now is very produced on computers. There's a big difference. We always scrub with a live band. We've always done that. But I appreciate it - hey, you don't want to be perfect. You want a little bit of a lick to it, so you can go in there... I guess swagger, in a way.

7. After countless radio visits and radio shows, is there anything that radio does NOT know about you that you can - or would like to - share here?

The only thing I can say to my fellow awesome friends out there at Country radio - if you didn't know anything about me, you're going to know it at New Faces.

8. Also, you've been "the young one" on several tours now. Looking at other "New Faces" in the industry, who are the guys and gals that are up-and-coming who impress you? If you were to go out on a headlining tour this year with support acts, what "New Faces" would you like to bring with you on the road and why?

Well, Maren [Morris] is definitely tearing it up! I played a show with Maren in Milwaukee - it was the last show of the year - and she was great! She is doing her thing! She's got a different style, but she's got that Country to her. She's great! A lot of the "New Faces" guys are! I've known Drake White a long time, and he's a showstopper himself. He's always up there singing his ass off and having a good time and impressing everyone one show at a time. Of course, Brothers Osborne, we've been out on tour together. That's family, right there. There's a new group called Midland coming out. They have some cool Country music coming out. There's a lot going on!

9. This is specific to "California Sunrise." The first cut on the album, "Out Of Style," feels very autobiographical to me. Is it?

Well, it is in a way. I didn't write it, but when I looked for outside songs, I looked for songs that you would think I wrote. When I heard "Out Of Style," I was like, man I can totally relate to this song. It has so many elements to it. It tells the story of a young songwriter coming to town and getting told that it's going to take time and he'll figure it out. Then in the chorus it's the song he wrote that's all about the same old things that we all go through. It had two or three different stories in it, and that is why I love that song. Of course it had the beat, it had the melody, and we just had fun recording that. It's funny how three words will give you an attitude. "Out of Style." When you hear the song you're like, "Yeah! That's kind of me, in a way." That kind of Outlaw beat to it; you get that emotion to it. It's fun to play live. It's actually a crowd pleaser. It's got an attitude to it.

I love the long fade and the jam at the end!

Yeah, we like jams! We have a great band, and we're not afraid to leave some jams on for some folks! I feel like sometimes when we make records, we're just so used to three minutes, and that's all you kind of get. One of the best compliments I got was from Barry Dean and Luke Laird. It was a funny story: it was Barry, Luke, and Tracy Lawrence. They were playing a show together somewhere, and it was just Barry and Luke that drove back somewhere... I thought it was the coolest compliment I ever got on "California Sunrise," by fellow people that are songwriters and people singing songs. They said, "Man, it was the first time we put a record on and nobody said anything in the car. We just listened to the record." And I thought, man, thank you. That goes to the point of why we left the jams on. Even "California Sunrise" has a little jam at the end. I always try to make an album where you get more than just a couple songs.

10. Clearly, 2016 was a breakout year for you: #1 album, #1 single, critically acclaimed album. How do you take that momentum into this year? Do you have any specific goals for 2017 that you hope to accomplish?

My goal for 2017 is to keep it up. We're going back to the drawing board. I'm going to write a kickass dirt record that keeps people excited, and 2017 is my year to get in there, focus on songwriting, being on tour with Dierks, doing other shows, and just focusing on keeping the momentum going. I have an idea for a dirt record, and sometimes when you get all this stuff going, it's hard to pull back to that songwriter mode and get back to what you want to do for 2018 and 2019. 2017 is important because you have to make 2018 and 2019 just as good as 2016 and 2017, you know what I'm saying? My goal this year is to pull back a little bit and still keep the momentum of the live shows and touring and working with the label, but also getting that core base of songs for the dirt record and going with just as much confidence as we did with "California Sunrise."