Parker McCollum has undoubtedly been one of the most interesting artists to impact the mainstream in the past decade. After scoring an incredible amount of buzz in the Texas scene off of his debut album, The Limestone Kid and his subsequent release, Probably Wrong, in 2017, McCollum was primed to become the superstar out of the Lone Star State.
While it’s hard to deny the success he’s had since signing with Universal Music Group and making the transition to Nashville back in 2019 given that he’s scored four #1s and a handful of platinum records, many longtime fans have felt as if something was missing from the “To Be Loved By You” singer. Like many artists who transition from Texas to Nashville, McCollum has received some criticism for the sonic changes present since his major label debut, Gold Chain Cowboy.
All eyes were on McCollum today with the release of his fifth studio album, a 14-song, self-titled project that was touted as a return to the sound present on The Limestone Kid. With that being said, however, it wasn’t as smooth of a process as you would think.
In an interview with Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music’s Today’s Country Radio, McCollum revealed that he was halfway through recording an album with Jon Randall, the producer of both Gold Chain Cowboy and Never Enough, before completely scrapping it. Choosing Frank Liddell to produce instead, the 33-year-old singer/songwriter noted that he had gotten too comfortable in his creative process with Randall and wanted to push to rediscover himself:
“I just felt like I had gotten a little too comfortable. Me and Jon Randall worked so well together and we had four number ones and double platinum this and platinum that. And everything we did was a huge success for us. And I was just like, ‘All right. I think it’s time to go find something else.’ And that was a tough conversation to have with Jon. Because I love that man with all my heart. He is as good as God can make a boy. Good human and as talented as anybody has ever been that’s walked into this town. And I would give him the shirt off my back. But it really wasn’t anything with Jon. It was just all, I was like, ‘Man, I got to just go shake it up and just challenge myself again and just find something else.'”
It was the search for a spark in terms of his creative process that truly drove McCollum on the record. Referencing Chris Stapleton’s recent interview with Josh Brolin for Rolling Stone, he noted how badly he wanted to find something that “just turns me on again,” “So I watched this thing of Stapleton and Josh Brolin the other day that they did, this interview thing they did together. I think they were at Stapleton’s house or something. And Stapleton described it so well, so simple. But he was like, ‘I’m still just trying to find the buzz with the music.’ And I was like, ‘God, I wish I would’ve said that first because it’s such an accurate way to describe how I feel.’ I’m like, ‘I’m just looking for something that just turns me on again. Something that I’m like, ‘yes, okay.’‘
For McCollum, like any album, the creative process going into the release of the self-titled record was a stressful one. Unlike the previous four, however, he noted that this was the first time that he felt fully satisfied upon the album’s completion, “It’s my fifth studio album and the other four, every time I’ve made a record I’ve left the studio and just been like, ‘I missed. Not good. Don’t like it. Just wasted a ton of time and money.’ And it’s always done so well. Everything’s done so well. So I’m like, ‘Maybe this is the kiss of death, the fact that I finally think that I’ve done something that might be a little bit good.’ But I don’t know, I don’t need anybody else to like it. And it’s the first time I’ve ever really been able to feel like that, which is nice.”
Diving further into his doubts surrounding his music and place in the genre, he touched on the fact that he’s had his doubts if he truly fits the mold of your traditional country singer, “It’s wild, I feel like this whole process of making this record and going to New York City and doing it in seven days and it being self-titled… Going to New York was intentional, but the way we cut this record, we just did it. And then I’ve spent so much time, so many years wanting to be a country singer, and it’s like the more I sing and write songs and perform I’m like, ‘Maybe I’m just not one and that’s totally okay.’ It doesn’t disappoint me, it doesn’t bum me out at all. It’s really more of a very positive thing. And I don’t say that to follow that up with I do know what I am. I’m like, ”Whatever it is that I am and whatever it is that I do sound like, that’s just what I’m going to do.’ And that’s what we did for this record.”
He’d follow that up by saying, “I just don’t think I sound like a country singer. When I sing I don’t think that sounds like a country singer. It’s also very hard to put your thumb on what country music is now, it’s just not near as narrow as it used to be. But even when I listened to stuff from when it was very narrow, ‘Well, it doesn’t sound like that.’ So I’m just like, ‘Maybe I’m just not one.’ And that’s totally okay. That’s fine. It’s just like, whatever it is that I am that’s what I went and did in New York on this record.”
Though the album contains some highly-anticpated tracks such as “Permanent Headphones,” “Solid Country Gold” and the pre-released “Hope That I’m Enough,” for many, the inclusion of fellow Texas powerhouse, Cody Johnson on “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues.” As a long-time fan of the “Dirt Cheap” singer, it was nothing short of a dream collab for McCollum:
“He’s a lot better than I am. We ain’t even playing the same game. But I’ve just always been such a fan and it was selfish of me to have him on that song because I’ve always listened to that song and wanted to hear him sing it. I’ve always just thought, ‘Cody.’ I just love his voice. I think he’s one of the best singers that I’ve ever heard. And his voice is so unique and it’s so true, and I believe every bit of it. I just always wanted to hear him sing that song and so I mustered up the courage one day to text him and be like, ‘Hey, would you sing on this?’ And he shot right back and said, ‘Absolutely.’ And then about four months later I was like, ‘Man, I should not have done that. I’m probably a pain in his [a**].’ And he is probably complainin to his management he’s got to sing on this dumb Parker song.’ And thank you, shout out Cody for doing it again. But I listened to it after he’d sang it and I was just like, ‘Damn, I was so right.‘”
Overall, his self-titled release feels like a return to form for McCollum. Though it doesn’t quite have the feel as the highly-lauded Limestone Kid that many were expecting, it’s a record that is undoubtedly a step in the right direction for the “Pretty Heart” singer. As he said previously, this release feels like him getting out of box that he settled into upon his signing with Universal. If nothing else, Parker McCollum reconfirms that the Texan is still a force to be reckoned with.