Album Review – Parker McCollum (Self-Titled)
Texas Country (#550.3) and Americana (#570) on the Country DDS.
It’s never been easy to pigeon-hole Parker McCollum, or summarize his music career or sound in a concise sentence. He’s a Texas artist with mainstream impact. He’s an independent-minded performer with strong commercial potential. Clearly he aspires to achieve big radio singles and swell his crowds at concerts. But then he regularly cites singer/songwriters like Chris Knight and John Prine as influences. There is an underlying, principled approach to his career. But it’s mixed with a pragmatic, business-savvy sense of his music as a franchise.
Parker’s new self-titled album doesn’t make assessments or summations of his career any easier. If anything, they confound them, though that’s probably part of the point. After working with producer Jon Randall on the last two records that put Parker solidly in the Top 10 of mainstream country males, he chose to go with veteran Frank Liddell on the new one, and record it in New York City in a tight window. This was after scraping the project halfway through under different circumstances.
McCollum has said that at times during the recording he wondered if he was committing career suicide. Instead of simply talking about how he wanted to make Chris Knight songs for mainstream audiences, he did so by covering Knight’s “Enough Rope” off of Knight’s 2006 album. Parker also covers the well-known country classic “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues” written by Danny O’Keefe, even if it doesn’t sound especially like classic country here.
The sound of this self-titled album is really what’s most quizzical at the start. McCollum and Frank Liddell are not the first, and probably won’t be he last to attempt to make an Americana record for the mainstream country market that might misunderstand Americana’s grit for general inferiority. The musical signals are a little too muted, distressed, mono mixed, and “dirty” on this album. The solos feel purposely sloppy and uninspired. It sounds like good musicians trying to perform subpar because that’s what “Americana” is. It’s “gritty.”
At times, you hear instruments, but they’re so buried in the mix, you can’t feel them. This is especially evident in the guitar solo for the song “Killin’ Me,” and the little out-of-tune and out-of-time discordant tones that apparently are supposed to impart some sort of organic authenticity at the start of the song “New York Is On Fire.” Instead, they just feel like a distraction. This album lacks presence and clarity overall from a basic sound engineering standpoint.
Parker McCollum’s sound has never been especially country. But with all the talk of wanting to step further into his roots, you expected maybe a little more steel guitar, maybe a fiddle or two, or at least any instrumentation that was remarkable, or could offer a distinct sound. The song “Solid Country Gold” doesn’t sound anything like that, including the quizzical little strings outtro.
That’s not to say the album doesn’t also have its strong points, or that McCollum shouldn’t get credit for attempting to do something a little more offbeat for major label audiences. The opening song “My Blue” feels like Parker McCollum taking those Chris Knight influences, and finally synthesizing them into a song of his own. Plenty of people die in the track, just like a Chris Knight saga. “Watch Me Bleed” feels almost like the roots version of an Oasis song. It showcases a strong chorus, which McCollum has a knack for composing.
Parker shows his chorus skills off again in the album’s big radio single “What Kinda Man.” When you get to the song at the 11th slot of the 14-song album, you say, “Okay, here’s an actual Parker McCollum song,” even if it’s the more mainstream version of him as opposed to the Texas one, and the production on the track still suffers from that muted and muddy sound that besets the entire self-titled album.
When you try to play both sides of the independent/mainstream divide, you run the risk of not appealing to either. On this self-titled album, McCollum still has a few songs that will do well in the mainstream market, which is all you really need since this will constitute a run of radio singles and keep the machine churning along just fine. But nothing about this record is going to necessarily appeal to the fans of Sturgill Simpson and Charles Wesley Godwin who weren’t already McCollum fans in the first place.
But Parker McCollum says he didn’t make this album to appeal to one side of anything or another, but to be the most honest expression of himself. It’s the album he wanted to make. We can only take him at his word, and the album does sound better with subsequent listens. Some of the sound issues become less concerning, and some of the writing shows its strength, even if the tracks on the album still feel a bit hit or miss, just like the career of Parker McCollum to many.
This self-titled album probably is the accurate representation of Park McCollum. It rests in the middle of the Nashville/Texas, mainstream/independent divide. You just wish the sound represented these songs a little better.
6.8/10
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July 7, 2025 @ 7:38 am
I listened to a few tracks and this review is spot on. The music and the vocal phrasing do not match at all. What was the vision here: to have cluttered layers of “indie” sounds along with the vocal phrasing of modern Bro-Country?
July 7, 2025 @ 7:47 am
Having listened to him since his first record, this one seems trying to recapture a bit of his original sound/style. Of course, an artist grows and moves and so will never sound the “same” as before. This one feels the closest (and heard some of these live a few months back) to where he was at the beginning
July 7, 2025 @ 7:55 am
Yeah the album is intentionally messy – even so, i find this to be much more interesting to listen to than a tight, polished, Nashville Parker McCollum record. On top of that, the songwriting here is way more interesting than most of what he’s done since Probably Wrong.
Idk i think his attempt to sound more organic is admirable, even if you know that’s what he’s trying to do. I’d say it shows he still cares about creating and being an artist because if he didn’t, he would have cranked out a 20 song texas / nashville country record with a bunch of session guys and some co-writes that would be polished and boring as hell – and it would have been just as good if not better for his career.
This album sounds to me like a major label guy who has it all, but is still trying to be artistic and creative, maybe chasing some “grit” with mixed results, but overall i’d way rather hear something new like this than the same old product that’s been there since Gold Chain Cowboy.
Jeremy pinnell ripZ
July 7, 2025 @ 8:18 am
I agree the songwriting here is the most interesting since 2017’s “Probably Wrong.” I also agree that slick, Nashville production can destroy otherwise great songs. But if I go back and listen to “Probably Wrong” and a song like “I Can’t Breathe,” the piano melody that starts off the song is clear and present in the mix. So is the guitar solo that sounds inspired as opposed to sloppy and directionless. Eight years ago and with probably half the budget, Parker McCollum made a much better sounding album with Lloyd Maines than he did here. It’s like I’m listening with gauze stuck in my ears, and then I go listen to “Probably Wrong,” and it’s like the gauze has been removed.
I hate criticizing albums when it comes to production, mixing, and mastering, because it flies over the head of some listeners as too shop talky. But I just can’t imagine this album wouldn’t be so much better with the production approach of an album like “Probably Wrong” as opposed to what happened here. I just think there was a philosophical misunderstanding of what those big, mainstream Parker McCollum albums were missing, and it wasn’t bad sounding music, though I could understand how someone like Parker McCollum or Frank Liddell would read this review and go, “Well, it doesn’t matter what we do, this guy will rip into it.”
I also don’t think this is a “bad” album by any stretch. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to represent these songs with better sounding music.
July 7, 2025 @ 9:17 am
Zach Top, Zach Bryan, and Morgan Wallen all have their own respective sound that works for them and an attempt to repackage parts of their sounds each all into one song won’t work.
July 8, 2025 @ 6:57 am
Yeah, the sloppiness of Zach Bryan’s records works because it’s not a put-on – it’s how he sounds live, whether you’re at a show or he’s playing at a bar.
Same goes for the Cobb aesthetic – he’s not adding imperfections to “sound” organic; he has the artist run through the sound with the whole band a few times, then takes the “best” version, rather than having each player record their part separately and perfectly, then putting it all together.
July 9, 2025 @ 12:12 pm
I feel like this is the kind of album we expected him to make when he went to Nashville. I’ve actually enjoyed listening to it and it does bring back the sound that made him one of the fastest risers in the Texas scene.
July 7, 2025 @ 8:03 am
…he is the musical equivalent of a lost boy (peter pan story) but without a leader. he can change as many producers as he wants, cite any idol he seems fit, but at the end of the day he’s got to find his own way. on this album, even though it is supposed to carry his signature not only on the cover, he doesn’t quite succeed once again. it ain’t half bad, but a par is coming awfully short, when aiming at an eagle. his biggest handicap is his vocals. they aren’t really special enough for mainstream and not limited enough for singer/songwriter. if there’s nothing else to listen to, this album may pass, leaving you wondering, however, what you committed to deserve such a “treat”.
July 7, 2025 @ 9:42 am
He needs to quit posing in front of dilapidated structures like some kind of feed store Vanilla Ice.
July 7, 2025 @ 8:44 am
What utter crap.
July 7, 2025 @ 9:23 am
I believe this album is true to what Parker McCollum has said. It’s the album he wanted to make.
