Parker McCollum Has a #1. But What Happens Next is Most Important
Congratulations are due to Texas born and raised performer and songwriter Parker McCollum, who just put the first #1 on his resume with his debut major label single “Pretty Heart.” Parker is the first of the latest crop of Texas artists recently signed to major labels to reach #1, with close friend Koe Wetzel also now working with a major label, as is more traditionally-oriented artists who formed strong fan bases in Texas such as Cody Johnson and Randall King.
“We did it y’all! Just a kid from Conroe, TX who dreamed about playing country music now has the #1 song in the country this week!” Parker tweeted out when the accomplishment became official on December 20th. “No beer songs or dirt roads or trucks or nothin. Just honest songwriting. We did it our way! Best fans in the world made it happen! THANK YOU!”
To his fans back in Texas, Parker hitting #1 is a major accomplishment and a long time coming. It’s the hometown boy done good and hard work paying off. But to many not familiar with McCollum, he’s likely just the latest unknown male to mint a #1 on country radio with a fairly safe song, similar to names like Russell Dickerson, Matt Stell, Jamerson Rodgers, Travis Denning, or Jordan Davis, who all also hit #1 in 2020. Brett Young notched his fifth #1 song in country in 2020, and still the vast majority of Americans couldn’t pick him out of a lineup, and he’s still stuck mostly playing large clubs and opening slots.
At this point, hitting a #1 on radio is more a reflection of the will and buy-in of the label behind the artist than it is the infectiousness or overall appeal of the track found by the public. None of this is to diminish Parker McCollum’s accomplishment here in any way. He’s worked hard for years to get here, and the pragmatism he showed with his lead single was smart and savvy. “Pretty Heart” is not a bad song. It’s still fairly well-written, and the steel guitar is prominent. And Parker’s right, he did do it without pandering to the popular country tropes. But he also knew what he was doing with it, which was warming himself up to radio.
“‘Pretty Heart’ is the closest thing on the album to commercial,” Parker said back in May. “The rest of the album I’ve written pretty much on my own. The album just sounds like the guy who wrote the other two [previous] records got better.”
But the real question and intrigue is in what is what happens next with this 28-year-old. Now that McCollum has earned the attention of radio and the greater country music listening public, will he get the opportunity to show off a bit more of his more traditional sound, and the top shelf songwriting chops that put him at the top of the crop of young performers in Texas before his big Warner Bros. deal?
“I’m trying to make Luke Bryan money singing Chris Knight-caliber songs,” McCollum also said back in May, and that’s the promise a successful mainstream career by Parker could hold, and why he’s such an important artist to watch. When you hear the songs he built his career in Texas off of like “I Can’t Breathe” and “Meet You in the Middle,” you see the possibilities if he was able to infiltrate the ranks of popular country performers.
It’s also important to underscore that Parker McCollum doesn’t need radio like so many of the other generic male #1 names that were listed above. He built a big fan base behind himself in Texas before he even trekked to Nashville, which puts artists at an advantage. Look at fellow Texas artist Cody Jinks, who now has a Platinum single and two Gold ones without any mainstream radio play, or Whiskey Myers who has two Gold singles of their own. “Pretty Heart” went Gold in October in part to its mainstream radio support.
But if Parker could go Gold and get #1’s on country radio with some of those songs that made him so popular in Texas, it would be a significant step forward for the mainstream format. A #1 for “Pretty Heart” is an important first step, and a major accomplishment for Parker. It’s the proof of concept any artist needs to build trust with country radio. But what happens next is the most important if he’s to accomplish his ultimate goal of returning quality songs to popular country.
December 23, 2020 @ 10:15 am
A well-deserved #1. However, “Pretty Heart” isn’t in the same ballpark of song as some non-#1 hits (Meet You in the Middle, All Day, Lonesome Ten Miles), but if that’s what works for Nashville, it’s a decent compromise. We can just hope this is the exception to his sound, not the new rule.
McCollum’s youth and good looks are a big plus in Nashville, but they might cause some to dismiss him in the Texas/SCM scene. Do that at your own peril – the guy is very good, particularly with his more upbeat songs.
December 23, 2020 @ 12:06 pm
I dunno I find Pretty Heart annoying and I like a lot of pop country. This one did not do it for me…..
December 23, 2020 @ 1:42 pm
I don’t like the song at all. His drawing out “Your pretty heaaaaaaaaaaaaaart” sounds like caterwauling. Very annoying!
December 23, 2020 @ 5:25 pm
Funny it’s the only one i can stand to let play all the way through
December 23, 2020 @ 12:23 pm
Am I missing something? How is this dude any less crappy than everything else in Nashville? I YouTubed him, and couldn’t find one country song.
December 23, 2020 @ 12:46 pm
I noticed you mentioned Matt Stell, some of his stuff is pretty decent in my opinion. I think “Everywhere but on” is a good song.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:04 pm
Same goes for Travis Denning and Brett Young.
Brett Young’s singles are mostly decent and he has killer album cuts. If he was an average looking dude as opposed to the prototypical pretty boy, I think he’d be taken a lot more seriously.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:24 pm
Travis Denning’s “After a Few Drinks” is pop country but it’s really catchy so thumbs up.
There is good pop country and crappy pop country. (Not a popular opinion here but it’s true.)
My current fave is Kelsea Ballerini “Hole in the Bottle.”
December 24, 2020 @ 10:03 am
Ok Dee full disclosure…….for fear of being banned from this site forever…lol the Travis Denning EP was in solid rotation all summer… I know I shouldn’t of liked it but the songs are infectious even if a bit juvenile and “Bro ish”. ABBY was my favorite! Oh well we all have our guilty pleasures and for Trig it’s Parker. For me it’s Rylee Lum but I will say I did see Parker on a live stream with Sunny, Randy, and Wade and he sounded as good if not better than all of em that day with just an acoustic guitar. To each his own.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:33 pm
Brett Young really did have some great album cuts on Ticket To L.A. that are criminally overlooked and underrated.
The Ship And The Bottle, Where You Want Me, and Don’t Wanna Write This Song especially were clear standouts for me.
Dude has a lot of potential, but like a lot of other male country stars, he tends to pick pretty middle of the road singles that do nothing to make him interesting or stand out in any way, but are inevitably hits regardless.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:34 pm
Yeah, I’ve seen some Matt Stell hating expressed around here. Admittedly I haven’t paid a lot of attention to his radio stuff, but I saw him perform a few times before he went Nashville, and always enjoyed him.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:51 pm
Look, I’m not taking aim at any of those dudes I mentioned specifically. My only point is that for the last few years, country radio has been a parade of dudes we hadn’t ever heard before minting #1’s, and so you have to measure the achievement behind the fact that this is an assembly line that virtually guarantees these dudes a #1. Doesn’t mean they’re not good or don’t work hard. They all should be taken on an individual basis. It’s just a broad illustration of how easy it is for a major label male to get a radio #1.
December 23, 2020 @ 4:21 pm
“It’s just a broad illustration of how easy it is for a major label male to get a radio #1.”
It is easy because that is what the audience demands. If these pretty male artists bring in more business than the pretty female artists, they are simply delivering what the market wants. Right or wrong, the labels are not in the money-losing business.
And I might add that there are newer male artists starting to release more country sounding records than most of the current crop of “I-really-wanna-be-pop” female artists.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:07 pm
I don’t believe trigger said his song wasn’t good. All he said was that his songs are safe and beyond radio, he has no appeal whatsoever.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:27 pm
Glad to see he’s ditched the flat brim without reverting to the equally annoying rolled up like a taco shell look.
Seriously, though, I’m kinda enjoying his new EP. Overall, it’s not a big departure from his established sound. I would say it’s pop country rock, but the writing has the ring of honesty, and the sound still has some organic feel and doesn’t sound gimicky. I would agree with him that the single is the most Nashville sounding cut on it. So, folks lukewarm on it ought to try the other songs, too.
