Parker McCollum at the 'Windy City Smokeout'

Audacy Country

Parker McCollum joins Scotty Kay at the 'Windy City Smokeout' in Chicago.

Transcript

00:00Bargain, welcome man, Whitty City Smokehouse,

00:03this is so fun.

00:03Yeah, I'm stoked, man.

00:04You're very comfortable with barbecue,

00:06being from Texas, right?

00:08So have you been able to come out here

00:09and try any of the stuff?

00:10I had a little barbecue earlier.

00:11Some of the boys are from Texas,

00:13so they brought some on the bus

00:14and took pretty good care of us.

00:15Of course they did.

00:17I love your journey that you've been on

00:19since really your debut album

00:21and the Gold Chain Cowboy came out.

00:24Because what I like to do,

00:25I like to look at moments that artists have.

00:28And when you have these moments,

00:28you can show your character,

00:29it can show your initiative,

00:32it could also show how resilient you are and things.

00:34And one of my favorite moments from the back,

00:36and it was from Rest of My Life,

00:38when you talked about that track,

00:40how you wrote it,

00:41and correct me if I'm getting it wrong,

00:42but how you wrote it in seven minutes.

00:44And that's the first one you kind of did sober.

00:47And that showed you that you could write

00:49the kind of music you wanted to, sober.

00:53And that feels like a really special moment

00:54in your life and career.

00:56Yeah, man, COVID was crazy for me.

00:57I had my first number one,

00:59climb the charts and go number one in platinum

01:01and we didn't play a show the entire time.

01:03So, I mean, I know it was a wild time for everybody,

01:06but it was an interesting time for me.

01:07And I was kind of putting myself through the ringer,

01:11trying to write songs and it just wasn't working.

01:13And then so I woke up one morning and dead sober

01:16and wrote Rest of My Life in just a few minutes.

01:18And I knew that whether that song

01:21was gonna be successful or not,

01:22or ever be heard by anybody,

01:23I was really proud of it.

01:24And that's like the prime example

01:28of the kind of songs I've always tried to write.

01:29So that one's been very special to me.

01:31And you're having a baby?

01:33Having a kid, like 25 days from now.

01:35Dude, congratulations.

01:36Thank you, thank you.

01:37That's cool, man.

01:38What is for you?

01:39I know obviously you've seen it a lot,

01:41whether it's Luke Combs or even when Thomas Wright

01:44had his first one a hundred years ago or whatever,

01:46but you start to change that mindset

01:48of sometimes you're writing and what your priorities

01:51and things like that.

01:52No dad songs for me.

01:53No dad songs, really?

01:54No dad songs.

01:54How come?

01:56If one falls out one day that's put together the right way,

01:59and I don't wanna write cliched dad songs.

02:02If it's something that really stands out

02:06and is well written and really honest and special,

02:11then I would cut it.

02:12But I don't think I'll sit down

02:14and try to write dad songs anytime soon.

02:15No, but you're not opposed to,

02:17if it comes out of you, right?

02:19Yeah, if it's right.

02:20If it's dope and it's a special song,

02:22then those are the kind of songs that I always wanna write

02:24and I hope to keep writing.

02:25So, and if one comes out and it's a dad song, so be it.

02:30For anybody just only listening to this,

02:32you have to see what's happening

02:33because the way you're holding the hot dog,

02:35it's very parental.

02:37You got a father.

02:38Yeah, father, you're holding very gentle

02:39with your hot dog there.

02:40Do you feel ready?

02:41Do you feel ready for the baby?

02:44You know, I don't know.

02:45I've never really held a wiener this big.

02:49So I don't know if the kids about,

02:52this is probably the size of a baby, right?

02:54Yeah, I mean, they do go through different stages.

02:57Can you hold it like this?

03:00Yes, you can hold it like this.

03:02I think the number one rule is don't drop the baby.

03:05He can hold, this one can hold his head up on his own though.

03:09Wait, we won't go anymore.

03:10Let's not go.

03:11There's a lot of jokes.

03:12There's a lot of places you could go right there.

03:14You've had a fun journey of playing shows too.

03:17I mean, from the smallest to the biggest

03:20and the opening with George Strait

03:22and the rodeos and all that stuff.

03:23And now you're here at Windy City Smokeout.

