Exclusive Q&A: Jon Pardi Talks ‘Head Over Boots,’ All Time High Tour

2015 has been a great year for Jon Pardi. Earlier this year, the California native spent time on the road with Alan Jackson, he recently released a new single, “Head Over Boots,” and he’s currently headlining the All Time High Tour with special guests Brothers Osborne.

We caught up with Pardi to chat about all of that and more. Check out our Q&A and an exclusive backstage clip below.

SLN: What’s the story behind your latest single, “Head Over Boots?” 

JP: I was down in San Antonio, Texas at my dad’s house and we were out at an old dance hall. And I was kind of watching everybody dance to listen to a kind of a Texas shuffle down there. I’m just trying to have us a beer and the next morning woke up and had a cup of coffee and I sat down and started strumming on the guitar and coming up with that melody of ‘Head over Boots.’ The first three lines that I had were ‘I wanna sweep you off your feet tonight. I wanna love you and hold you tight. Spin you around on some old dance floor’ and I started singing the melody and with dummy lyrics. I brought that back to Luke Laird and we kind of sat down and we came up with ‘Head Over Boots’ and it kind of became this whole love story. So it’s kind of built around this sort of love song you can dance to.

SLN: What’s your favorite part of headlining the All Time High Tour?

JP: The fans. When the fans show up. There’s a lot of times when you don’t know how many fans will be there and so when there’s fans there and they’re screaming and even if you could put 500 people in a building, it’s amazing. You know? I haven’t had too much chart success the past couple years so just to have a sell-out is really, the fans that are listening out there, they really are. And to have the Brothers Osborne out there with us is amazing. It’s probably one of my favorite tours I’ve ever been on cuz I love those guys, I love what they’re doing, I love their songs. I love them as human beings. It’s just a fun time on the road more than I’ve had before.

 

SLN: You spent time on the road with Alan Jackson earlier this year. What was that like?

JP: It was amazing. Alan Jackson is one of the country greats and one of my heroes in country music. It was awesome to be on tour with him and listen to all the songs I grew up with, to see him out there and seeing all his fans. Got a great slot and got to go out there right before him which was amazing. It was a good time.

SLN: What’s something you took away from touring with Jackson? 

JP: He just sings great songs, you know? He does really great songs. Alan, his performance is kind of old school, he just kind of plays with these videos and sings songs. I just want to hone in my singer/songwriter skills there because he is one hell of a songwriter.

SLN: You’re also one of the last few “hat acts” out on the road. Is it important to you to keep that tradition?

JP: Yeah, to me it’s kind of like, whatever you want to do in country music, that’s fine. I like my cowboy hat and I look up to rodeo cowboys, you know? I like team rope cowboys. I listen to John Wayne. So it’s not just the whole country singer cowboy hat. It’s a lot more than that to me of why I wear a cowboy hat. But I do love my heroes like the Alan Jacksons and the George Straits. And even the Tim McGraws and the Garth Brooks. I always laugh and I was always fighting to tell the label, ‘I want to wear my damn cowboy hat.’ It’s like all the guys that wear cowboy hats, are still here. Kenny Chesney is still putting football arenas in there, ok? It’s not a bad thing.

SLN: When can fans expect to get their hands on your next full-length album?

JP: I just got my background vocals done on my second record and I’m extremely excited for this next record to come out and it’s going to be out early 2016.

Fans can keep up with Jon Pardi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. See a full list off Pardi’s All Time High Tour dates HERE.