Parker McCollum Talks UK Crowds, Instagram Chaos and a Hell of a Year
By Lauren Page | @LiveWithLP
There are a few things you should probably explain to an American artist before they play Glasgow. The accent. The enthusiasm. The fact that an arena chanting “here we f***ing go” is actually a very warm welcome.
Backstage at the Hydro before Parker McCollum’s set supporting Cody Johnson, we managed to cover all three. We also got onto acoustic music, his CMA nomination and whether we should bring Vine back. Quite a lot of ground to cover in ten minutes, but I do like to make the most of a chat.
Before we’d even properly started, I warned him that my accent might throw him off.
“I mean, it’s honestly lovely.” “Oh, thank you. So is yours, sir.” Accents mutually approved.
We were off to a good start.
First, though, I had to borrow one of his own song titles. It’s been a hell of a year, hasn’t it?
“It’s been a good one,” he tells me. “That song can mean either or, but it’s been a good one.” We’re taking the glass half full approach, then. Love that.
Between his first UK tour, an acoustic record and a CMA Album of the Year nomination, there was plenty to get through, and if you follow his Instagram stories, you’ll understand why those needed a mention too.
For now, the question was how on earth it had taken this long to get him over here.
McCollum says a UK trip had come up in conversation over the years, but Cody Johnson’s invitation finally made it happen.
“When Cody asked us to come, I was like, yeah, I’ll go over there and play arenas with him. That sounds great.”
“I might be washing my hair, Cody. We’ll see if I’m free,” I suggest. “No, that was an easy yes from me.”
Straight into arenas on your first visit. A fairly lovely introduction to the UK, if you ask me.
McCollum and Johnson go back years, coming from the same area of Texas, and there’s real affection when he talks about the man who helped bring him over.
“He set such a precedent in Nashville before I ever even got there,” he says, explaining how grateful he is to know Johnson as a person, businessman and artist.
Although the actual tour invitation was slightly less casual than a “fancy coming to Glasgow?” text....
“His team calls my team, and then my team tells me that his team has called my team.”
Everyone’s people speaking to everyone’s people. Meanwhile, I’m just very pleased it resulted in him being here.
Once here, McCollum found himself enjoying something that becomes harder to come by as your career grows: playing to people who haven’t already decided they’re fans.
“You’re watching them kind of decide that they like what you’re doing in real time,” he explains. “It’s a long way to come to find out that they don’t like it.”
Fair point. Thankfully, there’s been plenty of love coming his way.
There was, however, a moment in Manchester when he thought that might be happening. I mention something I hear regularly from visiting artists: British crowds can listen so intently that the person on stage starts wondering whether we’re having a terrible time.
“That’s a real thing. Absolutely. It is a real thing.”
At the first show of the tour, he was still trying to work out the room. Then the crowd got to their feet.
“We got a standing ovation,” he says. “I was almost certain, you know, that they just weren’t digging it.”
Honestly, the journey from “do they like me?” to a standing ovation. A fairly reassuring answer. The reaction online offered further reassurance, while Glasgow had already received a character reference from Johnson.
“Cody even said, he’s like, ‘Now we’re heading to the rowdy towns.’” Glasgow, our reputation has made it all the way to Texas. I hope we’re proud of ourselves.
Away from the arenas, McCollum has finally made the acoustic project he’d been thinking about for years. Live From Sound City came together after he found a gap in the diary and decided it was time to stop discussing it.
“You can only talk about it for so long, eventually you just got to be about it.”
Once he found the time, he headed to Sound City in Los Angeles for four days with his guitar. The idea was to make something for the people he knew had been waiting for it.
The record was made with a particular audience in mind: the fans who’d wanted to hear him do this for a long time.
“I know there are some people who will listen to it. It’s for them.”
No big announcement needed. Just a record he wanted to make, for the fans who wanted to hear it.
He went in aiming for ten tracks and came away with more than planned, despite the emotional roller coaster of studio days when inspiration comes and goes and you start questioning the whole thing. Then comes the playback.
“This isn’t that bad. This is pretty good. This is better than I thought.”
By this point, I’m pointing out that he’s given fans a little more than the album they might have expected. Treat yourselves, everyone.
“And I think I have some fans who really have wanted that for a long time,” he says. “And I’ve always wanted to do it.”
Of course, his Instagram followers get a rather different creative outlet. If you follow his stories, you’ll understand why I felt compelled to crown him the unhinged Instagram story king.
“Thank you. You only live once. Spend as much time on Instagram as you possibly can.”
Finally, someone supporting my screen time rather than sending me a deeply judgemental weekly report about it.
“I do love me a good meme,” he adds. “Social media is just the dumbest thing in the world. And so, I try to have fun with it.”
Which feels like the perfect opportunity to find out whether he was a Vine man. One minute we’re discussing an acoustic record, the next I’m bringing up “I nearly dropped my croissant”. These things happen.
He remembers the clips, even if he wasn’t really making them himself, and says compilations still pop up and take him straight back.
“I haven’t thought about Vines in a long time though.” Well, you’re welcome. That’s the rest of your evening sorted.
“We’ll make a Vine before we leave,” he offerss, an unexpected outcome from this interview, but one I fully support.
Eventually, I do return to the small matter of his self-titled album being nominated for CMA Album of the Year. I ask why this was the record that finally got his name on the cover as its title.
“I really didn’t have an album title I was in love with and I was kind of running out of time.”
Honestly, I appreciate the answer. A deadline and your own name. Sometimes it all comes together.
He also hadn’t done it before, and looking back, feels this was the right album to carry his name. As for whether we’ll hear that name called on awards night, he’s keeping his expectations in check.
“I imagine we’re probably all going to go sit and watch Ella win every award, rightfully so.”
He’s clearly enjoying watching her have her moment, even with his own name in the running. His praise for Langley and his friend Miranda Lambert is warm, particularly when he talks about being part of country music while people around him are having such enormous moments.
“You’re watching people make history. You’re watching your friends make history. It’s pretty indescribable.”
With my own Nashville trip coming up, I also ask for some CMA week advice, specifically, where are the parties?
“That week you won’t have to go very far to find one.”
Useful information. Thank you, Parker. Added to the itinerary.
Before I let him go, there’s my usual question about who deserves a little more attention. Vincent Mason and Logan Ryan Band are among his recommendations, but he also has some straightforward advice for young artists trying to get heard.
“They’re in this social media age fighting the algorithm and I’m like, dude, just put out the best songs and you’ll be fine. I think country music is going to be just fine.”
With the enthusiasm he has for the artists coming through, it’s a lovely note to finish on.
Almost.
There’s just time for that final Glasgow briefing. I explain the chant, including the language, and reassure him that it means the crowd are enjoying themselves.
“I hope we get to hear it.”
Accents approved, Vine comeback discussed, Glasgow briefing complete. Welcome to Scotland, Parker. We’re very happy you’re here.