Unfortunately, for listeners, they all expect to still hear the Limestone Kid. But that kid has grown up. Parker McCollum is a grown man now with a wife and children. Like all of us with our inner youth, the Limestone Kid is still inside and shines out from time to time, but that isn’t who he is anymore. He’s different. Whether that’s for the better or the worse is up to the listener.
July 7, 2025 @ 9:41 am
Parker McCollum has a bunch of great songs drinking and I can’t breathe and the one about love and don’t like sleeping alone and the one about killing
July 7, 2025 @ 9:50 am
A mainstream country artist who headlines arenas just covered a Chris Knight song. Got to love him just for that.
I was a big Limestone Kid fan and saw him a few times in the early days. He lost me a bit with the gold chain stuff but I think this is a pretty good record. He never said it was gonna be a Chris Knight record, but for what it is, it’s good.
July 7, 2025 @ 10:25 am
I’ve listened through this album maybe a dozen times at this point, and as someone who identifies as a Parker McCollum fan since The Limestone Kid, I think this is a step in the right direction, albeit quite different from his existing catalog. Agreed that this adds to the argument that he will always leave both sides of the fence wanting more (commercial and independent), but maybe that’s the way that it’ll always be. He did make it very clear in the press run up to its release that he is aware of the fact that he sounds nothing like the traditional country legends he cites as influences. He sounds like a guy who really appreciates that tradition, and isn’t looking to depart from it, but instead make it clear that he’s not claiming that badge of honor himself.
I did want to add that the 9th track “New York Is On fire” is a straight up John Mayer song circa late-2000s. When examined through that lens, I think he knocked it out of the park. Killer track. For someone who repeatedly sings Mayer’s praises as a massive influence on his music, I was happily surprised at how incredible that song was, and excited for the potential for more of this style of music from him.
But between the record itself and his interviews around its release, it seems he’s not looking to make an exit from country music, but instead open the door to making records that sound like whatever he wants them to sound like at the current moment, without the baggage of expectations. Even still, I agree that it lacks a cohesive throughline track to track. I thought his strong points were made in Sunny Days, Permanent Headphones, Hope That I’m Enough, Enough Rope (even as a cover), and My Worst Enemy, but the record is fairly spotty in its style. Thanks for the review.
July 8, 2025 @ 5:20 am
I’m the same as you in regards to being a fan. I’ve said since I first heard the album this is just a country John Mayer album but if I’ve not listened to podcasts this is what I’ve been listening to. I love it.
July 7, 2025 @ 11:15 am
I recently listened to him on the ‘Jarrod Morris Vibe’ podcast (an episode from AUG of last year – a few weeks before he went in to cut this album) and now reading this article & hearing some of the songs, this new album makes sense. I don’t really listen to his music much, but have more respect for him.
July 7, 2025 @ 12:22 pm
Is there a reason he doesn’t go back to Llyod Maines for production?
July 7, 2025 @ 12:24 pm
I’ve taken extreme measures to stay clear of McCollum‘s cover of “Enough Rope.” That is one of my all-time favorite songs and should never be covered.
A few years ago when the Turnpike Troubadours were going through their rough patch, they canceled their headlining gig a Beaver Dam Amphitheater leaving Chris Knight and Shooter Jennings to pick up the slack. Knight silenced the rowdy crowd with an acoustic version of “Enough Rope.” All you could hear were a distance chorus of cicadas in the quiet parts. I cried.
July 7, 2025 @ 12:46 pm
Was that show sold out at Beaver Dam? I remember kicking around going to it.
July 7, 2025 @ 1:20 pm
I don’t think so. I think there was an option for Turnpike Troubadour fans to get their tickets refunded and some did, but not the majority. And I don’t know if the venue had time to turn around and sell those refunded tickets. If I recall, that all happened within a week.
July 7, 2025 @ 1:00 pm
Absolute dogpoop like everything else he’s ever done. I made it two and a half songs.
July 7, 2025 @ 1:07 pm
I haven’t listened to it yet, but based on this review, I have a very strong reaction to that kind of production.
A “sound” isn’t created in studio. It’s a manifestation of the music as it is. The very reality of “natural” or “organic” means that it can’t be manufactured.
