Jon Pardi and Luke Bryan’s relationship has gone from “hold my beer” to “hold my baby.”

Ahead of his performance for Audacy’s Totally Private concert at Hard Rock Nashville, Pardi shared with Audacy’s Katie Neal that he and Luke spent some quality time together at Bryan’s recent Crash My Playa festival in Cancún where Luke got to hold his daughter, Presley.

“We had a good time,” Pardi said, while admitting things were much tamer for him since he had his daughter. “Me and Luke hung at his hotel, by the pool and just talked it up. He got to hold Presley. Me and Luke have been friends for a long time, so… he was like, ‘Man, I never thought, Pardi with a kid,’” he laughed.

While Luke wraps his mind around “Pardi with a kid,” Jon is currently wrapping his mind around having two daughters under two as he and wife, Summer get ready to welcome another baby girl in 2024.

“I knew it was going to be a girl, I just knew it,” he said before sharing he and Summer are excited to welcome another little one before they’d originally thought. “We were like, ‘Let’s get it out of the way,’ you know? Instead of us waiting two years, they’re 18 months apart, so they’ll be buds. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

Just after they become a party of 4, the family will move into their dream home, which Jon and Summer have been building for some time. While Pardi says the home is “practical” compared to what people might think they’re building, there are a couple features he’s really excited about — the first being a pool.

“We’re just making a practical house,” he said when asked if his pool would resemble fellow Country artist Jason Aldean’s, which has water slides, waterfalls and more. “Aldean’s pool is amazing, but like, totally irrelevant to me,” he said before admitting they did reach out about the fake palm trees.

“We did reach out to them about their fake palm trees. I was like, 'Man! If we can get some fake palm trees, that’d be very west coast.’ They’re pretty cool.”

The pool isn’t the only place Pardi plants on spending a lot of time — he also shared he’s looking forward to having a home gym where he can continue to better his health — something he’s been working on for a few months now by working out more and temporarily cutting out alcohol.

“For now, I really, really want to look better in photos,” he said of his health goals. “We’re only aging and it’s time to really be healthier. You’ve got these guys like Riley Green showing off six-pack abs. I’ve got tough competition, so I gotta be on it,” he laughed. “I guess all I’ve really done is party, party, party so I’m just trying to learn how to not drink like a 20-year-old anymore.”

In addition to all the new things surrounding his personal life, the CA-native is also starting to work on a new album which he says is on his bucket list for 2024.

“We’re starting to write,” he said of the current album status. “I’m not going a different direction, but I’m going to do something fresh... There comes a time when you gotta shake things up and push yourself.” He continued to share he’ll be working with a new producer this go-around that he hopes will challenge him in new ways and level up his music.

“[I’m going to] work with a guy that I’ve never got to work with, somebody I look up to in the producer world — Jay Joyce,” he revealed. “He’s the guy that’s got something special, and us coming together with the right songs, I feel like is going to be real special. He’s excited, I’m excited.”

While new music is on his mind, he’s also excited to finish out some rescheduled dates from his Mr. Saturday Night Tour after fighting COVID and strep throat last year. See the remaining dates here and check out Jon’s entire conversation with Audacy’s Katie Neal above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal