Jon Pardi Inducted into Grand Ole Opry by His Hero Garth Brooks

The "Your Heart or Mine" singer earns one of country's highest honors and beams as Brooks tells him: "I love Jon Pardi!"

Jon Pardi was surprised Tuesday night by his childhood country hero, Garth Brooks, who appeared on the Grand Ole Opry House stage to welcome the lanky Californian as the newest Opry member.

“This is me and you joined in holy matrimony shared by our love of country music,” Brooks, 61, said as he handed over the Opry member trophy.

Then Brooks stepped back to give Pardi the full spotlight in the Opry’s legendary center-stage circle, cut from the floorboards of its former legendary home, the Ryman Auditorium.

But as Pardi accepted the honor, he said he had another “full circle” on his mind. He recalled that when he was just 7 years old, he became obsessed with a VHS tape of This Is Garth Brooks, a recording of a live performance.

“I mean, my hero, that I watched fly around in an arena, is right behind me,” said Pardi, 38, almost in disbelief.

At an earlier press conference, Pardi recalled that, growing up in Dixon, California, he fell in love with country music through his grandmother, who told him about the Opry. Though he was able to watch some televised Opry performances as a boy, the signal of the Opry’s home radio station, WSM, couldn’t reach that far out west. In fact, Pardi said, it didn’t dawn on him that the Opry was a radio program until he attended a show soon after his Nashville arrival in 2008.

“It was just mind blowing,” he said. “I was like, man, they’re selling stuff here. It’s a radio show! I’m gonna sign up for that.”

Related: Jon Pardi Reveals Daughter Presley Is 'Starting to Laugh' at 2023 CMT Awards: 'Here's to Having Kids!'

Of course, Pardi soon discovered it wasn’t that easy for a newcomer to attract a coveted invitation to an Opry debut. It took him another four years to finally grace its stage. Hatless and with shaggy locks covering his forehead, he sang “Missin’ You Crazy,” his debut single that gave him his first chart appearance. His memories of that night, Pardi said, include the Hummer stretch limo he rented to bring him and his mom to the Opry House and the fact that “the band played everything really fast, but really good. It was a rush.”

In the intervening years, Pardi trimmed his hair, donned his trademark cowboy hat — and went on to achieve multi-platinum sales, notch six No. 1 singles, earn CMA new artist and ACM new male artist of the year, headline numerous tours and open for Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson, Miranda Lambert and Luke Bryan, among others.

Jackson, another childhood hero, surprised Pardi in April with a videoed invitation to join the Opry; it was projected onscreen during Pardi’s performance at the Stagecoach Festival in his native state.

Related: Jon Pardi Invited — with Help from Guy Fieri and Alan Jackson — to Join Grand Ole Opry During Stagecoach Set

Pardi is the first native Californian to become an Opry member, and during the press conference, he reflected on the state’s contributions to country history — including the Bakersfield Sound — and his own commitment to keeping traditional sounds in contemporary country.

“I never wanted to be like a throwback artist,” he said, “but I wanted to have the feeling that you knew something old school was there, but it was very modern, and I think I’ve done really well balancing that. For me, I always want to make a record that Alan Jackson would want to listen to somehow some way.”

During the induction, Brooks recalled how Pardi wowed him as his opener at a 2019 show in Knoxville’s 85,000-seat Neyland Stadium.

“My favorite thing is to watch a new country artist squirm,” Brooks recounted. “Big boy here, I’m gonna watch him fold like an aluminum can under pressure, man. It's too good! By the second song, this guy had them eating out of his hand. … And what he did was turn the whole damn night around to where the pressure was on me when I came out there.”

Brooks added: “I used to like Jon Pardi. After that night, I love Jon Pardi.”

Pardi performed three of his No. 1 songs before his induction — “Your Heart or Mine,” “Last Night Lonely” and “Heartache Medication” — apologizing to the crowd for a scratchy throat he thought was caused by seasonal allergies. (He was later diagnosed with strep throat, causing him to postpone three tour dates.)

When Opry host Chuck Wicks asked Pardi, “What’s going on in your mind?” in this special moment, Pardi couldn’t help but quip, “Congestion.”

But the inductee quickly added he wasn’t about to miss this career high point. “I will squeak through those songs for you,” he told the crowd. “You just gotta sing along with me.”

And the crowd obliged, offering a roaring rendition of the chorus of “Head Over Boots,” Pardi’s first performance as an Opry member.

The induction ceremony and performance will air on Nov. 18 as a Saturday night Opry Live program on Circle Network, and it will also be accessible on Circle All Access Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Pardi is currently in the midst of his Mr. Saturday Night World Tour, which ends Dec. 9 in Las Vegas. His first Christmas album, Merry Christmas from Jon Pardi, will be released this Friday, and he’ll perform a Christmas show at New York's Beacon Theatre on Dec. 16. He’ll also appear at one of the Opry Country Christmas shows on Nov. 26.

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