What does a song sound like if it’s simply allowed to exist? Follow the song and find out. Don’t try to play god in the studio.
July 7, 2025 @ 1:14 pm
After a thorough initial listen………………my raw reaction the first go-round is that I get the impression McCollum REALLY took it personally when………as you reported…………Oliver Anthony recently accused someone who he never actually mentioned by name December of last year of using backing tracks and AutoTune in his live performances (which McCollum was absolutely convinced his remarks were directed at him and responded defensively)……………to the extent where I’m convinced it really got under his skin to the extent he decided to drastically strip the production down on this album.
Obviously I’m just speculating and thus can’t corroborate that was key to the artistic direction of this album………….but given how personally McCollum took Anthony’s remarks I genuinely think it at the very least subconsciously influenced the album’s sound and downsized production scale.
As for how I feel about this shift on first listen……………..I feel it’s oddly BOTH an asset AND a detriment to the end result, and I’ll try my best to explain before subsequent listens.
On the plus side: there’s notable whiffs of Van Morrison, The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival and other influences of his with a decided jam band or Southern rock leaning emerging to the fore which is very interesting from the perspective of mainstream country. “My Blue” is a really surprising track to kick the album off: over five minutes in length and its sound more resembling something you’d expect to hear on an adult alternative/Triple A station between the latest tracks from Lord Huron, Head And The Heart and Leon Bridges……………then something on this format. It’s not particularly memorable at first listen but, hey: I admire unconventional, gutsy choices when it comes to album sequencing. Similarly “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues”, “Sunny Days” and the solo write “Permanent Headphones” in particular also sound very Van Morrison-ish with the jam band arrangements, cascading piano, live drums and production aiming to reflect the live show sound as closely as possible.
But then the majority of the other tracks fall into two distinct camps: 1) tracks that resemble more of a stripped-down version of what we heard on “Gold Chain Cowboy” and “Never Enough”…………..songs very much a product of the Nashville songwriting machine but with the slick production and bells and whistles stripped down and excised: resulting in an underproduced, no-frills version of what Music Row churns out (“Big Sky”, “Killin’ Me”, “Come On”, “What Kinda Man”)…………..and 2) some standout ballad moments such as on the closing track “My Worst Enemy” and “Hope That I’m Enough” that legitimately sound closer to his roots in Texas country than Music Row. I’d say the latter stood out to me much more than the former: where the former songs certainly are tastefully composed, produced and arranged and are never objectively bad………….but it just starts to get a bit tedious and predictable a listening experience and I just find myself tuning out of those kind of tracks after the first two go-rounds.
Oh: and there’s also one R&B-esque outlier that is “New York Is On Fire” which sounds fine but nonetheless out of place on the album.
Basically: the vibe and takeaway I have of this album upon first listen……………..is that McCollum gave the mainstream a college try and had his fun for a short while, but now maybe he’s over it and ready to move on. But it also occupies this weird middle area between Music Row and Texas that I can’t imagine is going to excite either audience………….in that there’s just nothing here that sounds particularly radio friendly (and I genuinely believe it’s on purpose)…………….but also like you said nothing that’s going to excite those who listen to The Randy Rogers Band or Flatland Cavalry: even if this album signals McCollum downsizing his aspirations to focus on his Texas country roots. Which hey: I respect him for his decision if that’s indeed the case.
I’d describe my overall sentiment of this album as pleasant enough but for the most part forgettable if I’m being honest. I wasn’t really feeling the more Van Morrison/The Band/CCR-esque portion of the album because I just grew up listening to a lot of that as is and don’t need to hear more rehashings of that…………….but I did really like “Enough Rope” and “Hope That I’m Enough”. Those to me are the two highlights late in the album.
I’d probably rate it about similar to yours: 6 to 6.5/10. I respect McCollum’s drive and effort, even if I do feel some of it is reactionary and defensive-minded to the Oliver Anthony incident.
July 7, 2025 @ 2:58 pm
The funny thing is that he will most certainly have to use backing tracks to perform these songs live if he intends for the band to come even remotely close to sounding like the recording.
A bit of an aside but I talked with some musicians who had played with several artists who use backing tracks, and they said how much harder it is because not only do you have to have your respective parts down they also have to be perfectly in place because there isn’t room for variance when there is a backing track – so learning the parts is much more tedious.
