Parker McCollum is showing his vulnerable side with his new song, "Hope That I'm Enough," out now. The song, written by McCollum along with Matt Jenkins and Jessi Alexander, is from McCollum's forthcoming self-titled fifth studio album, out on June 27.
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"I can be so reckless / So damn hard to hold ... You'll always be plenty / I just hope that I'm enough," McCollum sings.
The song is part of a new chapter for McCollum, after he and his wife Hallie Ray welcomed their first child, their son Major, into the world last August. Being a parent changed almost everything for McCollum, including how he spends his downtime.
"I'm really bad at relaxing, I'm not very good at turning it off," McCollum tells CMT. "So he has made that a little bit easier... I'm turning it off, relaxing, I can kind of focus my attention on him and being a dad and hanging with Major, so that helps quite a bit."
Parker McCollum's Next Album
McCollum released two albums on his own before signing with MCA Nashville. With the release of Parker McCollum, the Texan says it is without doubt his best project, at least so far.
"It is the best thing I've ever done," McCollum says while performing at RODEHOUSTON, adding that it's also a very honest record.
"This record is raw," he remarks. "This record is one thousand percent authentic Parker, and it feels really good to get back to writing and recording songs like I always wanted to."
Fortunately, McCollum will likely be around for a long, long time. The 32-year-old concerned fans when he questioned if he really was a country artist. But now, McCollum is clearing the air, and explaining what he meant at the time.
"I always was like trying to be what I thought I should be to be a country singer," McCollum tells Kiss Country 99.9. "And there's been a couple of times in my career, like when I wrote The Limestone Kid, my very first record, I didn't know anything ... I feel like the longer I did it, the longer I was just trying to do something, instead of just doing whatever it is that I do.
"Which, I still don't know really what that is," he adds with a laugh. "When I think about country music and especially what country music is nowadays, I don't really sound like either of those, and so that's really what I meant by that."
McCollum has a Top 30 hit with "What Kinda Man," the debut single from his next record.
