Fresh from his Album of the Year win at the ACM Awards this year, Parker McCollum is back with Katie Neal, talking about the big win, his child on the way, and the story behind his latest hit, “Killin’ Me.”
LISTEN NOW: Superstar Power Hour with Parker McCollum
“I really, really, really didn't expect it,” Parker says of his win at the ACMs, with his self-titled LP taking home the prize for Album of the Year. “They say your name and it's on live TV and you're like, ‘oh damn, what do I do now?’”
“So many people are a part of my journey, I would need so much time to really thank everybody that I truly and sincerely want to give credit to for putting me in a position to do something like that, but it's, I don't know, it's such a blur when they call your name.”
After the big win, McCollum says he took his luck to the tables in Las Vegas with Tucker Wetmore. “Me and Tucker went to the blackjack table,” he shares. “We were balling. Laney Wilson was back there, and Zach Top was too. They weren't at our table. They ended up coming over once we were in it, and we were like, ‘Hey, this is going really well. Y'all can't sit down.’”
“Every time Laney would walk over and check on us, we would win. So like we had this Laney effect and like every time she would come over, and eventually she just came and hung out and I mean, I think I walked away with like 13,000. I sat down with 1000. Just asked Tucker, like it was the most unorthodox way of making money in that game, not playing by the rules, just winging it. The place is going crazy, but we had a good time.”
The winning streak continues for McCollum, who is once again climbing the charts with his song, “Killin’ Me.”
“A lot of people describe that song as like a sexy love song, but I had never really written anything from that perspective or in that vein, so it was kind of new territory for me in the songwriting aspect,” Parker reveals. “It was a little dark and it was emotional, and it was all hot and bothered is what the melody kind of made me think of, so it's just 3 grown men in the room writing this song.”
“I was like, let's all just close our eyes and picture our wives and let's stop looking at each other,” he laughs. “That's just how I've always written songs, just messing around on guitar, just kind of, you know, just making stuff up.”
For more on the upcoming addition to his family, and the stories behind some of his songs, listen to the full conversation with Parker McCollum above.
The “What Kinda Man” singer sits in with Katie Neal
The “What Kinda Man” singer sits in with Katie Neal
