Jon Pardi is one grateful Grand Ole Opry member. The singer-songwriter was inducted into the Opry last October by Garth Brooks, after being invited to join via a video message by Alan Jackson, while performing at Stagecoach earlier this year.

“The Opry, they’re only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger,” Pardi shared with Everything Nash and other outlets during a recent media event. “They’re doing a great job. They’re bringing in members that come earlier and just, they know what they’re doing more than ever now. I really feel like it. But regardless of that, it really felt like family when you become a member. It’s a home to country music. It’s a home, and it’s the backstage that’s the feeling. We love jamming there … It’s a wonderful thing.”

Pardi also praised the most recent member, Lainey Wilson, who was inducted by Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, on June 6.

“I texted Lainey, and I said, ‘Congrats on the Opry,'” Pardi recalled. “She said, ‘Thanks. Now we’re really family.’ I said, ‘Yeah, we are. The best.’ I’m glad she’s there. It’s just a fun place. It really is. It’s really cool. To be an Opry member, it’s more important now than ever. It’s growing and growing. I’m glad to be a part of it.”

When Pardi was inducted by Brooks, he said it was especially meaningful since it was done by the “Friends in Low Places” singer.

“It’s full circle,” Pardi said at the time. “My hero that I watched fly around in an arena is right behind me … It’s crazy that Garth is right here. I don’t even know what to say. I love the Opry. I love being a part of the family.”

Pardi is putting the finishing touches on a new album, which follows his 2022 Mr. Saturday Night record.

“I’m not going a different direction, but I’m going to do something fresh,” Pardi said on Audacy’s Totally Private. “I’m going to work with a guy that I’ve never got to work with, somebody I look up to in the producer world, Jay Joyce. He’s the guy that’s got something special, and us coming together with the right songs, I feel like is going to be real special. He’s excited, I’m excited.”

The California native is using a new producer, Jay Joyce, for his next set of tunes, breaking him out of his own comfort zone.

“We’re really going to merge some of the more traditional honky-tonk stuff that he really hasn’t done,” Pardi said of Joyce. “There comes a time when you gotta shake things up and push yourself. For me, it’s pushing myself. We’re always trying to be relevant and stick around.”

Pardi will resume his Mr. Saturday Night Tour in September. Find all of Pardi’s music and upcoming shows at JonPardi.com.