I'm just thankful I'm surrounded by good people.
Jon Pardi
It's always a good feeling to be recognized for something.
Take everything you can from what people say. Keep going and stick to your instincts. And what your soul tells you to do, use that.
There's been a lot of wedding songs and proposals. It's cool because when they play it at weddings so, it means a lot to them. That's a big deal. They're always going to remember 'Head Over Boots' as played at their wedding.
Getting a beginner publishing deal really helped me gain the skills. I just kept writing and writing. You just take everything out of life and turn it into an idea or a melody or a song and find the best writers you can to write with that fit you and know what you want to do.
My California sunrise, there's a real mist in the air. I think of the mountains. You can smell the farm fields. You can smell the dirt and the lights and the whole sun.
As a songwriter, we're looking for a good story, and we're always looking to push the limits.
I'm more of a songwriter. I love writing songs. I love writing my songs. It's always been writing for me, and it makes it different when you're writing for yourself.
I'm a funny guy. You've got to be able to make fun of yourself. We only live once.
My grandmother loved country music, and she's the one who really got me into country music. She had George Strait tapes, a bunch of them. I remember listening to tapes, taking them out, the covers and the back.
We travel so much as touring musicians and artists that sometimes, when you hear a great song that you really think could be on your project, you go ahead and record it instead of try to write it.
If you get music on a personal level, you are doing something right. It's not just in one ear and out the other.
I have a great band of great guys. We're a lot of fun.
For my shows, I don't play too many slow songs.
'Dirt On My Boots' is a very different song. I heard the melody, and I heard the lyrics, and I heard the drive of that song. I totally related. It was kinda me when I was on my bulldozer working for my dad.
There's so much you can learn from being on a big tour and so much you can learn from being in the clubs.
California is one of the most country-est states there is. We're really country.
It's been so great to have an album people believe in.
I can play with Florida Georgia Line. We can throw down with people. I think that's what sets me apart.
I'm mixing country with kind of a modern twist to it.
'Head Over Boots' is a shuffle, but it's more of a Motown laid-back shuffle than, say, a Dwight Yoakam shuffle.
There's a connection when people are dancing, laughing, and singing, and that definitely happens with 'Head Over Boots.'
My music is my No. 1, and I've got people who believe in me and keep me going. I'm thankful.
'Swagger' would be the word for 'Dirt On My Boots.' With the real funky drum loop and the ganjo rolling down, and then the fiddles and the guitar and steel, it really took an old school style where it's fiddle, steel, guitar, and mixed it with a drum loop.
I was writing songs by 12 and had a band by 14.
I love the story of the guy coming to Nashville and then kind of getting set down and told, 'This is how the town works,' which, I've totally been there. But the coolest thing about 'Out of Style' is it's a song within a song.
Radio has had my back since 'Missin' You Crazy,' which was a very traditional kind of song.
I'm trying to write songs to appeal to everybody.
I'd like to start a tradition of getting No. 1s - how 'bout that?
I love performing, and if I didn't love it, I wouldn't be doing it.
What I can feel the most and what I can remember the most are the melodies I want to write to.
I always want to just stay humble, and I always want to keep climbing.
You gotta do both. You've got to be on those big tours, and you've got to be in the clubs.
I've really been studying lyrics, printing out lyrics to songs I love and reading them like a letter.
At 14, I was in my own little classic rock country band. Then, after high school, I started another band called Northern Comfort. That was based out of Chico, Calif.
I played the bars in northern California since I was 18. We played at least three hours, and there's no which-way about it: That definitely helped.
I will never, ever speak out against somebody who is living the dream and doing what they want to do, because that's what I'm doing.
I had a drummer I really wanted to move to Nashville with me, and he's like, 'Naw, I can't go, man.' He never could pull the trigger. It's a big move. You just gotta be diehard - you gotta give it your all, you know.
I can be a traditionalist but also play with Luke Bryan and get the crowd to go crazy. I think that mix is a lot of what has kept me going and kept people fired up about the music.
You gotta have a good beat to survive in modern country in general. Everyone wants to feel good, laugh, dance, and cry. But at the same time, they all want it to sound happy.
I chose to be this guy. It's who I want to be, and it's always been me - just keepin' it country.
As a songwriter, you always look for guys that you can write good with. Show up, have an idea, knock it out of the park.
I always want to have the traditional country soul while meeting the new standards of country music.
I lean traditional, but 'Head Over Boots,' it's pretty country.
Sing your heart out and write the best song you possible can.
I grew up in rural Dixon, CA, and I've been hunting with my father ever since I was a young boy. He taught me how to hunt and shoot, firearm safety, and have respect for the outdoors.
We're boot-friendly here.
I'm moving forward and getting new fans at every show.
You've got these guys that have this fresh, street, hip-hop country that sells a zillion. Keep doing that. I'll keep doing my stuff. We'll see how it goes.
People out west love country music.
