Album Review: Jon Pardi’s ‘Honkytonk Hollywood’

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a dozen years since Jon Pardi introduced himself with Write You a Song.

In the years that have followed, the Golden State cowboy has cemented himself as one of the leading flag flyers of the neo-traditional country movement. Spread across four studio albums, Pardi has scored six number one singles and a legion of fans that still appreciate a healthy dose of steel guitar and fiddle in their country music.

With his new studio album, aptly titled Honkytonk Hollywood, Pardi not only adds another notch in his neo-traditional belt, but expands on it as well with instances of souring triple guitars and an updated take on a traditional country sound.

“Boots Off,” the lead track, offers a suave lyric that sounds tailor-made for dancefloor and line dance interpretations, which is soon followed by “She Gets to Drinking,” a classic Jon Pardi fiddle and steel-laden, acoustic-driven number with atmospheric, spacious production that catapults the lyric to the forefront. Such is also the case with “Gamblin’ Man,” which comes equipped with a chorus that explodes through the speakers, and a healthy dose of slide guitar, steel and fiddle that also features one of Pardi’s most impressive vocal performances on the album.

Pardi slows things down with the touching, coming-of-age fatherhood ode, “She Drives Away,” a mature look at a daughter’s journey from finding love to having a daughter of her own. Be sure to have a box of Kleenex nearby.

As lovers of sad songs (see Pardi’s “She Ain’t In It” as an example of a perfect sad country tune), we immediately gravitated towards “Nice Place to Visit” and “Bar Room Blue.” The former is a stone cold country, tear in your beer track about a one night flame, while the latter offers a descriptive lyric that plants the listener on the stool beside Pardi in a barroom as he drowns his sorrows from a flame burning out.

There’s something for everybody on Honkytonk Hollywood, which captures what we’ve already loved about Pardi for nearly twelve years, and most excitedly, where he may be going for the next dozen.