Parker McCollum Nearly Quit Before ACM Album Win — SkimNews
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- Parker McCollum won Album of the Year at the ACM Awards this spring and will compete for the same honor at next month's CMA Awards in Nashville for his self-titled 2025 LP, while saying he does not care about fame or popularity.
- Parker McCollum was ready to call it quits a few years ago, saying he was "fed up enough with myself" and describing himself as burnt out on the road with no songs written.
- Gold Chain Cowboy was made with session players and producer Jon Randall while McCollum sang and played no instruments; he said he did not know he could have rejected the approach.
- Never Enough was assembled when the label needed a record and McCollum had no songs, though "Burn It Down" and "Handle on You" became huge hits.
- Parker McCollum scrapped Los Angeles sessions, switched producers and recorded his self-titled LP in a multi-day New York City marathon with Frank Liddell and Eric Masse on a major-label budget.
- Live From Sound City was recorded over four days at Sound City, 10 hours a day without a setlist; McCollum says he cut 1,600 minutes of music for an album of spare hit versions, new songs, deep cuts and covers.
Why it matters: McCollum’s reclaiming of studio control changes the artistic stakes: his self-titled LP enters next month’s CMA Album of the Year race after sessions he says gave him everything, while the four-day, 1,600-minute Live From Sound City strips away production and foregrounds his voice, guitar and songwriting. Fans now get two releases built around opposite levels of polish.
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