Jon Pardi's 'Mr. Saturday Night' reveres honky-tonk heartbreak, 'old school entertainment'

Thirty-seven-year-old Dixon, California native Jon Pardi has entertained hundreds of thousands of people over 12 touring cycles in just under a decade. To some, he is one of many potential tall, toothy-grinning, Resistol hat-wearing heir apparent to George Strait's current throne as the living and reigning King of Country Music

Holding that position requires mastering the awkward balance of radio appeal and artistic vision.

It also demands an honest awareness of where your vision of success started, an appreciation for where it has arrived, plus a compelling reason for your acclaim to continue and your career to evolve.

Via his fourth studio album, "Mr. Saturday Night," Pardi's achieved all of the above.

"It's never fun to me to do the same thing I did on my last record," says Pardi.

He's in an enviable place concerning that statement. Achieving eight top-10 singles on country music's radio and sales charts in the past decade opens up the pinnacle of Music Row producers and songwriters to a country superstar. Couple that with a pandemic delaying the follow-up to 2019's acclaimed "Heartache Medication" by two years.

Pardi discusses Midland collaboration "Longneck Way To Go" in a manner that highlights a humorous series of first-world problems surrounding a track co-written by renowned veteran songwriter Rhett Akins alongside eight-time ACAP Songwriter of the Year and NSAI Co-Songwriter of the Decade Ashley Gorley.

"[Rhett and Ashley] wrote a good one about using friendship to get over a breakup ("getting over you is going down slow"). He played it for me after Midland didn't record it," he recalls. "I instantly knew it was great and wanted it for myself. Six months later, my manager told me Midland wanted me to join them on a song. I asked, 'is it 'Longneck Way To Go?' 'Cause I love that song!' I never see Midland, but I told them that story when we shot the video. The universe put us together on that one, for sure."

Aside from the already-released "Longneck Way To Go" collaboration, the prolonged developmental period for 2022's "Mr. Saturday Night" eventually led Pardi to an unexpected solution: "big band entertainment."

In relation to what built to this notion, Hailey Whitters -- his 2022 tourmate alongside Lainey Wilson -- offered the following reflection about his career-to-date:

"I've known Jon for probably a decade now and I've seen him at so many different phases of his career; from singing Chris Knight songs on a kitchen counter in a sh***y apartment when we first got to town, to working weeknight shifts singing at the honkytonks down on Broadway, late night sets at Losers, to now earning several No. 1's and watching him sell out nearly every show we've done on his 'Aint Always the Cowboy' Tour."

Everything about album number four feels countrified and out-sized, but with brilliantly bittersweet or thoughtful caveats embedded in the songwriting. Yes, the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Award-winner is "Mr. Saturday Night," who smokes, drinks, smiles, winks, and "never misses a good time." But he's also a lovelorn man on the town who "missed her, on Saturday night."

Delivering that notion in a soothing wash of fiddles, steel guitar, and soulful vocals evokes romantic vibes. That's probably linked to his nearly two years of marriage to his wife, Summer, to whom he proposed while on stage during his concert at the Ryman Auditorium.

"Summer has changed everything in a good way," Pardi says while checking his phone to respond to a text from his wife during the interview. "Her being my partner makes my career more fun. We're building a family -- that's cool because it gives me more things to sing about on the next album," he jokes.

Sitting around Summer and her friends led to the inclusion of album closer "Reverse Cowgirl" to the record. Pardi describes the song written by the trio of Zack Dyer, Joe Fox, and Jared Scott as being "so well-written it's meaning could fly over your head."

"Summer's friends kept telling me I had to play the demo again, and that's when I knew I had to record it," he notes.

Pardi believes the album achieves a "perfectly cooked yin and yang" effect that gives him the feelings of excitement, heartbreak, gain, and loss that have often accompanied him walking into Losers, a downtown Nashville "dive bar" honky-tonk set just south of Music Row that he's haunted since he arrived in Music City 15 years ago.

Songs like "New Place to Drink" are his admittance to the idea that socio-economically surging Nashville's a bit "wilder and fancier" than when he arrived. He name drops hearing and playing songs like Don Williams' 1978 hit "Tulsa Time," Neil Diamond's timeless "Sweet Caroline," and "a lot of Merle Haggard" as familiar to his time at Losers -- plus what inspires much of the material on his latest release.

"'[Old Crow Medicine Show's 2004-released] Wagon Wheel' wasn't even regularly in live bands' sets yet," he offers, giving a more direct time, space, and place location to the vibe he's evoking.

"As a songwriter, going back to places and times in your mind that never seem to change" is important, Pardi offers. "So much of Nashville now feels 'shiny,' and those little things that aid my writing are gone, now."

"I'm an old-school entertainer. I think when you see that, it's powerful. You know and love what you're getting," Pardi says. "I just got off a tour where everyone was rocking out. I'm energized," he exclaims.

"I'm calling the girls at the publishing office trying to get some co-writes going. Gotta keep it coming. I love being at a place where I'm enjoying relating to more people than ever."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jon Pardi's 'Mr. Saturday Night' reveres honky-tonk heartbreak