- 6/26/2025
Parker McCollum joins Katie Neal in the new Audacy studios inside the Hard Rock located in the heart of Nashville!
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MusicTranscript
00:00Back to Kiva's Company, Parker McCollum is here. How are you?
00:03I'm very good. I'm blessed. Thank you.
00:05Good to see you. How are Hallie Ray and Sweet Little Major?
00:08They're great. They've never been better.
00:09So we had a first little Mother's Day on Sunday and it's been good.
00:14Yeah, he's getting so big so fast.
00:15He's a big boy. He's rowdy and he crawls extremely fast and he's into everything and just all boy and full go.
00:23I would say you probably have like fully childproof everything that's like under four feet, right?
00:27We're kind of working on it. It's kind of we're like, all right, what's he going to get into?
00:30Because, you know, he'll stand up and grab like the kitchen knobs on the on the low cabinets in the kitchen.
00:37He doesn't realize that they can open.
00:38So he just leans back a little bit and he's just like timber.
00:41I mean, all the way back, boom, on the wood floor, just like a piece of wood.
00:45And he's gotten pretty tough.
00:47He doesn't really cry as much anymore when he falls and hits his head, which is nice.
00:50I always joke like kids that age, especially little boys, like under year old.
00:53I'm like, they're like Gumby, like their body.
00:55They're just like always falling over, hitting everything.
00:57And they just have no like he'll just be on the couch and just boom, forward off the couch, boom, on top of his head, cry for a few seconds.
01:04And then just, I mean, just it's wild.
01:07It's really cool, though.
01:08He'll be celebrating a first birthday pretty close to when this airs, which is wild.
01:12Yes.
01:13Isn't that crazy to think you have a one year old?
01:15It is.
01:16I don't have a one year old yet.
01:18But soon.
01:18I'm close.
01:19Yeah, it's great.
01:20I just it's the craziest, wildest thing I've ever seen or done in my entire life.
01:25I was saying my brother has two and a half year old twins.
01:27And I was like, it's so cool to watch like a baby become a person.
01:30It's really wild.
01:31And I just look, I'm like, man, you're going to live here for like 18 years.
01:35You're going to be here for a long time.
01:37And he's like, you know, he's like getting a little personality.
01:40And I'm just like, yeah, he's just going to I'm going to have to humble him very quickly.
01:44What's his personality like?
01:45Just like his dad, just, you know, kind of just all he's good.
01:51He's always going to have something to say, always going to have something to say.
01:54Very quick witted, probably all over the place.
01:58I have no Hallie Ray's the exact opposite.
02:01She's like, so sweet, so quiet, same exact person every day.
02:05And I really hope he's like her.
02:07But that's it's if there's any foreshadowing whatsoever.
02:11It's not the case.
02:13That's awesome.
02:14I was thinking about last time I saw you, I think it would have been late last fall.
02:17We were out at Red Rocks.
02:18That show in the pouring rain, like we'll probably go down as like one of my favorites.
02:21It was cool.
02:22It really was cool until it was raining so hard.
02:25Like I was like sucking water through my harmonica and my hands got super, super pruney.
02:31So just like tearing on the string.
02:32You can't feel like it's just it was wild.
02:34And nobody left.
02:35That was like that was the really cool part of it.
02:38Nobody left that show.
02:39I was blown away.
02:39Yeah, we had such a good time.
02:41It was funny.
02:41I was thinking about we got back on the bus after that.
02:43And like I'm drenched.
02:45I remember one of the guys who walked out a little bit early was like, you're not that
02:47wet.
02:47And I like took the sleeve of my dress and rang it out.
02:49And he was like, oh, my God.
02:51I was I was unbelievably soaked when I walked into the green room.
02:55All the starch of my jeans had washed out.
02:57It was that was some serious rain.
02:59That was not a light drizzle.
03:01It was not at all.
03:02Well, let's talk about this new album.
03:03Parker McCollum self-titled album coming out June 27th.
03:06Talk about why you wanted to like you get one self-titled card that you get to use.
03:11Why this album?
03:12I've actually thought about that.
03:13I think you could do Parker McCollum again.
03:16There you go.
03:16It just seemed like the right time.
03:21I'd always wondered when I'd do it.
