“The Kid is 100% Back”: Parker McCollum's Wife, Hallie Ray Light, Teases a Return to His Classic Sound on New Album

Parker McCollum's wife, Hallie Ray Light, has offered fans a hint as to what they can expect from the Texas hitmaker's forthcoming studio album in a new Instagram comment.

Under Parker McCollum's new IG carousel of photos from recent shows in Oklahoma and Arkansas, a fan hailed McCollum's imminent return to the sparse, raw sound of his earliest musical era, The Limestone Kid, commenting, “the limestone kid is back!”

Excitingly, Hallie Ray Light McCollum has responded, confirming that Parker McCollum's new album serves as a departure from the more polished style of his recent projects. Hallie Ray has shared, “wait till you hear the new album. The kid is 100% back”.

Although it was 2017's Probably Wrong that truly placed Parker McCollum onto Nashville's radar, his 2015 debut, The Limestone Kid, earned him a cult following in Texas.

It was pervaded by rugged, gritty storytelling and distinctly alt-country textures, and while listeners undoubtedly love the heavier production on his Country Radios hits such as ‘Pretty Heart’ and ‘Handle On You’, McCollum's Day One fans have been longing to see him return to the enchanting DIY-feel of The Limestone Kid.

In his 2023 interview with Holler, Parker McCollum hinted that he was striving to step back into the shoes of The Limestone Kid on his next album, which is expected to drop in 2025.

Parker McCollum explained how he's trying to find a balance between his stripped-back early sound and the gloss of his later material, “The records I put out when I was independent were rawer and not as pretty-sounding, and I like that. But at the same time, I wanted the big clean record. That's what my heroes have, what George Strait and John Mayer have. Even so, some days, I want to give a song more of that acoustic, stripped-back feel. Other days, I want every instrument and every bit of production I can get on it. So I try to walk that line”.

He expanded, “I've gone as far into the clean and polished production as I want to. Now it's time to find my way back to how I first started making records. That's really what I'm looking to do on this next album. I'm cutting a new path back to the old me”.

Then, in the months that followed, Parker McCollum changed producers and restarted the project, before assuring his followers that his next body of work would be closer to his original style, announcing in a July Instagram post, “Welcome back kid”.

The ‘I Ain't Going Nowhere’ hitmaker has a wealth of unreleased fan-favourites, such as ‘Big Ol’ Fancy House’ and ‘Got Damn’, and we're holding out hope that these make the cut for his next project, with September's ‘What Kinda Man’ seemingly serving as the lead single. We don't yet have a release date, but judging by Hallie Ray Light's comment, it seems McCollum's next project may already be completed.

This teaser follows Oliver Anthony's eyebrow-raising comments in a TikTok video, during which he appeared suggest that Parker McCollum uses Auto-Tune when performing. McCollum immediately denied the claims, with a host of fellow artists jumping to his defence, dismissing Anthony's controversial allegations as untrue.

We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for any sign of Parker McCollum's ‘What Kinda Man’ follow-up single, as his fans rub their hands with glee at the prospect of a new collection of The Limestone Kid-inspired songs from the ‘Burn It Down’ crooner.

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