A lot of my fans, and a lot of country music fans, they still wear boots.
— Jon Pardi
I have a great band of great guys. We're a lot of fun.
I like hearing fiddles, steel guitar, acoustics up loud - really rock & roll stuff but with a country sound behind it. That's just who I am. I'm not trying to prove a point; I am just doing what I like. But I don't have any problems with any other artist coming in and doing their own thing.
'Head Over Boots' is a shuffle, but it's more of a Motown laid-back shuffle than, say, a Dwight Yoakam shuffle.
For my shows, I don't play too many slow songs.
I grew up in rural Dixon, CA, and I've been hunting with my father ever since I was a young boy. He taught me how to hunt and shoot, firearm safety, and have respect for the outdoors.
I'm moving forward and getting new fans at every show.
I love coming back around Northern California.
I've been able to carve my way out with lyrics and melodies.
I'm writing songs that I want to sing.
There's so much you can learn from being on a big tour and so much you can learn from being in the clubs.
You've got these guys that have this fresh, street, hip-hop country that sells a zillion. Keep doing that. I'll keep doing my stuff. We'll see how it goes.
'Swagger' would be the word for 'Dirt On My Boots.' With the real funky drum loop and the ganjo rolling down, and then the fiddles and the guitar and steel, it really took an old school style where it's fiddle, steel, guitar, and mixed it with a drum loop.
I'm mixing country with kind of a modern twist to it.
My California sunrise, there's a real mist in the air. I think of the mountains. You can smell the farm fields. You can smell the dirt and the lights and the whole sun.
What I can feel the most and what I can remember the most are the melodies I want to write to.
There's a connection when people are dancing, laughing, and singing, and that definitely happens with 'Head Over Boots.'
If you get music on a personal level, you are doing something right. It's not just in one ear and out the other.
Getting a beginner publishing deal really helped me gain the skills. I just kept writing and writing. You just take everything out of life and turn it into an idea or a melody or a song and find the best writers you can to write with that fit you and know what you want to do.
I'm helping country sound a little more country.
As a songwriter, you always want to search for something that's right in front of you that you can twist into something new.
My grandmother loved country music, and she's the one who really got me into country music. She had George Strait tapes, a bunch of them. I remember listening to tapes, taking them out, the covers and the back.
I was writing songs by 12 and had a band by 14.
I'm just thankful I'm surrounded by good people.
I love performing, and if I didn't love it, I wouldn't be doing it.
I played the bars in northern California since I was 18. We played at least three hours, and there's no which-way about it: That definitely helped.
I'm trying to write songs to appeal to everybody.
I just have fun on stage. There's nothing premolded out there. I try to always do something different.
It's been so great to have an album people believe in.
'Dirt On My Boots' is a very different song. I heard the melody, and I heard the lyrics, and I heard the drive of that song. I totally related. It was kinda me when I was on my bulldozer working for my dad.
I love traditional country music, and I feel like there's a need for it and a want for it. But I enjoy everybody in country music.
My music is my No. 1, and I've got people who believe in me and keep me going. I'm thankful.
Sing your heart out and write the best song you possible can.
I always want to have the traditional country soul while meeting the new standards of country music.
I always want to just stay humble, and I always want to keep climbing.
At 14, I was in my own little classic rock country band. Then, after high school, I started another band called Northern Comfort. That was based out of Chico, Calif.
As a songwriter, you always look for guys that you can write good with. Show up, have an idea, knock it out of the park.
There's been a lot of wedding songs and proposals. It's cool because when they play it at weddings so, it means a lot to them. That's a big deal. They're always going to remember 'Head Over Boots' as played at their wedding.
I had a drummer I really wanted to move to Nashville with me, and he's like, 'Naw, I can't go, man.' He never could pull the trigger. It's a big move. You just gotta be diehard - you gotta give it your all, you know.
I started playing guitar by the time I was 9.
California is one of the most country-est states there is. We're really country.
I'm more of a songwriter. I love writing songs. I love writing my songs. It's always been writing for me, and it makes it different when you're writing for yourself.
I'm a funny guy. You've got to be able to make fun of yourself. We only live once.
You gotta do both. You've got to be on those big tours, and you've got to be in the clubs.
I was even more country in my college-band days.
Having two back-to-back No. 1's is unbelievable.
It's always a good feeling to be recognized for something.
I will never, ever speak out against somebody who is living the dream and doing what they want to do, because that's what I'm doing.
Take everything you can from what people say. Keep going and stick to your instincts. And what your soul tells you to do, use that.
We're boot-friendly here.