03:23And, you know, one part of it is I didn't have any really like great album titles that
03:28I was in love with.
03:29I had a couple and I had one that I was really big on.
03:32And then I kind of talked myself out of it and overthought it and backed out of it.
03:36But I really don't want to say.
03:39But it's dumb.
03:41Um, but I just this record was like, you know, I feel like I finally figured out that just
03:48like being me is really what I should do as an artist.
03:52And, you know, I spent so much time trying to be a country singer and wanting to be a
03:55country singer and wanting to sound like country singers.
03:57And I'm just like, man, I just don't think that I do.
04:00And that's that's all right.
04:01I can just go whatever it is that I do sound like.
04:03Just do that.
04:04And that was really what the approach I took to this project.
04:08And so the self-titled thing just seemed a good time to slap my name on it.
04:11For sure.
04:11It's been 10 years this year since Limestone Kid came out.
04:15It's got to be wild.
04:16But you've said that this is this album will be the closest that you can get to that again.
04:21I think so.
04:22And when I say that, what I really mean is just, you know, when I cut that record, I
04:25was I was just being me and I was just a kid.
04:27I didn't I wasn't trying to be anything.
04:29I didn't know what to try to be.
04:31And then, you know, I really spent a lot of time in those years after that record, like
04:37I wanted to be a country singer and and just more time and more and more.
04:43I tried to do it, the less I was like, I just don't know if that's really what I really
04:47am.
04:47And that's OK.
04:49And so this record, I kind of feel like I took the same approach as I did that first
04:53record.
04:53I just knew I was doing it this time.
04:55The first time it was just, you know, you have your whole life to write your first record
04:58and about eight months to write every other one.
05:00So it just I don't think it was me going to the studio saying I'm going to try to make
05:05another Limestone Kid record.
05:06It just so happened that both of those records, I was I was just being really, really real.
05:13Well, I know fans are really excited about it.
05:15Like even like I saw Halle Ray had like posted confirming like I can confirm this.
05:18The Limestone Kid is back.
05:19She likes it.
05:20I was surprised.
05:21I didn't.
05:21It's not really something that she, you know, she likes like Ella and Megan Maroney.
05:27And, you know, she's that's that's more hard jam.
05:31So I was surprised that she dug it.
05:33But she does.
05:33You recorded this album in New York City, which kind of surprised me.
05:37Talk about why you wanted to record it there.
05:39You know, it's not that it really had to be New York.
05:41That was just the first place that I said.
05:42And I just wanted to go somewhere where we could focus.
05:45And I didn't want people to have to leave at five to go pick up their kids or, you know,
05:50run errands in the morning or anything.
05:51It's like I wanted to go somewhere for seven days and just go all in.
05:55I didn't go to a restaurant.
05:56I didn't go to a bar.
05:57I was either in my hotel room or in the studio for seven days or in the car from one to the other.
06:01And I mean, I room service, same meal, breakfast and dinner every night and went straight to the studio every day for about 10, 11 hours.
06:07And it was intense and it was emotional and grueling.
06:11And we just went after it.
06:13We didn't know what we were chasing.
06:15We were just chasing, you know, whatever was going to come out of us that day and just kind of letting it happen and letting it rip and not worrying about it.
06:23And New York was the perfect place to do that.
06:25And you were kind of, I'm guessing, were you still writing some songs that week?
06:29Because the New York is on fire song.
06:32I was still, I was still patching up a couple songs.
06:36Even when I was, I was in, we were literally playing them and recording them live.
06:40And I was still like messing with some lyrics, singing some different things.
06:42And, and then the second day we were there, when I was flying in the other, I'd wanted to go there late fall, you know, when the cool, the weather's changing, the cool, crisp air.
06:51It's the Northeast.
06:52It's very, it's like a postcard, right?
06:54I had it in my mind.
06:55And, and so when we were flying in, it was perfect.
06:57The trees in Central Park were just electric.
07:01And, and I say, you know, it looks like New York's on fire.
07:03And then the second day I was in the studio, me and Adam, we played some acoustic and piano on the, on the record.
07:08We just sat down and wrote, you know, the song called New York is on fire.
07:12And then we cut it on the record.
