Parker McCollum Sings About Growing Pains In ‘Young Man’s Blues’
It was looking at the career of George Strait that McCollum was inspired to write this song.
Parker McCollum released his new song, “Young Man’s Blues,” on Friday, August 14th. The tune finds the 28-year-old singer grappling with growing up, while also wanting to stay connected to his youth. He illustrates this by singing about scenes from his youth that are slowly fading into the past as he moves on in life. McCollum began writing the song on his own while “maybe a little under the influence” one night, and then enlisted the help of Randy Montana to finish it.
“‘Young Man’s Blues’ just kind of fell out one night when thinking about, ‘Will I ever really be able to grow up and fully commit to stop being a kid and go one with life?’ Which is harder said than done, especially when you do what I do,” McCollum shared with a group of reporters in July. “You live on the road and on a tour bus. It’s like summer camp on wheels with a bar, so it’s hard to be grown up all the time.”
McCollum says he was inspired to write the song when thinking about the career of George Strait and others and reflecting on the kind of legacy he wants to leave behind.
“The last six months I’ve written two songs that have been kind of inspired by this thought that’s been on my mind for a while,” he says. “I look at George Strait’s career and other idols of mine careers, and I’m like, ‘How am I going to wish I had done all this when I’m an old man?’”
The singer also released an accompanying music video, in which he can be seen pulling up to his hometown on his tour bus and visiting some of those nostalgic places. The video is full of picturesque scenes of McCollum riding a horse and his dirt bike around the countryside. At the end of the video, he gets back on his tour bus and it drives past a sign that says, “Hometown of Parker McCollum,” which is indicative of how much has changed in his life.
McCollum releases “Young Man’s Blues” as his debut single, “Pretty Heart,” starts closing in on the Top 15 on the charts. The artist is also working on a new EP and his major label debut album.
“I think the record’s done for the most part,” he says. “We’ll put out an EP in the Fall, I think October, and then full album will drop quarter one of next year.”
