Back-to-back Number Ones
It was party time for Jon Pardi and the writers of his two recent Number One hits, ‘Dirt on My Boots’ and ‘Heartache on the Dance Floor.’ The Pardi party was at BMI’s Nashville HQ and was co-hosted by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC.
Honored for writing ‘Dirt on My Boots’ were Rhett Akins, Jesse Frasure and Ashley Gorley. The awards for ‘Heartache on the Dance Floor’ went to songwriters Bart Butler, Brice Long and the artist himself, Jon Pardi.
Before the official presentations, Pardi sat down with his fellow songwriters for some Q&As with the music media.
Pardi has been touring with Miranda Lambert and will continue through March. Speaking about those tour dates, he said, “Being out west with Miranda was a lot of fun, specially since it was January! Last year I spent January in Canada. Out on the west coast there was sunshine!”
‘Paul played this stage, now here we are!’
He added that he has been performing in some markets he had not been to before. “We were up in Washington and Oregon and it was just like, packed houses. We played the venue where I went and saw Paul McCartney last year. It was kinda like ‘Paul played this stage and now here we are playing this stage! It’s a packed house and people are going crazy. San Diego was great. Everything was great about the Miranda tour, and we’re still going.”
I asked Jon about performing at the New Faces show at this year’s Country Radio Seminar (CRS) in January. CRS in general – and the New Faces Show in particular – is considered a ‘golden ticket’ to radio airplay because artists are playing before a captive audience of hundreds of radio program directors and air personalities.
“I give fans what they want,” said Pardi, “Whether they’re program directors or not. I mean, I’m not, ‘Oh, there’s no program directors here, I can slack off tonight.’ I just look at it like that and I give it my all anyway I can. And I think that programmers know that. If I [go to a station] they know I’m gonna show up and have a good time and give it my all.”
Boots seem to figure prominently for Pardi, both as footwear and as musical success. ‘Dirt on My Boots’ is his second consecutive Number One, following 2015’s Platinum-selling ‘Head Over Boots.’ Both ‘Boots’ songs are cuts from his second studio album, ‘California Sunrise.’
Pardi said that he thought Mike Dungan, Chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group, might not want to release another song with ‘boots’ in the title so soon after ‘Head Over Boots.’ However, that wasn’t a problem. “He [Dungan] said, ‘I don’t care about back-to-back boot songs, I just care about back-to-back hits,’” recalled Pardi.
Rhett’s dirty boots inspire song
Speaking about the writing session that produced ‘Dirt on My Boots,’ songwriter Ashley Gorley noted that Pardi and the other writers all had very busy schedules and the only timeslot that worked for all of them was 8:00a.m. “When Rhett arrived, he said, ‘I am NOT a morning person,’ but we all wanted to be a part of this,” noted Gorley.
As they got started, Akins came up with an idea. “I remember looking at my boots and they were really dirty,” he said. “I looked down and said ‘What about the dirt on my boots?’”
A ‘ten year town’ for Pardi
During the awards presentation, Pardi noted that he has been working on his career in Music City for several long years. “Thank you so much for believing in me,” he said. “Thank you everybody. You guys know who you are. You’ve been there since day one. I’ve been here for a while now and Feb. 23, 2008 is when I moved to town. Ten years later, I have three number ones and we’re at a double number one party. Thank you. Thanks for believing in me.”
As with most apparent ‘newcomers,’ Jon Pardi has worked long and hard at his career leading up to this afternoon in the limelight. Growing up in Dixon, California, he started writing songs when he was 12 and was performing in a small band by his mid teens. Leaving high school, he headed to Nashville with his eyes on a career in music. As he noted in his comments above, it has taken him years to get where he is today.
More about Jon Pardi, including upcoming tour dates at www.jonpardi.com
“Kip almost didn’t show up,” said Josh. “He was headed to the lake for some wake boarding.” We were reminded that Kip has a passion for the water, having been something of a ‘beach bum,’ surfing in Hawaii before making the commitment to come to Nashville.
Both Brett Young and Jesse Lee might seem like newcomers, but as with most successful people, that isn’t really the case. At the media session, Brett noted that he’d been playing and performing for 14 years before moving to Nashville.
Speaking about the diversity of his musical styles and interests, Brett said, “I grew up with rhythm and blues and soul music, so You will hear the soul in my music.”
In fact, many visitors, listening intently to their tour guides, might actually know more about those two venues than those of us who live and work here. It never hurts to remind ourselves just how important they are to the success of Nashville’s music industry.
story of a small number of remarkable people (mainly women, as it happens) whose tenacity, dedication and unwavering belief ensured that both the Ryman and the Bluebird are still thriving today.
But, like the Bluebird, the Ryman owes its current existence to a few people who were convinced that it was an essential part of Music City’s heritage. In 1920, Lula C. Naff was hired to manage the space, after working there for several years, booking acts for the Ryman in her spare time. Her tireless dedication kept the venue alive and thriving until her retirement in the 1950s. Since then, the Ryman has had two more female GMs.
Brett Young has landed on multiple Billboard Year End charts, as 2017 came to a close, including Top New Artists, the only Country artist to do so. He also landed at No. Two on the Year End Hot Country Songs, Country Digital Songs and Country Streaming Songs charts. ASCAP recognized his “quintessential breakout year,” honoring Young for one of the Most Played Songs of the Year with “Sleep Without You.” Young was named a TicketMaster New Favorite Artist of 2017 and was Shazam’s only Country act included on their Emerging Artists of 2017 list. He also drew prestigious CMA, ACM, Teen Choice Award, CMT Music Awards and AIMP Award nominations. 2018 is already shaping up to be another big year for Young, who is working on new music. He will perform at the College Football Playoff concert in Atlanta January 8 before joining ACM Male Vocalist of the Year Thomas Rhett on his LIFE CHANGES Tour. More info at brettyoungmusic.com.
As the curtain closed on a sold-out show at New York City’s Town Hall in December, multi-PLATINUM singer/songwriter Kip Moore took a bow to 2017, for what can only be described as a benchmark career year. Moore is wrapping up an overwhelming year on multiple “Best Of 2017” lists by Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, UpRoxx, Bobby Bones Show, Taste Of Country, Sounds Like Nashville, The Boot, PopMatters and Whiskey Riff for his revered third studio album SLOWHEART, while reflecting on his 4th career No. One for his single “More Girls Like You,” sold-out headlining shows, national TV appearances and more. 2018 tour dates etc at kipmoore.net.
And there’s a whole lot more! Check out the entire column online at