(L-R) Jackie Jones (RIAA), Cindy Mabe (UMGN), Enzo DeVincenzo (Red Light Management), Parker McCollum, Hallie Ray Light McCollum, Stephanie Wright (UMGN), Brian Wright (UMGN), Katie Dean (UMGN), Annie Ortmeier (UMGN)
(Photo Credit: Chris Kleinmeier)
Parker McCollum was surprised with two RIAA plaques Saturday night ahead of his sold-out show at Ascend Amphitheater. The plaques were presented to him by RIAA’s Jackie Jones, his label team at UMG Nashville, and Red Light Management. The two plaques celebrate McCollum’s No.1 hits “Pretty Heart,” which has been certified 2x multi-Platinum, and “To Be Loved By You,” which has been certified Gold. These RIAA plaques for McCollum are for two songs off his major label debut Gold Chain Cowboy which was released last summer.
“What can I even say? I have a double Platinum hit and a Gold hit to start my career at the best record label in music,” said McCollum. “Universal Music Group Nashville/ MCA Nashville has been incredibly patient with me and allowed me to craft these songs the same way I always have. I am forever grateful for this opportunity to swing it in the big leagues of country music. We are just getting started.”
McCollum will make his debut appearance at this year’s CMA Fest in Nashville. He will be taking to the Nissan stage on Sunday, June 12 at 7:00pm. He will also make his first appearance on the iconic music-television series “ACL Live” on July 26th.
Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Parker McCollum released his major label debut album, Gold Chain Cowboy, with MCA. The album follows his Hollywood Gold EP which was met with widespread critical acclaim and became the top-selling debut Country EP of 2020. McCollum earned his first-ever No. 1 hit with his Platinum-selling premiere single, “Pretty Heart,” and his follow-up single, “To Be Loved By You,” also hit No. 1 on the charts. “To Be Loved By You” was also the highest first week debut album of 2021. In November of 2021, McCollum made his first late-night TV appearance performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
McCollum has been named an ‘Artist to Watch’ by Rolling Stone, Billboard, SiriusXM, CMT, RIAA, and more with American Songwriter noting, “The Texas native teeters on the edge of next-level superstardom.” MusicRow listed McCollum as their 2021 Breakout Artist of the Year and Apple also included him as one of their all-genre “Up Next Artists” Class of 2021. A dedicated road warrior, McCollum made his debut at the famed Grand Ole Opry in 2021 and he already sells out venues across the country (over 40 sold out shows nationwide in 2021) including record-breaking crowds in Dallas (20,000), The Woodlands (16,500), Austin (7500+), Lubbock (7700+), Jackson, MS (5000+), Kearney, NE (3000+), Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, and three nights at Fort Worth’s iconic Billy Bob’s Texas. In March of this year McCollum made his debut at RODEOHOUSTON to a sold-out crowd with over 73,000 tickets sold. McCollum earned his first ACM award for New Male Artist of the Year in March 2022 in Las Vegas. McCollum also won his first CMT “Breakthrough Video of the Year” award, a fully fan-voted honor, in April 2022.
Audio / Parker McCollum talks about writing his No. 1 song, “Pretty Heart.”
DownloadParker McCollum (Pretty Heart) OC: …chase this dream. :43
“‘Pretty Heart’ was a song, er hook, that I had had and a melody I’d had for a long time that I had forgotten about. I was scrolling back through my Instagram one night, looking for something one night and I had found a video of me singing it that I had posted forever ago. I was like, ‘Man, how did I forget about that?’ I think that was the day before I was flying up here (Nashville) to write with my buddy Randy Montana. I was like, ‘Maybe he’d like that idea.’ I took it to him, and he just fell in love with it and that was like two or three hours that we just cranked it out. We were like, ‘Man! That was it.’ All those songs come from very real-life experiences – good and bad choices and decisions that I’ve made on my own. But they’re all just about past relationships and giving those up to chase this dream.”
Audio / Parker McCollum talks about writing and recording his second No. 1, "To Be Loved By You."
DownloadParker McCollum (To Be Loved By You) OC: …stoked about it. :28
“Recording ‘To Be Loved By You” was really a unique kind of experience. It was a song I think that when I wrote it with my buddy Rhett Akins, we kind of, we didn’t put a lot of energy into it. It was more of a kind of slow, balled-y song, and we got in the studio, I was with Jon Randall, and I said, ‘Man, what if we just push the limits on this one and kinda just see how far we can push the envelope here?’ It’s crazy to see how well it turned out, and it’s such a rockin’ tune and we’re stoked about it.”
