Jon Pardi receives gold certification for ‘California Sunrise’

California Sunrise has been certified with sales of 500,000

Jon Pardi’s impressive breakthrough year has hit another milestone with his sophomore disc California Sunrise receiving gold certification by the RIAA. During Saturday night’s (Aug 19th) What the Hell World Tour stop in Sacramento, Dierks Bentley brought Pardi back on stage to surprise him with the accolade.

Bentley welcomed their label head, Universal Music Group Nashville’s Chairman & CEO Mike Dungan to join them as they presented the rising country star with a gold plaque acknowledging 500,000 sales of California Sunrise. The sold-out crowd showed their pride in the Dixon, California local with boisterous cheering, toasting and a lively chant of “PARDI! PARDI! PARDI!”

“That was definitely a surprise, and for it to be acknowledged in front of a hometown crowd of 18,000 in Northern California, amongst my friends and family and early supporters, made it an emotional moment. I will never forget it,” an emotional Pardi states.

Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, California Sunrise released to overwhelming praise from press highlighting Pardi’s ability to blend together modern production and traditional soundscapes. Rolling Stone proclaims, “Traditionalism isn’t dead … and [California Sunrise] is a fine example, mixing a pronounced California twang and George Strait’s easy swing with some meaty guitar riffs,” while The Tennessean notes, “In a time when many country artists are incorporating progressive, edgy studio tricks to contemporize their sound, Jon Pardi eschewed trends and made a boot scootin’, honky-tonkin’ country album.” Hits calls the album “a triumph of gritty, honky-tonkin’, old-school country with a healthy dose of ballsy guitar rock,” with Billboard adding that California Sunrise is “loaded with attitude…[and] manages to have both a sonic edginess and a defiant grasp of country tradition.”

California Sunrise features Pardi’s back-to-back No. 1 hits with the Platinum-selling “Head Over Boots” and the three-week No. 1, “Dirt On My Boots,” along with his current single climbing country radio airplay’s Top 10, “Heartache on the Dance Floor.”

The reigning ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year is currently on one of the hottest tours of the summer with Bentley’s What the Hell World Tour before the road warrior heads out with Luke Bryan for next month’s Farm Tour. Next, Pardi headlines CMT On Tour Presents: Jon Pardi’s Lucky Tonight Tour kicking off October 12th. Multiple dates are already sold out for Pardi’s headlining fall run.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com