This past Friday, the morning his self-titled deluxe album arrived to the public, Parker McCollum landed in Houston in advance of his headlining set at the momentous RodeoHouston. Though just the latest in a stacked 2026 touring slate, this date would unquestionably be his most prolific, as McCollum and his crew played for a sold-out audience of over 70,0000.
In the green room, Parker sat down with our team to reflect on the culmination of his latest LP, dish on his favorite new artists in the game, and speed-run a March Madness-style bracket of his own music (here). Check out our full conversation below!
Q: So walk me through how the deluxe came together. Was there always a plan for it?
Parker McCollum: No, the deluxe edition kind of came together through loose conversation. Somebody had thrown the idea out there on the team, and I was pretty against it at first. I was the most proud I’d ever been of a collection of songs in my career, certainly the record I’m most proud of, and it felt like the most complete. I didn’t want to just throw some songs on it for the sake of putting out a deluxe edition.
So I kind of said, look, if I can write songs that are as good as, or better than, the songs that are already on the record, I would consider doing a deluxe. Then a couple months later, I had “Montgomery County,” and we already had “Big Ole Fancy House.” We’d cut that a couple of times and just couldn’t really find its footing. Then we went in to cut the deluxe, decided to give “Big Ol’ Fancy House” another try, and it kind of found itself right then and there.
So it wasn’t like we knew we were going to go deluxe, it was more like once I had songs that I thought could hold their weight with the rest of the record, I was a little more open to doing it.
Q: What did the new songs add to the album that you thought was missing?
Parker McCollum: “Big Ole Fancy House,” certainly. I’d cut it for the record originally and we just couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be, what it was supposed to sound like, what it was supposed to feel like, what did the song justice. I love that song so much, I really wanted to get it right.
That all happened post-record, the record was already out before we ever decided on the deluxe. “Wind My Friend” was another one. I’d always wanted to cut it, going back to around 2019, and I had completely forgotten about it. Then I found it digging through some old stuff, looking for something that might be cool to put on the deluxe.
“The One Before The One” is the only one I didn’t write, Randy Rogers and Jed Hughes wrote that. Randy sent it to me one night real late and it knocked my freaking socks off. I called him right then and said, “Please let me have that song.” I thought it fit great on the deluxe.
I just wanted the deluxe songs to complement the record and hold their weight with the rest of it, and I feel like all four of them do.
Q: Do you have a favorite from the deluxe tracks, or one that changed your perspective?
Parker McCollum: “Montgomery County” is probably my favorite song on the deluxe. I wrote that song in like six or seven minutes, real late on a plane one night coming home from a show.
I’ve always tried to put that feeling and that idea into a song, I’ve tried thousands of times, and it never really felt like I captured it without being too cliché or too on-the-nose. It’s hard to do that without just mapping it out. That one just felt like the right way to express that sentiment. I felt like I got that one right.
Q: Going back to the original project before the deluxe, there’s one cover on it, “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues.” Why that song, and why did you want it on this record?
Parker McCollum: I had wanted to cut that song forever. It’s one of the songs I call our “van days”, before we had tour buses or record deals or anything. It was a song we listened to all the time late at night, driving home across the state of Texas.
It’s one of my favorite country songs ever. I think it was originally a pop song on pop radio back in the day when Danny O’Keefe wrote and released it. But it’s one of my favorite songs of all time.
I’d always thought about Cody Johnson when I heard that song. I was like, man, Cody would kill this, I want to hear him sing it. So I thought maybe if I cut it on my record, he’d sing it with me and I could finally hear him do it. That was kind of the idea.
Q: How did that conversation with Cody Johnson go?
Parker McCollum: I was with my wife, Hallie Ray, we were driving somewhere and had stopped at a gas station. We were listening to the song, and I told her I kind of wanted to cut it and wondered if Cody would sing the second half. She said, “You should just text him.”
I don’t ever ask anybody for anything, I don’t even ask my dad for a snack at his house. So it was really out of character for me. But I was like, man, whatever, I’m just going to do it.
I texted him and basically said, “I’m going to cut this for my record, and it would mean a lot if you’d sing on it, but if not, no worries.” He instantly replied, “Let’s do it.” I think his exact words were something like, “Two Texas boys killing it, let’s rip it.”
We made the record in New York and had him sing the last half of it, and I was right, he knocked it out of the park.
Q: What about recording in New York influenced the album’s sound and feel?
Parker McCollum: Everybody was really focused when we were in New York. It’s not like cutting in Nashville, where the label can stop by, management can stop by, and everybody’s kind of got their nose in it. That was really intentional, I wanted us to go there and be fully invested and fully committed.
Nobody’s leaving at five to go run errands, we’re getting there early, staying late, and grinding it out. New York in the late fall, being in the city, making a big record on a big budget with a big producer, it all added to the vibe.
It’s the most committed and invested I’ve ever been in a record, the most focused I’ve ever been. I don’t think we could have made that record anywhere else.
Q: Do you see the self-titled album as a return to your earlier sound, or more of a natural evolution?
Parker McCollum: I think the production is more similar to my earlier records, just getting in there and figuring it out, not as mapped out. We didn’t really go in with much of a plan, which was kind of the plan.
That’s how I cut my first two records, we’d just get in the studio and play until we figured it out. That’s how we made this one. I think it gives it a more raw sound. It’s not as slick, there’s not as much to hide.
We’d get in there, I’d start playing the song, the band would fall in, and once we felt like we had a take that was good enough, we’d move on. I don’t think I’ll ever cut a record any differently from now on.
Q: Where do you feel like you are creatively compared to when you started this project?
Parker McCollum: When I went into that record, I was trying to make myself uncomfortable again and find the buzz, fall back in love with it. I was kind of questioning whether I still loved writing, recording, touring, all of it.
I told myself I was going to make this record and answer that question. And the answer was yes. After I made it, I realized I do still love this. I’m still passionate about it.
It reassured my belief in myself and my confidence as a songwriter and as a singer.
Q: Who out of Texas is really catching your attention right now?
Parker McCollum: Cameron Allbright and Tyler Halverson, check them out.
Q: This is a continuation from when we met in St. Pete, you mentioned Joshua Slone and Solon Holt. What stands out to you about them?
Parker McCollum: Man, I love their voices. I love their songwriting. My old tour manager is actually the one who turned me on to Slone.
I say this all the time, when somebody opens their mouth to sing, you instantly either buy it and believe it, or you don’t. With both of those dudes, the first time I heard them, one Mississippi into them singing, I was like, yeah, they’re singing from the right place.
I knew instantly they had something special to offer songwriting in country music.
