Jon Pardi Chats Festival Season and Country Radio at Rock The South

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Fresh off an arena tour with Alan Jackson, “When I’ve Been Drinkin’” singer Jon Pardi has been hitting the festival circuit hard this summer. While he took notes from Jackson all spring, he looks to another legend for tips on how to survive performances when temperatures are upwards of 90 degrees onstage. “I just gotta pull the George Strait card,” he says. “Just sit there and sing. Stand, point, wave, laugh, smile.”

The classic approach fits Pardi, who’s working to fuse together a twang-filled sound with more contemporary themes.  “There’s pop country and there’s traditional, and I’m trying to be in the middle,” he says of his music.

While his latest EP release, The B-Sides, definitely leans a bit more towards the traditional side, Pardi’s is working to strike a delicate balance between the opposite ends of the genre’s spectrum as he starts the process of putting together his sophomore release. “We gotta get on country radio and it’s really hard because country’s a whole different format now,” Pardi says of his next record. “It makes it hard to get up the radio charts, but you just gotta keep pluggin’. Me and capitol records ain’t backin’ down.”

Though the elusive country radio dream certainly poses a challenge to practically every artist in the genre, Pardi is well-positioned to make music that fits the radio mold and yet stays true to his artistry. As a co-writer and co-producer on every track of his debut release and EP, Pardi exercises a great deal of control over the creative process.  “I know what I want with my music,” he explains. “ I can produce my music just because I hear it in my mind…I have ideas.”

In the meantime, Pardi is enjoying road life and the perks that come with touring. Right as the interview was about to wrap, one of his team members delivered a beer to Pardi, who immediately started grinning ear to ear upon seeing the cold one coming his way. “Life’s fun,” he says calmly. I’ve gotta beer.”

 

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