Jon Pardi

Jon Pardi carved out a niche in modern country music by blending classic country influences with contemporary production, so you'll get fiddles and twang, but also big drums and blazing guitar solos. It's a honky-tonk swagger that you can hear in hits like "Up All Night," "Dirt on My Boots" and "Last Night Lonely."

He never recorded it, but one of his popular live numbers early in his career (2011) was "The D.U.I. Song," which won him $300 in a contest to write a song that discourages drunk driving. Instead of writing something sobering, he wrote a catchy tune about a regular guy who gets a D.U.I. and must suffer the consequences.

Pardi is a talented guitar player but he usually lets other guitarists play lead and do the solos. For instance, session player Danny Rader has the lead on "Head Over Boots" and studio pro Rob McNelley lends his licks to "Night Shift."