Parker McCollum at the 'Windy City Smokeout'
Parker McCollum joins Scotty Kay at the 'Windy City Smokeout' in Chicago.
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MusicTranscript
00:00Bargain, welcome man, Whitty City Smokehouse,
00:03this is so fun.
00:03Yeah, I'm stoked, man.
00:04You're very comfortable with barbecue,
00:06being from Texas, right?
00:08So have you been able to come out here
00:09and try any of the stuff?
00:10I had a little barbecue earlier.
00:11Some of the boys are from Texas,
00:13so they brought some on the bus
00:14and took pretty good care of us.
00:15Of course they did.
00:17I love your journey that you've been on
00:19since really your debut album
00:21and the Gold Chain Cowboy came out.
00:24Because what I like to do,
00:25I like to look at moments that artists have.
00:28And when you have these moments,
00:28you can show your character,
00:29it can show your initiative,
00:32it could also show how resilient you are and things.
00:34And one of my favorite moments from the back,
00:36and it was from Rest of My Life,
00:38when you talked about that track,
00:40how you wrote it,
00:41and correct me if I'm getting it wrong,
00:42but how you wrote it in seven minutes.
00:44And that's the first one you kind of did sober.
00:47And that showed you that you could write
00:49the kind of music you wanted to, sober.
00:53And that feels like a really special moment
00:54in your life and career.
00:56Yeah, man, COVID was crazy for me.
00:57I had my first number one,
00:59climb the charts and go number one in platinum
01:01and we didn't play a show the entire time.
01:03So, I mean, I know it was a wild time for everybody,
01:06but it was an interesting time for me.
01:07And I was kind of putting myself through the ringer,
01:11trying to write songs and it just wasn't working.
01:13And then so I woke up one morning and dead sober
01:16and wrote Rest of My Life in just a few minutes.
01:18And I knew that whether that song
01:21was gonna be successful or not,
01:22or ever be heard by anybody,
01:23I was really proud of it.
01:24And that's like the prime example
01:28of the kind of songs I've always tried to write.
01:29So that one's been very special to me.
01:31And you're having a baby?
01:33Having a kid, like 25 days from now.
01:35Dude, congratulations.
01:36Thank you, thank you.
01:37That's cool, man.
01:38What is for you?
01:39I know obviously you've seen it a lot,
01:41whether it's Luke Combs or even when Thomas Wright
01:44had his first one a hundred years ago or whatever,
01:46but you start to change that mindset
01:48of sometimes you're writing and what your priorities
01:51and things like that.
01:52No dad songs for me.
01:53No dad songs, really?
01:54No dad songs.
01:54How come?
01:56If one falls out one day that's put together the right way,
01:59and I don't wanna write cliched dad songs.
02:02If it's something that really stands out
02:06and is well written and really honest and special,
02:11then I would cut it.
02:12But I don't think I'll sit down
02:14and try to write dad songs anytime soon.
02:15No, but you're not opposed to,
02:17if it comes out of you, right?
02:19Yeah, if it's right.
02:20If it's dope and it's a special song,
02:22then those are the kind of songs that I always wanna write
02:24and I hope to keep writing.
02:25So, and if one comes out and it's a dad song, so be it.
02:30For anybody just only listening to this,
02:32you have to see what's happening
02:33because the way you're holding the hot dog,
02:35it's very parental.
02:37You got a father.
02:38Yeah, father, you're holding very gentle
02:39with your hot dog there.
02:40Do you feel ready?
02:41Do you feel ready for the baby?
02:44You know, I don't know.
02:45I've never really held a wiener this big.
02:49So I don't know if the kids about,
02:52this is probably the size of a baby, right?
02:54Yeah, I mean, they do go through different stages.
02:57Can you hold it like this?
03:00Yes, you can hold it like this.
03:02I think the number one rule is don't drop the baby.
03:05He can hold, this one can hold his head up on his own though.
03:09Wait, we won't go anymore.
03:10Let's not go.
03:11There's a lot of jokes.
03:12There's a lot of places you could go right there.
03:14You've had a fun journey of playing shows too.
03:17I mean, from the smallest to the biggest
03:20and the opening with George Strait
03:22and the rodeos and all that stuff.
03:23And now you're here at Windy City Smokeout.
03:25Where do you feel like you're,
03:27especially when you think about your tours
03:30and the shows you want to put together,
03:32where are you as far as the kind of show
03:34you want to put on every day?
03:36Man, I just want to be extremely genuine.
03:38I mean, you want to be energetic
03:39and make sure that when these people go home,
03:41they feel like the money they spend
03:43or the money they saved up to come see you
03:45was worth every penny.
03:46That's what I think about every night.
03:49And you play enough shows every year,
03:51you're gonna have some nights where you don't,
03:52you know, you're like,
03:53man, I don't feel like I was my best tonight.
03:55And that's probably gonna happen
03:57regardless of what you do in life.
03:58But I just always try to be conscious
04:00of the fact that these people,
04:02they may have saved up their money
04:03for the last two or three months
04:04or year or week or whatever,
04:06and just to come see you play and buy a T-shirt.
04:08So I always try to be really conscious of that
04:10and go out and give everything I've got to give that night.
04:13So, you know, I hope they dig it
04:15and I hope Ed Warren wants to have us back.
04:18That's a big fan of you, man.
04:21He's family to me, man.
04:22And he's believed in me for a long time.
04:23He's told me for like five years
04:24that I was gonna headline Windy City Smokeout one day.
04:26I played here in 2019 at like two o'clock in the afternoon.
04:29So the next time coming back,
04:32being a headliner on Friday night's pretty special.
04:34Dude, that's what I'm talking,
04:35so that's the journey that I'm talking about, right?
04:36So you, I mean, what's the smallest bar
04:39you remember playing that might have had an impact on you?
04:42Man, we've played Joe's on Wheat Street.
04:44No, no, the smallest.
04:45There's gotta be a little Texas, like,
04:47Joe's legendary, right?
04:49The smallest bar?
04:54Golly, I don't know.
04:54We've played some little bitty ones that were very empty.
04:58You know, the Saxon Pub in South Austin, Texas
05:00is pretty small.
05:01It's only probably a couple hundred people,
05:02maybe not even that.
05:03Yeah.
05:04And we used to play,
05:05I used to play there Sunday nights at midnight, so.
05:06And what's it called?
05:07It's called the Saxon Pub.
05:08Okay, so I just want you to hold onto that journey
05:11from the Saxon Pub to the headlining
05:13of the Windy City Smokeout of where you are today.
05:15I think about it every day.
05:16Which is pretty freaking cool.
05:17And you're ready,
05:18you, did I read right, too,
05:20that you have new music coming, right?
05:22I think so, I'm working on it.
05:23You have a new album?
05:24I'm working on it, slowly.
05:25Okay, because last time I heard,
05:26you wrote, like, 20 songs already for it, right?
05:28I've got a lot of songs for it.
05:29I don't know if any of them are great,
05:31but I go in the studio again in two weeks
05:33and I'm completely starting over,
05:35cutting this new record,
05:36just starting from square one, so.
05:37It's, I like that because most of the time
05:39when you talk to people about their new records,
05:41they're like, yeah, I'm excited about this,
05:42I'm excited about this,
05:42but that's a real honest,
05:44you're like, I want to make sure this is right,
05:46and it feels like you're not super excited
05:48about anything that you're putting into it.
05:50I am, I just try to act like I'm not
05:52because I get over it very quickly.
05:54I get, like, super high on something
05:56and then I'm like, nah, it's not that good, so.
05:57Is there one song you have right now
05:58you know this is going?
06:00Yes.
06:01Can you tell me the name of it?
06:02Absolutely not.
06:03Is it the Honky-Tonk-ish?
06:07No.
06:07Nah, I didn't think it would be.
06:08Is it, I don't know.
06:10Okay, so there's one song at least.
06:12We're gonna play, there's two of them
06:13I'm really, really big on,
06:14and then I really think are special
06:16and we're playing one of them tonight, so.
06:20I gotta wait for you to go on stage
06:21and tell me what it is.
06:22It's called Big Ol' Fancy House.
06:23Cool, love that.
06:24Big ol', I'm excited to see it, man.
06:25I'm excited for you out there
06:27and they are ready and they're packed out there, so.
06:30Thank you.
06:30Congratulations on that journey
06:32because you're headlining
06:33Windy City Smokeout tonight.
06:34Thank you, man.
06:34Glad to be here.
06:35Park McCollum.