Dixon, CA · country · neotraditional country

Jon Pardi

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A neotraditional holdout in a pop-country era — fiddle and steel up front, honky-tonk shuffle intact.

Jon Pardi grew up in Dixon, California, where he started writing songs at age twelve and had formed his own band by fourteen. After high school he moved to Nashville to pursue country music, signing with Capitol Records Nashville and opening tour dates for labelmate Dierks Bentley in 2010.

His records lean on fiddle, pedal steel and shuffle rhythms, drawing on the honky-tonk and 1990s mainstream country he was raised on rather than the rock and pop textures common on country radio during his rise. Traditional instrumentation stays central across his catalogue rather than fading into a supporting role.

Pardi released his debut single, 'Missin' You Crazy,' in 2012, followed two years later by his debut album, Write You a Song. His second record, California Sunrise, produced the hits 'Head Over Boots' and 'Dirt on My Boots,' both of which topped the Country Airplay chart and became his commercial breakthrough.

Later albums, Heartache Medication, Mr. Saturday Night and Honkytonk Hollywood, kept the same traditional core. Across his career he has placed fourteen singles on the Billboard country charts, four of them number ones: 'Head Over Boots,' 'Dirt on My Boots,' 'Heartache Medication' and 'Last Night Lonely.' In 2023 he was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

In 2019 Pardi joined Brooks & Dunn for a re-recording of their 1991 hit 'My Next Broken Heart,' insisting the song be played exactly as the original rather than reworked, a detail that reflects how closely his own sound tracks the country music of that era.

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countryneotraditional country