CMACountry newcomer Jon Pardi probably wouldn’t have pursued a career in music if it wasn’t for his grandmother’s karaoke machine. She used to watch him sing for hours when he was a kid growing up in Dixon, CA.

Jon tells The Sacramento Bee, “She just loved to sing. We’d play Garth Brooks tracks or George Strait tracks, and we’d sing along. It was fun.”

Jon eventually picked up the guitar and began writing songs before moving to Nashville a few years ago. Now, he’s signed to the same record label as Strait, and the two got to hang out for a little bit earlier this month at the ACM Awards in Las Vegas.

“For five minutes I had a conversation with him, and he was so cool,” Jon says of George. “Talk about a guy who’s conquered it all, but still so level-headed. I always looked up to him before that, but I look up to him even more now.”

Jon recently shot the video for his latest single, “What I Can’t Put Down.” Look for that clip to premiere in the coming weeks.

Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

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