He should be careful dropping names like Chris Knight, though. 😉 Seems to me that he’s aiming more for the orbit of Wade Bowen, whose forte is thoughtful, adult, pop country.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:28 pm
I like Pretty Heart a lot, and it’s awesome that it got to #1 for an artist from outside the Nashville bubble like Parker McCollum is.
That being said, there were much better and even more compelling country songs on his latest EP like Young Man’s Blues and Like A Cowboy that I’d love to see get that same success even more.
Regardless of all that, whether Pretty Heart is Parker’s only hit or the start of a long run of radio success, this should only be looked at as a positive sign for mainstream radio as a whole going forward. Here’s hoping Parker McCollum can continue to be a good influence.
December 23, 2020 @ 2:32 pm
I tried to like this song but this is a dumb lyric:
“Now that I’ve broke
Your pretty heart
Your pretty heart
Your pretty heart
Your pretty heart”
December 23, 2020 @ 7:27 pm
Isn’t this a Boyfriend/Pop Country song??
What’s with all these southern dudes releasing a pop/boyfriend song as their debut single but then following it up with a Luke Combs wanna be song…
Examples:
Jameson Rodgers ( “Some Girls” to the Combs collab “Cold Beer Calling my Name”)
Travis Denning (“After a Few ” to the Combs sounding “Where’s that Beer Been”)
Dillon Carmichael (” I Do For You” to the Jon Pardi produced “Hot Beer”)
& now, Parker McCollum from ” Pretty Heart” to a likely follow-up revolving around beer.
** The projectory of these new male country acts are so bland. Their debut singles need to be pop infused or Worship women & their sophomore single needs to be Beer Drinking related….
December 23, 2020 @ 9:11 pm
“Chris Knight-caliber songs.”
If nothing else, he made me laugh.
December 24, 2020 @ 3:31 am
I’ve loved Parker’s work for some time. This song hits the feels. So glad he’s caught the due he’s deserved.
December 24, 2020 @ 6:37 am
I just you tubed him- I’m not sure what qualifies as Country now days, on the radio, but what I heard ain’t what I qualify as Country- I don’t know as its not good, just not my cup of tea. His voice needs to mature to gain my endorsement- that and a buck fifty might get him a cup of coffee someplace- but I applaud the effort of livin life the way he wants to- he’s winning when he does that and that’s what I’d tell him.
It’s kind of amazing, that in today’s world, anyone would want to put up with empty suits directing your career- coffee and cigarettes are much better company to keep.
December 24, 2020 @ 8:27 am
Honest to God I thought that was LANCO singing that song when I heard it.
December 24, 2020 @ 7:27 pm
Glad you wrote this article. I heard “Pretty Heart” once or twice, and I dismissed it and McCollum as another generic “country” singer. But I might have to check out the rest of his catalogue now.
December 27, 2020 @ 5:33 pm
I actually love Pretty Heart. I don’t usually buy songs on iTunes but I bought that one. His best songs to me are “New Orleans” “Galveston Bay” from “The Limestone Kid” and “Blue Eyed Sally” from “Probably Wrong”. I would love for Parker to become the next big thing in Nashville
December 30, 2020 @ 11:48 am
I follow Texas County pretty close and knew of Parker McCollum and when I first heard Pretty Heart, I thought it was some sort of generic Nashville creation but ok. The streching of “heart” into a nine syllable word was a little odd.
March 4, 2022 @ 11:07 am
Sounds like there are a lot of JEALOUS AND UGLY people on here making comments. Who are you to judge? It looks to me like he is going somewhere with his career or at least he is trying. Are you? probably not. Most of you probably don’t have a career. So I’m going to guess, you sit at home and try to tear down anyone who looks like they are more successful than you. Here’s the secret, guys, stop hating, stop being a bunch of sewer slinging slime balls. Why don’t you try be productive with your lives and contribute words of encouragement or even positive criticism. Shame on all of you for adding even more ugly to this society.