Description
Jon Pardi – Heartache Medication – Compact Disc
Jon Pardi’s Heartache Medication is his third studio album, released September 27, 2019 on Capitol Nashville, and it’s the record where he most explicitly doubles down on being a modern mainstream country artist with a traditional core. Instead of chasing the slicker pop-country direction that dominated a lot of late-2010s radio, Pardi and his team leaned into neotraditional country—fiddle/steel-friendly arrangements, barroom tempos, and classic themes—while still keeping the mixes loud, tight, and radio-ready.
A big part of the album’s identity is that Pardi was heavily involved behind the boards. He co-produced the album with Bart Butler (his longtime collaborator) and Ryan Gore, and the sessions were spread across multiple Nashville studios, including Blackbird, Sound Stage, and others. The result is a record that feels like a band is actually playing—pocket-first grooves, bright Telecaster bite, and a lot of classic country “lift” in the choruses—without sounding old-fashioned in a lo-fi way. It’s also a longer album by current country standards: the standard release is 14 tracks and runs just under 50 minutes.
The title is basically the mission statement. Pardi described naming it Heartache Medication because the album’s songs often deal with sad topics, but are meant to make you feel good—that traditional country trick where the lyric hurts and the groove keeps moving. That idea shows up in the sequencing: it’s loaded with upbeat honky-tonk energy (“Old Hat,” “Tied One On,” “Tequila Little Time”) right next to more reflective relationship writing (“Ain’t Always the Cowboy,” “Love Her Like She’s Leaving”).
Single-wise, this era was a commercial high point. The lead single “Heartache Medication” launched the campaign in May 2019 and became Pardi’s third No. 1 country hit, and the album later produced additional singles including “Ain’t Always the Cowboy” and “Tequila Little Time.” As an album, it debuted strongly as well, reaching No. 2 on Top Country Albums and No. 11 on the Billboard 200.
There are also a couple of practical “collector” notes. The standard version includes a duet, “Don’t Blame It on Whiskey,” featuring Lauren Alaina, which is one of the album’s most obvious “radio-friendly” moments without breaking the traditional sound. And if you run into a deluxe version, it arrived later (October 2020) with three bonus tracks added, expanding the program beyond the original 14.
If you’re trying to place Heartache Medication in Pardi’s catalog, it’s the album that most clearly positions him as a mainstream artist willing to bet on honky-tonk tempo, real musicianship, and classic-country songwriting—a record that fits comfortably on modern country radio while still signaling “this is built from the older stuff I actually love.”
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Old Hat
Heartache Medication
Nobody Leaves A Girl Like That
Ain’t Always The Cowboy
Me And Jack
Don’t Blame It On Whiskey Featuring – Lauren Alaina
Tied One On
Oughta Know That
Tequila Little Time
Buy That Man A Beer
Call Me Country
Just Like Old Times
Love Her Like She’s Leaving
Starlight
