Jon Pardi has released a new covers album that finds the country traditionalist interpreting songs by George Strait, Dwight Yoakam, Tom Petty, and the late Joe Diffie. Rancho Fiesta Sessions was surprise released early Friday morning.
Pardi recorded the project all in one night with his touring band at his Nashville area ranch — hence the LP’s title. In a statement, he says he chose songs by artists that “I admire and I look up to.”
“This one was for the fans, to let them hear something different… songs you may have heard before, but haven’t heard them like this,” he said. “It turned into something special because it’s a year where we are off the road, and we recorded it live in real time, out at my house.”
The eight songs draw mostly from the classic country world, with Pardi tackling two songs by Strait (“Marina Del Rey,” “Right or Wrong”), Yoakam’s “Honky Tonk Man,” and Diffie’s “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die).” But he also weaves in a cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “The Waiting” and Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
“I always considered my sound traditional rock & roll with traditional country with a little bit of Motown and a little bit of pop,” he told Rolling Stone last year. His last album was 2019’s Heartache Medication.
Rancho Fiesta Sessions track list:
1. “The Bottle Let Me Down” – As performed by Merle Haggard
2. “Honky Tonk Man” – As performed by Dwight Yoakam
3. “Right or Wrong” – As performed by George Strait
4. “Marina Del Rey” – As performed by George Strait
5. “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)” – As performed by Joe Diffie
6. “Somebody’s Doin’ Me Right” – As performed by Keith Whitley
7. “The Waiting” – As performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
8. “Nothing Compares 2 U” – As performed by Prince