Even if it’s not country, I’ll take more of whatever it is he’s doing.
Parker McCollum is one of the favorite names in country music right now. With four number 1 singles and a CMA Best New Artist award to his name, he’s done very successfully in the country music realm… and he’s done it the right way. Cutting his teeth in bars and honky tonks across Texas, Parker built a massive and loyal fanbase before he ever even sniffed a Nashville record deal.
But in a recent interview with the Tupelo, Mississippi local news, he made a pretty bold statement when asked if a part of him wants to go across the board when it comes to music genres like Taylor Swift did or just stick to country music.
Luckily, he immediately calmed all of our nerves by saying he will never become a pop star:
“There is absolutely no chance of anything Parker McCollum doing anything pop music at any point in time”
So fortunately there will be nothing close to Taylor Swift coming from Parker anytime soon, but he continued to open up about how what he really feels like his writing style is evolving into:
“I wanted to be a country singer for as long as I remember, and the longer I do this, the more I kind of realize I may just not be one. The more I try to write country songs and make country records, the further I get away from what really has always made me, me. I don’t know what you would call it, but you know all those names… if you took all of them and put them in a blender, I think it could come out as something similar.”
A crazy statement to hear from Parker McCollum, but when you think about it, it seems like a good thing. Anytime an artist is trying to be anything other than themself, whether they’re trying to emulate their heroes, or try a new lane, it has a tendency to come up short. Authenticity is always the way to go.
He continued:
“Country music used to be such a narrow genre, there was very strict criteria and nowadays, it’s just not, the criteria is as loose as it’s ever been for something to be called country music… and once everybody starts to do something I want to do something else”
You can totally see how his music is evolving. His new album perhaps may lean into more Americana, maybe a little folk rock, and maybe he’ll even get a little bluesy with his John Mayer cover of “Perfectly Lonely.”
“I’ve always wanted to be a country singer and the longer I do it…maybe I’m not one, and that’s okay!”
You can appreciate his desire to not want to be put in a box, he’s just doing what he wants instead of sticking with trends. And with what he’s putting out there, the writing is just as phenomenal as ever before. The key is that his music is still true to him, not defined by what people are saying country music is or isn’t these days. The irony is that Parker is saying that he might not be considered a true country singer, while also admitting the genre is as wide open as it has ever been. Perhaps he respects the genre too much?
Whatever you call his music, if you’re worried McCollum is going full pop like Taylor Swift… don’t be. The only thing that really matters is that he keeps making music.