03:25Where do you feel like you're,

03:27especially when you think about your tours

03:30and the shows you want to put together,

03:32where are you as far as the kind of show

03:34you want to put on every day?

03:36Man, I just want to be extremely genuine.

03:38I mean, you want to be energetic

03:39and make sure that when these people go home,

03:41they feel like the money they spend

03:43or the money they saved up to come see you

03:45was worth every penny.

03:46That's what I think about every night.

03:49And you play enough shows every year,

03:51you're gonna have some nights where you don't,

03:52you know, you're like,

03:53man, I don't feel like I was my best tonight.

03:55And that's probably gonna happen

03:57regardless of what you do in life.

03:58But I just always try to be conscious

04:00of the fact that these people,

04:02they may have saved up their money

04:03for the last two or three months

04:04or year or week or whatever,

04:06and just to come see you play and buy a T-shirt.

04:08So I always try to be really conscious of that

04:10and go out and give everything I've got to give that night.

04:13So, you know, I hope they dig it

04:15and I hope Ed Warren wants to have us back.

04:18That's a big fan of you, man.

04:21He's family to me, man.

04:22And he's believed in me for a long time.

04:23He's told me for like five years

04:24that I was gonna headline Windy City Smokeout one day.

04:26I played here in 2019 at like two o'clock in the afternoon.

04:29So the next time coming back,

04:32being a headliner on Friday night's pretty special.

04:34Dude, that's what I'm talking,

04:35so that's the journey that I'm talking about, right?

04:36So you, I mean, what's the smallest bar

04:39you remember playing that might have had an impact on you?

04:42Man, we've played Joe's on Wheat Street.

04:44No, no, the smallest.

04:45There's gotta be a little Texas, like,

04:47Joe's legendary, right?

04:49The smallest bar?

04:54Golly, I don't know.

04:54We've played some little bitty ones that were very empty.

04:58You know, the Saxon Pub in South Austin, Texas

05:00is pretty small.

05:01It's only probably a couple hundred people,

05:02maybe not even that.

05:03Yeah.

05:04And we used to play,

05:05I used to play there Sunday nights at midnight, so.

05:06And what's it called?

05:07It's called the Saxon Pub.

05:08Okay, so I just want you to hold onto that journey

05:11from the Saxon Pub to the headlining

05:13of the Windy City Smokeout of where you are today.

05:15I think about it every day.

05:16Which is pretty freaking cool.

05:17And you're ready,

05:18you, did I read right, too,

05:20that you have new music coming, right?

05:22I think so, I'm working on it.

05:23You have a new album?

05:24I'm working on it, slowly.

05:25Okay, because last time I heard,

05:26you wrote, like, 20 songs already for it, right?

05:28I've got a lot of songs for it.

05:29I don't know if any of them are great,

05:31but I go in the studio again in two weeks

05:33and I'm completely starting over,

05:35cutting this new record,

05:36just starting from square one, so.

05:37It's, I like that because most of the time

05:39when you talk to people about their new records,

05:41they're like, yeah, I'm excited about this,

05:42I'm excited about this,

05:42but that's a real honest,

05:44you're like, I want to make sure this is right,

05:46and it feels like you're not super excited

05:48about anything that you're putting into it.

05:50I am, I just try to act like I'm not

05:52because I get over it very quickly.

05:54I get, like, super high on something

05:56and then I'm like, nah, it's not that good, so.

05:57Is there one song you have right now

05:58you know this is going?

06:00Yes.

06:01Can you tell me the name of it?

06:02Absolutely not.

06:03Is it the Honky-Tonk-ish?

06:07No.

06:07Nah, I didn't think it would be.

06:08Is it, I don't know.

06:10Okay, so there's one song at least.

06:12We're gonna play, there's two of them

06:13I'm really, really big on,

06:14and then I really think are special

06:16and we're playing one of them tonight, so.

06:20I gotta wait for you to go on stage

06:21and tell me what it is.

06:22It's called Big Ol' Fancy House.

06:23Cool, love that.

06:24Big ol', I'm excited to see it, man.

06:25I'm excited for you out there

06:27and they are ready and they're packed out there, so.

06:30Thank you.

06:30Congratulations on that journey

06:32because you're headlining

06:33Windy City Smokeout tonight.

06:34Thank you, man.

06:34Glad to be here.

06:35Park McCollum.

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