"It's The First Record I've Ever Been Super In Love With:" Parker McCollum Dishes on Upcoming Self-Titled Album During CMA Fest 2025

During the long week of CMA Fest activities, Parker McCollum took a moment to dish on the finer details of his forthcoming studio album, Parker McCollum, for Amazon’s Country Heat Weekly podcast.

The 'What Kinda Man' hitmaker sat down with hosts Amber Anderson and Kelly Sutton at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee, where they all broke down the Jun. 27 release and self-titled album that McCollum has already dubbed one of his biggest triumphs yet.

"It's the first record I've ever made that I've really just been super in love with," the artist told the hosts when asked why he chose to name his fifth album after himself. "I've never liked anything I've ever done. I've never thought anything I've done was very good – It's probably the kiss of death. It'll probably do nothing for my career now that I finally like something – but it just seemed like the right time, and it just seemed like the perfect record to just put my name on."

He went onto say that, while he didn't know it at first, the album is full of music he's wanted to release for a long time. He explained, "We cut this whole album in seven days in New York City, and I spent the first six days just freaking out because I was like, 'This is career suicide. Why did I do this? I should not have done this.'"

The last day in studio, though, something changed. "The last day we were in New York," he continued, "we just sat in the studio and listened to everything we had cut and I just fell in love with it. I was like, 'Man, I don't need anybody else to like this, because I love it so much.'"

Parker McCollum is comprised of 14 tracks, some of which he's been carrying with him for decades and some he's collected along the way. He explained how the album truly is a piece of himself, sharing, "There's a song on this record that I wrote when I was 15 in a Jack in the Box parking lot because I was too stoned to go home, and there's a song that I wrote on the floor of the studio the second day we were in there recording. My oldest song and my newest song are back to back on the record."

The artist also shared how the album was backed by some incredible pillars from across the country community. Producer Frank Liddell helmed the project, with his wife, the iconic Lee Ann Womack, lending her powerhouse vocals to the opening track. Womack's daughter, Aubrey Sellers, also assists with background vocals throughout the album.

Together, the whole team put in work, pulling the collection together in seven days in a New York City studio. "I did not waste any time," he said. "It was intense. It was emotional. It was a grind of a week."

It was, however, worth it. "I couldn't be more proud and more happy of it, and it's the record I always wondered if I was good enough to make," he described. "This record is the most me I've ever been able to be on a record."

The entire interview with McCollum can be heard on July 7 when the Country Heat Weekly podcast episode officially airs on Amazon.

For more on Parker McCollum, see below: