Jon Pardi released his debut album, Write You a Song, 10 years ago this week (January 14th, 2014). The California native grew up listening and singing songs by his heroes — George Strait, Dwight Yoakam, Merle Haggard, Alan Jackson — with his grandmother, has since exploded on the country charts with six No. 1 songs.

Write You A Song contains both of Pardi’s breakthrough hits—“Missin’ You Crazy” and “Up All Night”–as well as tracks that veer from pure honky-tonk and party songs to tales of love and romance. The bottom line, though, is pure, stage-worthy high energy.

“All I ever wanted to do coming to Nashville,” says Jon, “was to write rowdy, in-your-face, straight country music, and that’s what this album is.”

The album’s title track packs the kind of punch that marks Pardi as heir to a honky-tonk line that runs through Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam, and its spare instrumentation brings a purist’s grit to heartfelt tales of road life. “What I Can’t Put Down” is an ode to the addictive nature of cigarettes, alcohol, love and, above all, music. “Trash A Hotel Room” is not, as might be expected, a tale of road excess, but rather a tale of two lovers getting back to basics, and “Happens All The Time” makes a terrific song out of a pick-up line. If there is a bit of autobiographical philosophy here, it’s in the fan-favorite “Chasin’ Them Better Days,” an infectious look at hope and dreams in the worlds of music and love.

Jon is currently making his way up the country charts with “Cowboys And Plowboys” with Luke Bryan.