July 7, 2025 @ 3:03 pm
Strait, we’ve been here before. Parker McCollum is not going to be using backing tracks.
July 7, 2025 @ 5:33 pm
Look, I approached this topic respectfully because I added the aside of how it’s more difficult for the touring musicians to play to backing tracks. Your knee-jerk response to my comment shows that you and many others find the idea of backing tracks revolting and cheapening the “art.”
Currently for artists without full-time bands I am of the mind that backing tracks or no backing tracks does not alter the validity of the artist’s own music especially when considering the economics of hiring people to tour. Backing tracks are way more common that the regular listener would know.
My point is valid. There is no way 5 guys on a stage can recreate the sound of his recent recordings which is going to put him in a precarious position to pay attention for backing tracks now.
July 7, 2025 @ 5:35 pm
And how would you know that he’s not going to use backing tracks? Did you already get a statement from his tour manager or sound guy prior to my posting that comment?
I love how Country musicians are frequently called out in other online spaces for using pitch correction and backing tracks and you are the first to rabidly deny it’s use if it’s accused use is within a Texas mile of anyone you kind of like.
July 7, 2025 @ 7:57 pm
Strait, when Oliver Anthony accused McCollum of this, he said, “100% fabricated lie. I have never ever one time used Autotune, or a drum loop, or anything fake of any kind on stage. Me and my guys are rippin’ it the real deal ever single night. There has never been one single part of our show, not one note that was not live, raw, and in the moment. 100% fabricated story.”
Again, I have seen McCollum in concert numerous times. No reason to think he’s doing any of this stuff. The onus is not on me at this point to prove he is not using this stuff. The onus is on anyone accusing him of it at this point, because he’s denied it profusely, and there’s not a shred of evidence to dispute his claims.
And I’m not “rabidly denying” its use. I think it’s incredibly prevalent in much of Nashville-based country. I’m rabidly denying Parker McCollum is using it, as is Parker McCollum, while NOBODY at any point has offered up any shred of evidence to the contrary.
July 7, 2025 @ 5:38 pm
Fucking A I’m actually a little pissed with your stupidty with that response. PM uses modern bro country vocal phrasing, that is an objective fact, yet you make the definite claim that he will NEVER use backing tracks as if he’s the modern Guy Clark.
Sincerely go fuck yourself
July 7, 2025 @ 8:00 pm
Now I need to go fuck myself? So using “Bro-Country phrasing” (which I’m honestly not hearing) automatically means he’s going to perform with backing tracks? Go read Nadia’s assessment of this situation. If anything, this album is a lo-fi overcorrection against the attack on Parker’s authenticity by Oliver Anthony.
This comment proves this is some weird over-emotional hill for you to die on man. I appreciate your insights and perspective here. But you remain just flat out wrong on this topic.
July 8, 2025 @ 8:25 am
Strait,
One clear sign McCollum is heavily produced/auto-tuned is the absence of a single video of him singing with just an acoustic guitar.
Artists who suck will not have videos showing how badly they suck, so there will be a conspicuous lack of ad hoc videos of them playing solo.
The better an artist is, the more stripped down they can be in public performance; singing a capella being the best.
Watching a full band live doesn’t give enough information about what kind of tech is being used to produce the sound to determine skill.
July 8, 2025 @ 9:01 am
You people are outright delusional at this point.
There’s not a single video of Parker McCollum playing with just an acoustic guitar? Parker has done a whole series of videos playing entire albums acoustically. Just go to YouTube and type in “Parker McCollum Acoustic.” What is this?
Here he is during the pandemic playing a 12-minute livestream all by himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_TbPHauTHE
I would say that’s probably one single video.
July 8, 2025 @ 9:18 am
Okay. That video proves it.
He is musically average in all respects.
July 8, 2025 @ 9:29 am
This is a reasonable conclusion to come to.
Saying that he MUST be using backing tracks, despite absolutely no evidence of such, overwhelming evidence refuting that claim, simply because he uses “Bro-Country phrasing” in his lyrics or there’s not a “single” video of him just playing acoustic guitar is a completely false, unreasonable, and irrational conclusion.