07:14We probably cut it, I don't know how many times, so many times that I was like, this is the worst song ever.
07:18I don't ever want to hear this song again.
07:20And why are we doing this?
07:21We're wasting time.
07:22It's never going to make the record.
07:23And then it's, it's arguably my favorite song on the record.
07:26Really?
07:26Isn't it so funny?
07:27Yeah.
07:28Like you can, I'm sure you listen to something over and over again.
07:30It's hard to like remain unbiased.
07:32And you just don't know if you're, if you're, you're scoring or not.
07:34Like you're just, you feel like you're missing and missing and missing, cutting the song.
07:37And it's just not happening.
07:39And Frank, my producer was just like, this is amazing.
07:41This is the greatest ever.
07:42And I'm like, dude, you have no idea what you're talking about.
07:44This is the worst thing ever.
07:45And then, you know, when we listened to the last day we were done.
07:49And so we spent the last day just listening to everything top to bottom that we had cut.
07:53And that one really stuck out.
07:55That's amazing.
07:56Well, it sounds great.
07:56The whole record top to bottom has been really fun to listen to.
07:59One of the songs on there I wanted to ask you about is permanent headphones, because I noticed like you're the only writer on this.
08:04And then I saw you wrote this at 16, 15, 16, something like that.
08:08Yes, ma'am.
08:09And you've held onto it this long.
08:11You know, I, I, I cut it on a four song EP I recorded when I was probably 20 years old, 19, 20 years old.
08:16And it was the first thing I'd ever recorded in like a real studio.
08:20And, um, and I put it out, I released it in Texas and, and, uh, you know, it just, it was right.
08:26That was like half of, or a couple of those songs went on to be on the limestone kid.
08:30And when I cut that record about a year or two later, and, uh, I don't know, I just, um, I never thought that song would have another life.
08:38I never thought that song would see another day on a record.
08:40And it was Frank and Eric that, that really, you know, kept bugging me about it.
08:45They weren't bugging me.
08:45They just kept bringing it up.
08:46They would kind of make jokes.
08:47They'd be like, you know, like, Oh, what do we want to cut next?
08:49Like we cut permanent headphones.
08:50And I'm like, we're not cutting that song.
08:51Like, you know, that's a, that's, that song's dead and gone.
08:55It's over with.
08:56And then I think it was like one of the last days they kind of, again, they were like, well, we cut permanent headphones.
09:00Just being funny.
09:01And I was like, yeah, screw it.
09:03Let's cut it.
09:04And, um, and so we didn't, it's the only song I didn't listen to.
09:06And we were listening to mixes and everything.
09:07I just told him, I said, look, y'all are good enough.
09:09Y'all aren't going to mess that up.
09:10Like just run with it.
09:12And were you worried you'd try to change it?
09:13No, I just, I just, I don't know.
09:15That's a weird relationship with that song.
09:16That was the, you know, my brother had come up from college and he was, every time he'd come up from school, I'd always try to have written something that, you know, he would think he's a great songwriter.
09:24And he was at a very young age.
09:25And, and I would always try to write things that he thought were good.
09:30And everything I'd ever written and showed him, he just was kind of like, eh.
09:34And, and then he came home one time and I'd written that song, Permanent Headphones and played it for him.
09:37And he was like, okay, like you're, you can do this.
09:40Like you, you get this, you can do it.
09:42And, um, and that was what kind of made me be like, okay, yeah, maybe I could do this.
09:48And, uh, so I just said the songs just from a long time ago and, uh, it had lived its life and, and I'm really glad we cut it.
09:55I wouldn't have done it had they not brought it up so much.
09:58I think it's like a testament to like how great your songwriting is that you could still put out a song that you wrote at 15 or 16.
10:04Cause I think there's a lot of artists, if you ask them today, they'd be like, I'm never going to let you hear this song.
10:08Every other one was bad, but that one, that one just is special.
10:13There's another one on the record called, come on, that you wrote with the love junkies, Laurie McKenna, Laurie McKenna, Hillary Lindsay and Liz Rose, who have written, I can't even tell you how many songs for people like Taylor Swift.
10:23Talk about writing this song with them.
10:25They're just good friends of mine now.
