Jon Pardi

“When we talked about making this record,” Jon Pardi told Apple Music about 2019’s Heartache Medication, “one of my favorite jokes was, ‘Well, we all listen to old country and drink beer. Why can’t we make a new album we can drink beer to that sounds like old country?’” That, in a nutshell, is Pardi’s vibe. Born in 1985, the California songwriter slings tunes that would sound worn-in on the jukebox at any honky-tonk. Thanks in part to the song selection on his family’s karaoke machine, Pardi is inspired by the hooky radio hits of ‘80s and ‘90s country as well as the genre’s traditional sounds. While bro-country was eating up the airwaves in the early 2010s, Pardi established himself with the old-school punch and twang of 2013’s “Up All Night,” which became his first big single and helped him gain momentum with his throwback sound. Even when he skews toward country-pop—as he does on the dance floor-ready 2016 single “Dirt on My Boots”—he doesn’t spare the fiddle and banjo. With Heartache Medication, Pardi delivered his most pedal steel-saturated offering to date, packed with tales of lonesome cowboys, wild benders, and the spirit of country music: the kind of songs that go hand in hand with cracking a cold one.