California Sunrise

Jon Pardi released his debut album Write You a Song on January 14, 2014. It garnered favorable reviews from critics who praised the twangy instrumentation and lyrical content.[1][2] To promote the record, he spent the rest of the year touring across North America and appearing on talk shows. After the release of his 2015 EP The B-Sides, 2011–2014, Pardi embarked on his All Time High Tour with country music duo the Brothers Osborne, where he started performing new material for his second country album.[3] Each song was recorded with a full band as Pardi wanted the feel of a live recording. He also wanted them to have the "traditional country soul" while following the genre's modern standards.[4] The album was co-produced by Bart Butler who also worked on Write You a Song.[5] On March 24, 2016, Pardi revealed the album's cover art and track listing.[6] California Sunrise was released on June 17, 2016 by Capitol Nashville.[5]

Opening track "Out of Style" was described by Pardi as a "song within a song" about an aspiring artist moving to Nashville to write a song that evolves into an ode about the country music tropes used throughout generations like Jesus and alcohol.[7][8] Utilizing pedal steel and drums for its melody, Beville Dunkerley of Rolling Stone noted how the song's underlying message is how Pardi's brand of classic country through a modern sound has remained timeless, even as various subgenres play throughout the airwaves.[8] "Cowboy Hat" is described as Pardi "putting a Bakersfield twist on a song George Strait might have recorded 20 years ago."[9] "Head Over Boots" was created in late 2014, when Pardi was at a Texas dancehall seeing couples dance to Merle Haggard and Bob Wills, and a chorus melody came to his mind that stuck with him as he worked on the instrumentation and lyrics with co-writer Luke Laird in January 2015.[10][11] "Night Shift" takes the employment term to describe an intimate encounter that the male narrator has with his lover after an exhausting day at work.[12] "Can't Turn You Down" revolves around a man aware that he's leaving his former flame and resisting her but finds it impossible to commit that promise.[13]

"Dirt on My Boots" is a "blue collar love song" about a man finishing work to get together with his girl.[7][14] Pardi was initially put off by the track's demo being "super-hip-hop" but fell in love with the lyrics that he added fiddle and steel guitar to give it that country sound.[7] "She Ain't in It" was described as "a slow, fiddle and steel powered love-lost song" about a man attempting to move on after a still hurting breakup.[9][15] It was originally going to be recorded by Strait but became available for Pardi to record it afterwards.[16] "All Time High" and "Heartache on the Dance Floor" were both written on the same day as Pardi and co-writers Bart Butler and Brice Long were staying in Wichita, Kansas.[17] "Paycheck" is a tribute to the "piece of paper" that workers acquire to support themselves, while also having "a little bit of fun" as well.[13] "Lucky Tonight" revolves around a man "attempting to bounce back from heartache."[9] The closing title track was created when Pardi said: "I wanted to write a shout-out to the West Coast […] It's a romantic story that tells the beauty of California and the beauty of a relationship […] We wanted to write a cool, California-country sounding song, we had the Bob Segers and Jackson Brownes and Glen Freys in mind — that heavy acoustic and bouncy sound, but in a modern style."[8]

The album's first single, "Head Over Boots", was released to country radio on September 14, 2015 and gave Pardi his first number-one country hit on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.[10][18] It was certified 2x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on September 13, 2018.[19] Its music video was directed by Jim Wright and released on Pardi's YouTube page in April 2016.[20][21] A second single, "Dirt on My Boots", was released on September 19, 2016 and gave Pardi his second number-one country hit on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.[22] It was certified 3x platinum by the RIAA on December 6, 2019.[23] The single's music video premiered on February 24, 2017.[24] The third single, "Heartache on the Dance Floor", was released to country radio on May 1, 2017.[25] It peaked at numbers three and five on both the Billboard Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts, respectively.[26][27] It was also certified 2x platinum by the RIAA on December 20, 2019.[28] A music video for the single, directed by Carlos Ruiz, premiered in June 2017.[29][30] A fourth single, "She Ain't In It", was released on October 23, 2017 and reached numbers 21 and 23 on both the Billboard Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts, respectively.[26][27] Its music video was directed by Jim Wright and premiered on February 2018.[31] The fifth and final single, "Night Shift", was released on July 3, 2018 and peaked at numbers five and eight on both the Billboard Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts, respectively.[26][27] It was certified platinum by the RIAA on March 18, 2019.[32] The single's music video was directed by Jim Wright and premiered on October 2018.[33]