July 8, 2025 @ 9:57 am
I spent time last night and some this morning going thru his live performances. I’ll repeat this point again, my original point was that his new music sound has far more instruments than he typically has onstage. If he wants that sound to emulate the recording, it will require backing tracks to fill out that sound again, that doesn’t undermine the art in my opinion.
As far as his claims with not using any kind of auto-tune I believe he’s lying. He’s not under oath onstage and it’s in his best interest to fabricate the truth. As far as evidence, I would point to his live videos especially when he’s playing larger stages where his vocals ALWAYS directly hit a perfectly on pitch and sustained note. Much like the recordings of Carrie Underwood which are heavily edited. You can hear in older acoustic performance of his where his vocals are under pitch slightly and his vocals aren’t sustained as long. I 100% contend he’s using industry standard “trickery” for many of his performances – espcially the performances where he puts a ZYN pouch in his mouth while singer and never missing a sound – which is impossible. Try doing it. I did. I think he’s faking putting in the pouch because you can’t drop something on your tongue while singing. Watching his older performances, he has a good voice, but you can spot the normal and perfectly fine imperfections when he’s changing notes. Those imperfections are completely gone as he started playing bigger stages and award shows.
The point irritates me because the great vocalists of the past had imperfections singing live all while having greater vocal ranges than Parker. It’s just very odd to me to concert performances now are absolutely perfect and everyone thinks that is just the new normal.
July 8, 2025 @ 4:15 pm
” I’ll repeat this point again, my original point was that his new music sound has far more instruments than he typically has onstage. If he wants that sound to emulate the recording, it will require backing tracks to fill out that sound again, that doesn’t undermine the art in my opinion.”
Strait,
Somehow, of all the asinine opinions you’ve shared on this matter, this might be the most egregious. Pretty much every artist for the history of ever, all genres, has utilized additional instrumentation in the studio that is not represented in live performances. The idea that this somehow implicates Parker in using backing tracks is the mother of all doozies.
You’re a smart guy,and a musician. Not sure why you insist to keep digging this hole.
July 8, 2025 @ 10:24 am
Fuckin’ A right, Strait.
July 9, 2025 @ 8:57 am
I was speaking in the future tense in regards to backing tracks and that he may be pressured to start using them to add the extra instrumentation. There is also a misunderstanding of the varying application of backing tracks. Listening to his past performances I do not hear extra instruments being added to the sound pushed to the audience.
Every touring drummer will be playing to a click that is only audible onstage to whatever musician in the band wants to hear it – probably just the drummer. Backing tracks can be as simple as the click for the drummer WITH the addition of a second acoustic guitar or synth or keys patch added to that with only those extra instruments being audible thru the mains. The drums, guitar, bass are all live in that scenario but it still is a backing track.
The Eagles have used string section backing tracks for performances. Backing tracks isn’t an absolute dirty word depending on how it’s done. My whole point about backing tracks with instrumentation is that Parker came out hard against it – on his own free will – and it will look funny if he ends up in a situation (that hasn’t happened yet) where he has to have extra instruments added to a backing track in the future to match the sounds on these latest recordings in a live scenario.
This whole discussion for any artist would be DOA if the general concensus was that backing tracks in live performances and pitch corrected digitally altered vocals is completely fine and just as artistically valid as the opposite. However that isn’t the general concensus. Live performances rely on the image that what people are getting is real. (It’s the same with trying to convince people that ALL their favorite actors who get jacked for movie rolls take steroids – despite all denying it)
And none of this is any defense of Oliver Anthony. He is bug bite that will go away if people stop straching him.
July 9, 2025 @ 1:29 pm
Who puts a Zyn on their tongue? Do you even know how Zyns work?
July 7, 2025 @ 3:05 pm
That’s a very interesting theory. I’m not sure if the timeline lines up, but like you said, it could have been a subconscious thing. I honestly can’t explain away some of the production/mixing decisions on this album aside from saying there was a conscious effort to make it sound worse than it needed to be. It was definitely a philosophical approach of how to record this album.
July 7, 2025 @ 8:43 pm
And again: I must acknowledge this is merely speculation……….but I nonetheless felt the need to entertain this theory because it was what pressed on my mind while listening to this record. Although “overcorrection” could very well be the more accurate scenario in a way that actually had nothing to do with Oliver Anthony’s accusations.
