Jon Pardi is opening up about his decision to cut out alcohol. After announcing in 2023 that he had quit drinking, Pardi at the time said he wasn’t sure it was a permanent lifestyle change or just a reset. But now, the California native says his days of imbibing are likely forever a thing of the past.
“[I] went back and dabbled with it again,” Pardi admits to People. “But now I’m just back to cutting it out. For me, it’s like ‘Am I better? Am I a better father?’ The positives are just so much bigger when I don’t drink. If something’s in your way and the better person is on the other side of it, then you get that thing out of the way.”
Pardi and his wife Summer are the proud parents of two-year-old Presley, and daughter Sienna, who will turn one year old in June.
“What’s the difference about being a daddy?” he says. “Just trying to dodge death a little more. They always say being healthier, going into your forties, sets up your sixties and seventies a lot better. I’ll try to stay healthy as long as I can.”
When Pardi revealed he quit drinking, he said it was for his health, although at the time he left open the possibility that he might occasionally drink again.
“I was pre-diabetic and I was just like, I gotta stop,” Pardi explains on Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast (via Country Now). “But I will say I’m retired. Doesn’t mean I can’t come out of retirement, but for right now it’s been great.”
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Not drinking also allows Pardi to be more present for his two daughters, in a way he couldn’t if he was hungover.
“When they get up at 7:00, they don’t care what you did last night — it’s their world,” Pardi says. “Every parent tells me it goes so quick and hold your baby girls because one day they’re going to stand, and they don’t want you to hold them.”
Pardi’s latest Honkytonk Hollywood album is out. The record, his fifth, includes his Top 25 single, “Friday Night Heartbreaker.”
“There is less beer drinking and more soul searching on this record,” Pardi tells ABC News Radio. “And there’s a lot of songs about making love. Guess that’s where this one came into a new kind of thing. It’s like make a family, making babies, making people dance, still.”
Honkytonk Hollywood marks Pardi’s first — but likely not last — time working with renowned producer Jay Joyce.
“I think it’s an incredible album,” Pardi boasts. “And we had so much fun making it, working with a new producer for me — and he’s not a new producer. He’s [a] legend, Jay Joyce, love him. We had a great time.“
Pardi pays homage to his daughters in “She Drives Away” on Honkytonk Hollywood, a song about parenthood.
“‘She Drives Away’ is a song that I knew I was going to record immediately,” Pardi says. “I think most dads of daughters will relate to it, but it reminded me so much of Summer and my journey. From when we started dating, to asking her dad for her hand in marriage, and then having our daughters. Now, I’ll go through it from the other side with my daughters. It’s a special song, and I’m really excited for people to hear it.”
Pardi will embark on his Honkytonk Hollywood Tour on April 25. Find the new record, and all of his music and upcoming shows, at JonPardi.com.