On July 7, 2016, Pardi performed "Head Over Boots" on NBC's Today.[34][35] On October 3, he was announced as an opening act alongside Cole Swindell for Dierks Bentley on his What the Hell World Tour, starting on January 19, 2017 in Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.[36] On January 31, 2017, Pardi was one of 26 opening acts that played alongside Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul: The World Tour, performing on May 11 at Tulsa's BOK Center and finishing on May 13 in Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena.[37] On March 14, he performed "Dirt on My Boots" on Late Night with Seth Meyers.[38] Nine days later, he performed it on Good Morning America.[39] On May 25, Pardi was announced as being part of Luke Bryan's Farm Tour, opening in Lincoln, Nebraska on September 28 and ending in Centralia, Missouri on October 7.[40] On August 2, he partnered with CMT on Tour to headline his Lucky Tonight Tour with country music groups Midland and Runaway June, starting on October 12 in Birmingham, Alabama and finishing on December 8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[41] On September 28, he was named as one of the opening acts for Miranda Lambert's Livin' Like Hippies Tour, beginning on January 18, 2018 at Greenville's Bon Secours Wellness Arena.[42] On January 23, 2018, Pardi opened for Bryan again on the second leg of his What Makes You Country Tour, beginning on May 5 at Austin's iHeartRadio Country Festival and wrapping up on October 26 in Detroit's Ford Field.[43] On March 8, he performed a medley of "She Ain't in It" and "Heartache on the Dance Floor" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.[44]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[45]
One Country	4/5[46]

California Sunrise garnered positive reviews from music critics. Jason Scott of One Country praised Pardi for crafting "hefty lyricism with inescapable guitar solos and robust melodies" that capture the traditional stylings of Garth Brooks and Randy Travis, concluding that "Pardi lets the music [and] the instruments and his voice live together, unfettered. He tells heartfelt stories, and [he] does it well. You can't get much better than that."[46] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted how the record has "space for softer tones and slower tempos" that allow for "experimentation with rhythms" and that Pardi's everyman image can hold him back sometimes, but concluded that "this workingman's diligence is a key element in turning California Sunrise into a frills-free, sturdily crafted collection."[45] Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time also gave note of the traditional instrumentation and iconography used throughout the album, concluding that "Maybe from Pardi's perch on the music scene, what was old may be new again. Maybe, just maybe, Pardi and his hat are indeed "something new" these days. And while being called a hat act was a pejorative once upon a time, Pardi and his ilk ought to proudly wear that moniker - as long as he remembers what the hat once stood for."[47]

Rolling Stone ranked the album number 10 on their list of the 40 Best Country Albums of 2016. Rolling Stone writer Jon Freeman said the record is "compelling proof that traditionalism doesn't have to sound old fashioned," noting the mixture of fiddle and steel guitar with an "electrified Bakersfield twang" through a modern production, concluding that "[W]here many of his traditionalist peers looked backward for studied versions of the past, Jon Pardi kept his eyes firmly trained on the present."[48] Uproxx ranked it number 17 on their list of the 20 Best Country Albums of 2016. Uproxx writer Caitlin White said that Pardi knows how to write traditional country narratives that don't sound like retreads and feel like a "fabulous break from crossover pop influences." She concluded by calling it "an excellent sophomore effort from a star-in-the-making, keep an eye on this one, he's about ready for the arena circuit."[49] In 2017, Billboard contributor Chuck Dauphin placed six tracks from the album on his top 10 list of Pardi's best songs: "She Ain't in It" at number one, "Head Over Boots" at number two, "Dirt on My Boots" at number three, "Paycheck" at number five, "Can't Turn You Down" at number eight and "Heartache on the Dance Floor" at number ten.[13] In 2018, it was nominated for Album of the Year at the 53rd Academy of Country Music Awards, but it went to From A Room: Volume 1 by Chris Stapleton.[50]

California Sunrise debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200 and atop the Top Country Albums chart, with first-week earnings of 29,000 equivalent album sales (24,000 in traditional album sales).[51] It is Pardi's first number one record on the latter chart.[52] On the Billboard 200, it left the top 100 on the week of September 10, 2016, and has spent 185 weeks on the chart.[53][54] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 19, 2018.[55] It has sold 279,100 copies in the US as of November 2019,[56] with 1,076,000 units (including tracks and streams) consumed as of March 2020.[57] In Canada, it debuted at number 93 on the Canadian Albums chart for the week of July 8, 2016 but left afterwards.[58] It peaked at number 51 the week of February 25, 2017 and stayed on the chart for twenty-two weeks.[59][60] The album was certified platinum by Music Canada on January 11, 2019.[61]

Adapted from the album's liner notes.[62]

Musicians

• Bart Butler - gang vocals
• Dave Cohen - Hammond B-3 organ, Wurlitzer electric piano
• Kris Donegan - electric guitar
• Jenee Fleenor - fiddle
• Lee Francis - bass guitar
• Ryan Gore - percussion, programming, gang vocals
• Mike Johnson - steel guitar
• Luke Laird - programming
• Rob McNelley - electric guitar, baritone guitar, slide guitar
• Miles McPherson - drums, percussion, programming
• Jon Pardi - lead vocals, background vocals, gang vocals, programming, percussion
• Danny Rader - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, ganjo, bouzouki, mandolin
• Russell Terrell - background vocals, gang vocals

Technical

• Bart Butler - production
• Ryan Gore - recording, mixing
• Andrew Mendelson - mastering
• Jon Pardi - production
• Jarod Snowden - digital editing
• Brad Winters - digital editing