10:26I mean, they're like buddies of mine and they, uh, they'd come down to my house, um, a little over a year ago in Texas and Hallie Ray was out of town.
10:34It was just me and them three at the house for like three or four days.
10:36And heck, I think we wrote like 10 songs and, and they're just so good.
10:40They're so talented and they're so good at sitting down and just letting me do my thing and really knowing how to kind of manage me writing.
10:49Cause I don't co-write well.
10:50And so they'll, Laurie's really good about it.
10:52Hillary will do it too.
10:53She's like, Hey, just start making stuff up, just start going and singing and rhyming.
10:57And I'll just do that.
10:58And that's how we write songs.
10:59That's how I've always written songs.
11:00And they, they really are good at like just kind of getting down to that level and allowing it to, to kind of happen and be created that way.
11:10So I don't know.
11:11Those, they're family to me.
11:13Why do you feel like you don't co-write well?
11:15I just, I, I don't know.
11:17I don't, so many people I've written with in Nashville, so many different times have said, man, you just don't write like anybody else here.
11:24It's very different.
11:26And, and, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
11:29It's probably a bad thing, but I just, I don't sit down with a title and then say, all right, let's write a song.
11:35I just play guitar every day.
11:37And some days I might sing something that I'm like, bam, that's going to be a song.
11:41And I may write it right there.
11:42I may write it three years later.
11:45But I just have never forced it.
11:47I can't sit down and force it.
11:48It just, when that side of me wants to show its face, it shows its face.
11:54And sometimes it won't show its face for a long time, months on end.
11:57And then all of a sudden it'll be sticking around for a month or two.
12:00So I just, you know, hopefully it keeps showing up.
12:03For sure.
12:03There's one feature on this album with Cody Johnson.
12:06Talk about this song.
12:07Yeah.
12:07I, I just have, it's one of my favorite songs ever.
12:10Danny O'Keefe's song, Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues.
12:13And from way back in the day and, and always loved that song.
12:17And, and always wanted to cut it and do a version of it.
12:21And, and I've always wanted to hear Cody.
12:23I've always thought of Cody when I heard that song.
12:24He's one of my favorite singers ever.
12:26Love his voice.
12:27And I've always just thought he would sing that song really well.
12:31And I was, I was, I just texted him one day and I said, man, I'm going to cut the song
12:35on my record.
12:36I was like, you know, if you don't, if you don't want to do it, just say no.
12:39Like, you know, it's, it's no, no skin off my back.
12:42Like, you're not going to hurt my feelings.
12:43Just say no.
12:44Like, if it's not right for you, whatever.
12:46And he shot right back and was like, would love to do it.
12:48And, and I was right.
12:49He just absolutely killed it.
12:51He is such a good singer.
12:52He's such a powerful voice.
12:53And, and I was crazy to have him on that song.
12:56It's really a cool thing for me.
12:58For sure.
12:58And then the album ends with a song called My Worst Enemy, which I thought you actually
13:02wrote for Co.
13:04So sent to Co or like, what's the story like this?
13:06I was, I was, I was, I was writing it and, and, and Wade Bone was coming over to my house
13:10and I just sat down and I started writing it and I was like, you know, just, I was like,
13:15man, I feel like, you know, just thinking about Co and everything he was going through
13:18at the time and, and, and some of the music he was putting out.
13:21And, um, and so I was kind of writing it with him in mind and then, um, I'd sent it to
13:26him and then I was like, man, I really wish I wouldn't have done that.
13:27I want to cut this song.
13:28And luckily he didn't cut it.
13:31And, um, and then I asked him to sing on it with me and, uh, and he didn't want to do
13:35that.
13:36And so I was like, I was like, I'm going to cut it on this record.
13:40And it turned out to be one of my favorite songs on the record.
13:42I just, I just love it so much.
13:44So I'm really glad he didn't like it.
13:47I know it's almost like worked out better that way.
13:48Right.
13:49I think it's been so cool and I'm curious how you feel about it.
13:51You know, for years, everybody in Texas was kind of doing their own thing.
13:55And then people like you and Cody and now co having all of this like commercial country
14:00radio success, that's gotta be like a cool feeling as a Texan to see everybody embracing
14:04that.
14:05Yeah.
