Parker McCollum Says He Wanted to Quit Country Music Right When His Career Was Taking Off

Parker McCollum Releases Reflections on Quitting Country Music at the Peak of His Rise

At the ACM Awards last spring, Parker McCollum secured the coveted Album of the Year trophy. He is poised to seek the same honor at next month’s CMA Awards in Nashville with the support of his self-titled 2025 LP.

Despite becoming one of country music’s biggest breakout stars over the past five years, McCollum states he cares little for accolades or public attention.

“I do not care for one minute about being famous, popular, or any kind of legacy,” the 34-year-old singer-songwriter explained in a recent interview from his Texas home as he prepared for his first tour in the U.K. and Ireland. “I don’t give a shit about any of that.”

For McCollum, the focus remains on the artistry that sustains a career: writing exceptional songs, recording outstanding albums, and delivering powerful live performances—the core of his profession.

Yet, just a few years prior, McCollum was ready to walk away. In a frank conversation with Rolling Stone, he admitted being “fed up with myself,” a sentiment that made quitting seem like the only viable path. He has since undergone a period of personal and artistic regeneration, a process initiated with the more stripped-down, singles-light Parker McCollum and ultimately realized with Live From Sound City, a stunning acoustic LP released this month.

He struggles to define his identity and purpose, yet maintains that his work is clear: “Whatever I do, this is it.”

Recorded over four days at the iconic Los Angeles studio that lends its name to the album—where 1,600 minutes of music were captured with no setlist—the project, titled Live From Sound City, showcases McCollum at his most intimate. The album revisits major hits like “Handle on You” and “To Be Loved by You,” introduces new compositions such as “‘Til the End” and “Better Alone,” and reimagines deep cuts with thoughtful covers.

He describes the process as a self-assessment. Cutting an acoustic album with only his voice and a guitar was a pure act of creation.

He uses a sports analogy to define his standards: “I can play baseball on steroids, but can you play naturally and become a Hall of Famer? When there is nothing to hide behind, how good are you?”

Serving as a spiritual sibling to the earlier Parker McCollum, Live From Sound City stands in stark contrast to his previous, highly polished albums, including the 2021 major-label debut Gold Chain Cowboy and its 2023 follow-up, Never Enough.

Looking back, McCollum is transparent about the record’s context and his emotional state during its creation.

“I didn’t know what I was doing when I signed my record deal and started Gold Chain Cowboy with session players and a Nashville producer [Jon Randall]. I simply thought, ‘Oh, this is just how records are made.’ I didn’t play instruments, and I didn’t understand the depth of songwriting control. I never realized I had such power over my own art.” He notes this disconnect during his cover shoot: it was “kinda smug” and a testament to his lack of grasp on the craft.

By the time he reached the sessions for Never Enough, McCollum was personally and creatively burnt out. Touring since age 19 and already a millionaire before his major-label contract, he began the recording process with a sense that he had nothing left to say. “[The label] said we needed a record,” he recalls. Though the album contained smash hits like “Burn It Down” and “Handle on You,” he admitted he still did not know what he was doing.

Eventually, he recorded the album on a whim after scrapping LA sessions and switching producers to a marathon multi-day session with Frank Liddell and Eric Masse. “Bottom of the ninth, we were across the country making this record on a major label budget.”

For the first time in his career, he left the studio knowing he had poured his entire self into it. “If that feels like the quality of my favorite records, then I am good. This is the first album that finally resonates with me.” He adds, “That was the first record I’ve ever made that feels the way my favorites do.”

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He is now a married father of two, looking forward to a renewed purpose with his career on house money.

“My whole motto since I was 19 was, ‘I don’t want to make it for any other reason other than I had good songs.’” He says this narrow focus likely hindered the artistic levels he could achieve. “But I am so much further than I ever should have gotten. I’m the luckiest, most grateful son of a bitch alive.”

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