Coming off of his win as ACM New Male Artist of the Year, Parker McCollum is preparing to hit one of the biggest stages of his career — the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He’s set to headline the Houston Rodeo on Saturday (March 12th), and he’s been looking forward to this achievement since he was a little kid.

“It’s something I was thinking about and really was the main thing I was working towards since I was a kid,” says Parker. “The biggest thing I ever thought I’d ever be able to do was headline the Houston Rodeo. I thought about it every single day since I was a little kid. I played a lot of really hole-in-the-wall bars, really, sold no tickets at shows, rode around for years in a van, all the while thinking and pushing myself to keep going, hoping that I get to play the Houston Rodeo one day. That’s the pinnacle for me. So, the fact that we’re going to get to do it on March 12th is, I don’t know, it’s just crazy to even be able to say that I’m gonna do it.”

Parker is currently closing in on the top spot of the country charts with his latest single, “To Be Loved By You.”