14:05You know, and Miranda had done it and George had done it and, and set a really, really
14:09good path.
14:09And Cody really paved a lot of the way for me.
14:12Um, I've watched a lot of the way about how he's carried himself and gone about building
14:16his career.
14:17And I've paid a lot of close attention to it and taking a lot of notes and, and, um, you
14:21know, I just got a lot of respect for him and Miranda and George and a lot of these
14:24guys and girls that have come from Texas and just, you know, they, they went to the
14:28big, big times and did it.
14:29And, um, co, I never had any doubt that he would make it to the big times from the very
14:35first time I ever heard him sing at my buddy's lake house and Cedar Creek Lake 10 years ago.
14:40I was just like, yeah, he's, he's got it.
14:43He's such a special talent.
14:44And, um, so I always knew that he would do it.
14:47And Kojo was kind of the same way.
14:48I just, there was no question he was going to go on to do huge things.
14:51And, um, I'm just glad to be, you know, mentioned as a small part of that.
14:55Absolutely.
14:55When you said pave the way, it made me think about something that I feel like I've heard
14:58over and over recently is like, you know, there's, God, there's so many new young acts
15:02that are coming up.
15:03I can't hardly keep track of all of them, but your name has come up more than once recently.
15:07Like some of these really young kids, like the 20 year olds who are like, I grew up on
15:10Parker McCollum.
15:11And I'm like, Ooh, I wonder how Parker feels here.
15:13And that, yeah, I just, I definitely don't feel old enough to be that kind of an influence for
15:17people, but it is super flattering because, you know, when I think about how much I love
15:21the records from the guys that influenced me and how I still listen to them and I still
15:24go back to those records when I'm trying to figure out, you know, what's next for me creatively.
15:31And, um, you know, so hopefully, you know, there's some, there's a song or two that does
15:35that for those kids.
15:36Absolutely.
15:37And then, um, I want to talk about the single, of course, what kind of man, tell the story
15:41behind the song, would you?
15:42It was not like a great story.
15:44I just kind of spit it out one night, the first verse and the chorus messing around at
15:48the house.
15:48And, and it's a pretty accurate representation of how I felt about Hallie Ray and what she
15:53did for me.
15:54Um, probably wasn't even aware she was doing it, but she was really why I started to clean
15:57it up and, and kind of think about living life differently.
16:00And, uh, this song is a pretty accurate depiction of that, um, with a few creative, um, twists
16:06and turns in there a little bit, but, you know, um, uh, Natalie Hemby and Jeremy
16:11Spillmore at the house one day and I just, like I said, I'm bad at co-writing.
16:14And so I just said, Hey, why don't we just finish this?
16:16And so they, we wrote the rest of the song together and, and they just, you know, they're
16:20so talented.
16:21I feel like it's so easy for them to write great songs.
16:23And I was glad to have them on this one.
16:26As your muse for a lot of songs, how does Hallie, like, how did she feel about this song?
16:30I think she liked it.
16:30She's asked me forever, like, you know, are you ever going to write songs that have happy
16:34endings?
16:35And I'm like, I just don't like those as much, but, um, you know, this one's pretty close to
16:40that, I think it's not, nobody dies and you know, nobody says goodbye.
16:44So we're getting closer, getting closer this summer.
16:47You're going to be doing a bunch of shows with George Strait and Chris Stapleton.
16:50Talk about the time that you've gotten to spend with those guys.
16:53Yeah.
16:53I haven't spent any time with Chris, but George and I spent a little bit of time together
16:56and he's just unbelievably kind human being, just a really, really sweet man.
17:01And, uh, he's the king of country music.
17:02He's a living, breathing legend and, and just the greatest to ever do it.
17:06And he just couldn't be more down to earth and genuine and kind.
17:11I feel like pretty consistently, I hear people say nothing, but like the greatest things.
17:15You just, just, just so kind, just so down to earth and, and very sweet.
17:20Absolutely.
17:21You are just going to be, you just wrapped up the, what kind of man tour.
17:25And I always love to ask people like, what is your day of show routine?
17:28Do you have any traditions, stuff that you do with the band?
17:30Is it the same every day, different?
17:31No, sometimes I go play golf.
