Jon Pardi – Honkytonk Hollywood

Review

Jon Pardi's 'Honkytonk Hollywood' throws us a curve ball with his fifth studio album, bringing in producer Jay Joyce for the first time in his career. Released in April 2025 on Capitol Nashville, this 17-track collection runs just shy of an hour and shows a more seasoned side of Pardi. He wasn't whistlin' Dixie when he called this his "most grown-up record" - you can hear that maturity coming through clear as a bell on standout tracks like 'Friday Night Heartbreaker' and the title track that'll have you two-stepping across the kitchen floor.

The album stays true to Pardi's neotraditional country roots with plenty of fiddle and steel guitar to satisfy the purists, though some fans might notice it leans a touch more toward radio-friendly territory than his earlier work. The commercial reception tells an interesting story too - while it didn't exactly tear up the charts (peaking at #27 on the US Country Albums chart), it did make some international waves by showing up on the UK Album Downloads chart. That's the thing about Pardi - he's walking that fine line between honoring traditional country sounds while still keeping one boot in the modern world, even if some of those 17 tracks could've been left on the cutting room floor without much fuss. - Rex