Jon Pardi's new 'Heartache Medication' album aims to cure what's ailing country music

Jon Pardi told his preschool teacher his name was Randy Travis. When she asked him again, he said it was George Strait. Later, he told her his name was Merle Haggard.

Pardi grew up in California, and his preschool teacher had never heard of the country icons. He showed up at school wearing a Garth Brooks shirt and a cowboy hat, and since his teacher didn’t know what else to call him, he was Randy, George or Merle – depending on the day.

“My dad says they thought I was crazy,” Pardi recalled.

Pardi, 34, is a long way from the precocious little boy who said his name was Merle Haggard, but three decades later, he is still waving the traditional country banner. Instead of borrowing a moniker from one of his heroes, he’s paving his way with his own brand of two-stepping, steel-guitar-laden traditional country music. Pardi’s third album, “Heartache Medication,” will be available Friday. He’ll headline back-to-back nights at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 1 and 2.

“The Ryman is going to be a bucket list for me and my band,” the singer said.

Jon Pardi the songwriter

Pardi co-wrote seven of the 14 songs on “Heartache Medication” and sourced the other half from some of Nashville’s most respected songwriters and artists, including Miranda Lambert and Eric Church. The heavy-hitters co-wrote “Don’t Blame it on Whiskey” – Pardi’s duet with Lauren Alaina – with Michael Heeney and Luke Laird.

Lyrics include "We wake up to reality and play the blame game ruthlessly like it would have turned out different if we would have stopped at one or two."

"I always loved that song," said Laird, who co-wrote four songs on "Heartache Medication." He said "Don't Blame it on Whiskey" was written years ago when Church was opening for Lambert. "It was just kind of sitting there ... then I got a text that Pardi was going to cut it. I was super excited. Who could legitimately record that song? Pardi is the perfect artist."

“Don’t Blame it on Whiskey” is one of many songs of loss on “Heartache Medication.” “Ain’t Always the Cowboy” grips listeners with the hook “It ain’t always the cowboy that rides away.” “Starlight” uses banjo and a midtempo melody to celebrate lost loved ones who shine their starlight down on Pardi to show him the way.

Toe-tapping, beer-soaked dancehall balance comes from “Me and Jack,” “Tied One On” and the title track and single, “Heartache Medication.”

“I wanted a song with a feel-good, old-school kind of swing to it,” Pardi said of “Heartache Medication.” “It was kind of an oddball title. It’s about drinking – just not saying it’s beer. It’s a good T-shirt. It goes great on a koozie. And you can dance to it.”

The record is Pardi’s first on which songwriters jockeyed to be included. His debut album, “Write You a Song," was released almost six years ago. By the time he started his critically acclaimed follow-up, “California Sunrise,” his fellow creatives thought they understood his sound.

"I didn’t write anything on his first record, but I was a huge fan," Laird said. "I’m always kind of weird about (asking to write), but I had no shame because I’m such a fan.."

“It turned into a lot of songs about boots,” Pardi quipped. Not that he isn’t thankful. His biggest hits include “Dirt on My Boots” and “Head Over Boots.”

'I loved albums that you could play and not have to skip through'

Pardi wanted to create a cohesive third album packed with the songs and sound with which he’s identified since childhood.

"Jon has never veered away from the kind of country music he wants to make or who inspired him to make it," UMG Nashville President Cindy Mabe said. "Jon’s grandmother introduced those musical characters and that heartbeat into his music from the time he was a 3- or 4-year-old boy. They are simply the fingerprints of influence on his life, and while he has added his own flair and modern sound and sentiment to his style of country music, their fingerprints are permanently embedded on his heart and his musical style. They separate him from everyone else."

When he was 18 years old, Pardi crashed his truck into a ditch while trying to put a CD in the player. He doesn't remember whose album it was, but he guessed it was by George Strait.

“I loved albums that you could play and not have to skip through,” he said. “God, it was annoying. I guess it trained me to make an album that would never have that problem. I think I’ve done a pretty good job on all the records, regardless of what you like. For the most part, they’re all fun – make you laugh, make you cry, make you dance and have a good time.

“It’s also a playlist," he joked. "Playlists are super popular. It could be the ‘Heartache Medication’ playlist.”

Using fellow country singers Kenny Chesney, Church and Lambert as examples, Pardi said he believes if artists build a reputation for releasing carefully crafted, substantial albums, they’ll always be able to release albums – instead of trying to sustain a career and their creativity on a piecemeal, radio single culture.

“I think the whole single thing comes from the heavy influence of artists doing the same thing,” he said. “If you’re going to buy two albums that are the same thing and you’re just going to get OK songs, I think that’s where the decline of albums comes in. There’s a lot of new country you can hear on Spotify, and it’s just one after the other.”

The predictability of today's music

He remembers a songwriting appointment with Laird and Josh Thompson that ended at Music Row bar Loser’s around 1 p.m. Pardi said the men headed over thinking they were going to see some “old-timers” and listen to '90s country. When they arrived, they felt like the old-timers. As they listened to the contemporary songs playing in the bar, Laird pinned the predictability of the music, calling out the chord changes before they happened and accurately anticipating the timing and use of the click track.

“There we were, three songwriters talking about how everything sounds the same and it’s all done by computers,” Pardi said.

Looping back around to albums, he leaned back in his chair and said, “It’s strong artists who have big personalities and are maybe a little crazy … it’s the people who want to say something … those are the ones who make albums.”

Reach Cindy Watts at [email protected] or 615-664-2227 and on Twitter @CindyNWatts.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jon Pardi teams with Lauren Alaina on 'Heartache Medication'