17:33A lot of times I go work out, try to get the blood pumping, um, just cause you're sitting
17:37down and traveling so much.
17:39Um, some days I sound check, some days I won't, but I mean, I do a little vocal warmup before
17:43the show and then go out and let it rip.
17:45How are you guys passing time on the bus?
17:47Um, golly, I don't know.
17:49I mean, you know, we're, I feel like most of, if you're on the bus, you're asleep.
17:54Um, and then during the day, you know, if the weather's out or weather's not, you're
17:58probably not on the bus chilling all day, but like I said, I mean, we, we play golf,
18:02we play catch.
18:03Um, you know, we'll go work out, uh, we'll jam in the green room.
18:08You know, there's a, there's plenty of stuff to do on the road.
18:10For sure.
18:11I'm going to have you do just like quick 30 second stories behind a couple of songs
18:14that we're going to play them while you're on.
18:15Um, first, could you do the story behind burn it down?
18:18The story behind burn it down.
18:19That was with the love junkies there at my house one day.
18:22And, um, I didn't have the melody.
18:25I didn't have anything about burn it down in my mind.
18:28I just kind of started thinking about, you know, the simple concept of burning it all
18:33down and how, you know, everybody's probably been there at some point in their life.
18:37Um, just want to start completely over and it just popped out of nowhere.
18:40Just kind of started singing, burn it down over and over and over again.
18:44And then, you know, wrote that chorus and, you know, the, the love junkies are so good
18:48at just letting it flow and just making it, you know, they don't force anything either.
18:52Um, if it's there, it's there.
18:53If it's not, it's not.
18:54And they really understand that.
18:56Um, and the song was no different.
18:58It just, it kind of, you know, the, and immediately it's probably the only song I've ever written
19:02that immediately I was like, that's probably going to be a single.
19:05Um, and then when we recorded it in the studio, I was like, that's definitely going to be
19:08a single.
19:09Um, and it's one of my favorite songs to play every night.
19:11And the story behind pretty heart.
19:14Pretty hard.
19:15I had written, I'd had the melody in the hook forever and I'd forgotten about it.
19:19And I've, I found it on like this old video on Instagram from what, from several years
19:23before.
19:23And it was, I think it was my first coat, one of my first co-writes ever in Nashville.
19:26First time meeting Randy Montana and, um, didn't really know how to co-write, but I
19:30had this, the original line was, what does that say about me?
19:33I could love somebody like you.
19:34And then we ended up playing Randy and he really dug it and we kind of just turned it
19:39into what does that say about me now that I've broke your pretty heart and, uh, crazy.
19:44I remember we wrote that song.
19:45I was like, ah, we messed it up.
19:46You know, like that's not any good.
19:47And then, um, you know, ends up being number one, double platinum song during COVID.
19:52We don't play a show the entire time.
19:53And here we are.
19:53The rest is history.
19:55Exactly.
19:55And then to be loved by you.
19:57To be loved by you.
19:58I, I was headed to the bus.
20:00Actually, I was, um, um, I was driving a bus call.
20:04We were about to go on the road and me and Holly were dating.
20:07We got in a little argument and I was just kind of frustrated and, and I had said out
20:12loud, you know, God, what does a man have to do to be loved by that girl?
20:15And, um, and so I started, I wrote that first verse and chorus and just kind of, you know,
20:20messing around on the back of the bus playing guitar.
20:22And then I was in town writing with Rhett Aikens and I played it for him and I was like,
20:25man, let's just finish this.
20:26You know, again, didn't want to start trying to chase some song that, that was, it just,
20:31I don't know.
20:31I just never really liked doing that.
20:32And so we finished that and I'll never forget.
20:35He called me one day and he was like, Hey, did we write a song together called to be loved
20:38by you?
20:38And I was like, yeah, it's been on the radio for about four months, Rhett.
20:41Um, and, uh, ended up being a number one platinum song too.
20:44So shout out Rhett Aikens.
20:45Thank you, bro.
20:45That sounds like Rhett.
20:46He's got too many number one songs on the radio to keep track.
20:49That's great.
20:50Park McComb, thank you for coming in.
20:52It's so fun to listen to.
20:53I'm excited for everybody to hear it.
20:54Yes, ma'am.
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