July 7, 2025 @ 1:21 pm
I still have no clue exactly what my favorite Parker song “Meet me in the middle” is about. The mixed messaging is too much for my feeble mind.
Kind of how I feel about him in general.
July 7, 2025 @ 1:32 pm
I wish this had been a better album, so I will have to pass on this one.
July 7, 2025 @ 1:47 pm
I’m not really into these songs, but John Mellencamp’s legal team wanna check out the verses of My Blue. I suppose changing Jack (& Diane) to Jackie was something.
July 7, 2025 @ 2:11 pm
Trig – I’d like to suggest an article if you don’t mind.
Love to hear feedback from you and the SCM community on who’d they would do anything to have new music from. Ones that kinda disappeared – Maybe still touring, but no new album in a minute
My top two would be Zephaniah and Tom Buller. (Jason James as well, but I remember you mentioning he was getting away from it for awhile)
I get this isn’t the place to drop this request but I didn’t know where else to put it.
I’m a fan of articles that allow the group to engage and have fun with.
Thanks!
July 7, 2025 @ 3:09 pm
Hey BD,
As for Zephaniah, I’ve actually offered a couple of updates on him. He’s not performing much these days, and instead is focused on operating the new Skinny Dennis location in Nashville. I hope to have another update on that soon. But here are a couple:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/zephaniah-ohora-makes-his-texas-debut-in-austin/
https://savingcountrymusic.com/skinny-dennis-nashville-plots-grand-opening/
July 7, 2025 @ 2:16 pm
Chris Knight ? Didn’t know Peter Brady was writing Country songs,but hopefully Parker McCollum can achieve mainstream success while remaining true to his vision of Country music.
July 7, 2025 @ 3:26 pm
Homeboy can’t keep a tune, even on a studio track. Don’t want to imagine how his live shows sound, yikes. The way he drops his pitch at the end of phrases is so annoying, more Bro country shit that I still can’t understand how people tolerate or listen to voluntarily. I remember some online troll called him out for not being a very good singer, and he flipped out and called the guy a “nobody.” Classy. Ego trip much? Can’t believe this guy’s a national touring act. And apparently plays to backing tracks, which seems to be the new thing in “modern” country. He’s like the Ian Munsick of Texas. Or maybe Ian Munsick is the Parker McCollum of Wyoming.
July 7, 2025 @ 4:11 pm
Parker McCollum does not play to backing tracks, full stop. I have seen Parker McCollum live multiple times. I’ve never seen anything resembling backing tracks coming from the stage. I’ve seen Ian Munsick multiple times. He admits to using backing tracks, and I’ve called him out on it now on multiple occasions. You might not like McCollum or his music, but let’s be accurate with our criticisms, especially when it comes to things like backing tracks that can be so damaging to an artist’s reputation.
July 7, 2025 @ 7:01 pm
I don’t think he uses backing tracks. Really, I don’t even care. Thing is, he’s just not good. Even his “best” songs are pretty lame. I don’t even F with anything on his first two albums. Obviously he has a big audience but I’m not gonna be a part of it. I gave it all an honest try. This album changes nothing.
July 7, 2025 @ 7:16 pm
Limestone kid and probably wrong are two of my most favorite albums to this day. His last two albums let me down but had some hidden gems on them. I think this album is better than his last two. Lyrically I think the songs are his best yet. I agree that the song writing isn’t what is holding it back. Considering it as a mainstream album with a Chris knight cut I would give it an 8. Start comparing it to the latest turnpike album, or the upcoming Childers album I think a 7 is a fair representation.
July 7, 2025 @ 11:24 pm
I can’t see him reaching the potential that looked possible after his early work.
And of course it’s a shame that he has the stench of January on him, a decision which continues to age like milk with every passing week.
July 8, 2025 @ 9:07 am
Solid Country Gold should be nominated for best mainstream country song of the year. I said it.
July 8, 2025 @ 8:14 pm
This album is okay. I love Probably Wrong. It felt real at least and I like the sound of it. I wish the dude just felt like he could be himself. He has some great songs in his catalog and this album adds some to it. Parker does not need to study Oliver Anthony (I like his new song), but otherwise his music is meh.
July 23, 2025 @ 9:03 am
Thanks for the review. I really like some of the songs and added them to playlists.