Jon Pardi’s fourth album sees the artist moving further and further into traditional Country, melding that Texan twang and a little of his native Californian sunshine with some aplomb. As artists like Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs continue to drag mainstream Country back into more authentic and traditional sounds, it’s fantastic to see people like Pardi also throwing in a little red dirt, fiddle and two-step tinged music as the genre and the radio begin to move away from that late teens influenced Pop and R&B sound. ‘Mr Saturday Night’, following on from Pardi’s 2019 album, ‘Heartache Medication’, is a fiddle-filled romp through a number of sounds and styles that meld his Californian roots with his cowboy lifestyle. You can read our review of ‘Mr Saturday Night’ now
We were thrilled to grab 15 minutes of Jon’s time recently to talk all about it.
Thank you for giving us your time today, Jon. We’re going to start with a couple of congratulations. First of all, congratulations on ‘Mr Saturday Night’, which we think is your most complete album to date and secondly, congratulations on being number one in the charts with ‘Last Night Lonely’.
Thank you for both of those awesome compliments, I’ll take it! (laughing)
What does the milestone and achievement of having a number one hit mean to you?
It’s hard work to get there! Hearing a song or having an idea and then seeing it through to that stage is hard work but very satisfying. The best part is knowing that fans and listeners love the song as much as we do. In the current climate of Country music with people like Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen and my good buddy, Kane Brown dominating the charts, it’s always great to be alongside them and still in the mix.
‘Mr Saturday Night’ has a wonderful flow to it and lots of different textures. Was that what you set out to achieve when you began the process of putting it together?
Well, yes and no. I always say that I make albums instinctively to where I’m led by emotion towards the songs that I may have co-written or have found. I live by those moments in the songs and then the album begins to emerge.
My life is so busy with being in the studio, touring and working on the ranch that I’m always looking for songs to provide the soundtrack to my life. Maybe this album feels particularly personal because we went through that period of not touring and being off the road, away from the fans. I’ve had seven of these songs ready to go for two years! (laughing)
You co-wrote five of the songs on the album. What do you look for in the songs that come from outside, that get pitched to you. Songs like ‘Last Night Lonely’ and ‘Your Heart or Mine’?
I can usually tell on the first listen if the song is going to be appealing to me, it’s a gut reaction thing. I then dig in and listen to it over and over again and then I do ‘the girl test’………
Ah, is that where Summer (Jon’s wife) comes in then?
(laughing) and that’s where Summer and her friends come in! The first big ‘girl’ test for this album was the track ‘Reverse Cowgirl’. That one definitely passed in some style, every woman I play that song to loves it and they wake up the next day singing ‘put that thing in reverse, cowgirl’!
When you saw the title of ‘Reverse Cowgirl’ it must have hooked you in straight away?
I was looking at it thinking, is this really going to be a great song or is it a bit of comedy, you know? Then when I listened to it I was, like, ‘Wow, this is an amazing song!’ (laughing) The songwriters that are on this record are buddies of mine and big fans and that really helps when you have songwriters that want to be a part of your career.
I think ‘Reverse Cowgirl’ could be a single. Have you got a clear view of what the singles will be from this album or are you going to wait and see what the fan reaction is?
Fan reaction could definitely help the process for sure. The next single is going to be ‘Your Heart or Mine’, which I’m really excited about. That one is definitely a groovy tune and a little different for me which will stick out on Country radio.
One of the strengths of the album is the light and shade it brings and the journey the listener goes on. The honky tonk songs like ‘Fill Her Up’ are great but my favourites are songs like ‘Neon Light Speed’ and ‘Raincheck’. Tell me about those two songs.
‘Raincheck’ is such a modern version of a Keith Whitley song. It has a modern melody in the verses but a classic chorus. My producer heard it and was like, ‘What a great song, I just wanna sit here and be fu**ing miserable!’ (laughing) We love those songs in Country music.
‘Neon Light Speed’ has such a movie feel to it. It’s so well written and cinematic, it takes you right to place where the neon is and there is this couple dancing. It’s such a pretty song and the chord changes are so sexy, it’s such a cool moment in the record. It would make a great music video too!
You’ve always used traditional instruments but you seem to have fallen in love with the fiddle on this album, it’s everywhere!
Jenee Fleenor is such a great player, man. She’s so confident now that she’ll come up with something spontaneous and I’ll be like, right, that’s on the record now too! (laughing) The funny part about Jenee is that when we were finishing up ‘Reverse Cowgirl’ it didn’t have an intro yet and we weren’t quite sure what to do so I said, just send the track to Jenee and ask her to put something on the front of it! She came back with this amazing, almost pure-Country fiddle, Western feel that blew us away.
Even in ‘Last Night Lonely’ she rocked that, man. You don’t hear too many number one songs with a fiddle in these days.
My live band represents the album live so well. We have fiddle, keys, steel – I’m so proud of my live band, we have such a killer set of players. There’s a bit of tracking but not much because I think it’s important to have as much live as you can. When I went to see George Strait in concert he always had everything there live and I feel the same way. I’ve even taught the guys to dance a little bit this time round! (laughing) We’re gonna be taking a little inspiration from The Temptations! (laughing)
There’s even a touch of Californian sunshine on the album in the form of ‘Santa Cruz’.
‘Santa Cruz’ is a true song. It was my first vacation with Summer. A few friends were there and we were doing fireworks and champagne on the beach. Everybody loves the beach and songs that remind us of a memory. It’s one of my favourites on the album and it also brings a slightly different feel to the album. We wrote that one back in 2018 and it’s been around for a while – everyone that has heard it over the years has been like, ‘Don’t give up on Santa Cruz, man, that feels like a good song for you’ so we are finally releasing it out into the wild! (laughing)
In what ways would you say that you have grown and evolved as an artist since the release of ‘Write You a Song’ back in in 2014?
I feel like I’ve lived a lot of life in the last few years and seen a lot more things, whether that’s out on the road or in my personal life. Taking the live show from 25 minutes to 90 minutes has spurred us on to be better too. I’ve met a lot of songwriters and had amazing discussions and sessions with them.
I’ve also learned to sit back and watch a little too. You can learn more by observing what’s going on around you than you can trying to drive it. When you first start out you are being observed by everybody and you are trying to prove your point but when you get past that you get a little freedom to do things your own way.
Everything I do is from the heart, it’s intentional and not calculated and I think the fans can see that.
Thank you for your time today Jon. We hope to see you sometime over here in the UK when you can fit us in too.
I think there’s a very good chance we will be over with y’all next year so watch out for that!
Jon Pardi’s new album ‘Mr Saturday Night’ is out today (September 2nd) on all platforms.
