Many listeners probably did a double take when Parker McCollum's new single premiered on radio stations and streaming playlists on September 13th.
McCollum's voice was fine, but the Dylan-esque harmonica, the gritty arrangement of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Hawaiian steel slide guitar challenge all the rules of modern commercial country. Even for McCollum, who openly strives to live on the fringes of mainstream country, “What Kinda Man” is boldly different.
“I'm a little nervous about this song,” he confesses. “I think it's going to stick out on country radio like a sore thumb.”
Standing out from the crowd is, of course, an advantage for recording artists, even if it can be uncomfortable at times. Willie Nelson, Chris Stapleton, Waylon Jennings and Dolly Parton earned their place in the strata of the genre by having a unique sonic personality. McCollum, clearly aware that there are no guarantees about the longevity of a recording career, seems intent on enhancing his public identity while he has the chance.
“I'm only two records into my first record and I just didn't want to put out a record that sounded like the last two,” he says. “I always wanted to be John Mayer and George Strait, you know, and their records are sonically perfect. And I kind of figured it out in the last year [that] maybe it's just not me.”
“What Kinda Man” is undeniably McCollum. He started writing it alone at home several years ago after turkey hunting in Kansas, “strumming my guitar trying to find a melody” and freestyle phrases. He landed on an apologetic line for pulling an all-nighter — “which,” he says, “I used to do all the time” — and played it forward from there, each melody line and lyric phrase arriving in sequence. The verse segues seamlessly into the chorus and leads into the payoff line: “Forget the man I am/ What kinda man you need?”
He knew the hook was worth chasing, so he saved it for another day. That day arrived on April 26, 2022, when songwriters Natalie Hemby (“Heartache Medication,” “Pontoon”) and Jeremy Spillman (“Hell on the Heart,” “Arlington”) arrived at his home to work on songs. He played the verse and chorus of “What Kinda Man,” and it was already so far along, his co-writers felt strongly that they should try to finish it.
“Parker just gifted it to us as our Christmas presents,” says Hemby. “So very grateful to him. Maybe we changed a few lines, but that was about the first verse and the chorus. He came in with a mapped out idea.”
Like McCollum, they recognized the hook — “Forget the man that I am/ What kind of man you need?” — he was strong. “I just don't know what girl in the entire universe doesn't want to hear that,” says Hemby, “because we like to change people.”
McCollum had a specific requirement for the second verse. He wanted to include a specific phrase, “I vowed never to set foot in Union Valley Church again,” which he had written in reference to a spot in Oklahoma he had fallen on his way home from hunting. of turkey.
“We had actually pulled in right there to smoke a joint, which is a bit sacrilegious,” he allows. “But I took the picture on my phone.”
The church became a symbol for the singer's determination to change his life. he was willing to return to a place he despised and try to find salvation in an attempt to win a woman. “I think that's a theme that applies to a lot of kids,” Spillman says. “You can listen to this song and identify with this character. We're kind of hellish until we find the one who gives us a reason not to be that way.”
They recorded a tape of guitar/vocal work with a slight swing feel, while Hemby created a template for a harmony part. McCollum considered recording it for his 2023 album, Never Enoughbut I never did. After cutting about seven tracks for his next album, he switched producers, trying to change his sound. He invited Frank Liddell (Miranda Lambert, David Nail) and Eric Masse (Charlie Worsham, Waylon Payne) and recorded a few songs at Nashville's Blackbird Studio in the middle of the summer with a select, five-piece studio band: drummer Nir Z, bassist Eli Beard and three guitarists — Adam Wright, Harrison Whitford and Nick Bockrath of Cage the Elephant.
The night before the session, McCollum decided that the phrasing in the back half of verse 2 could be tighter and rewrote that section of “What Kind of Man”.
At the session, Liddell had the band cut an instrumental first to develop some cohesion as a unit. Sitting in the control room before tackling 'What Kinda Man', McCollum decided they should record it as a remix, but other than that, they let the band play the song over and over, finding its groove along the way. They played without a click, giving the performance a more relaxed feel, and the ultimate single was built on a specific pass. McCollum sang at the top of his lungs in every take.
“He brought it almost like an athlete,” says Liddell. “It's very important because, especially when you do something like this live, [the voice is] the most important instrument in the room, and if he can't hear it, or if the person can't sing, or just mails it, then it affects everything else.”
Liddell believed that McCollum's vocal from the studio was strong enough to be the final rendition, but McCollum insisted that it was a bit road-worn and could be improved, so he did an overdub session later, completing the vocal his work and flying in the harmonica part as well. Wright sang a harmony part, and they called on Mandy Diaz, who had worked with Lindell on Lambert's “Vice,” to provide an atmospheric countermelody in the background.
“We felt there needed to be a woman, and we were just trying to come up with something interesting,” says Liddell. “It kind of solves the whole element of having a woman in there. The song is about, you know, talking to a woman.”
The resulting piece is both commanding and apologetic. “It sounded like jam when we heard it,” says Spillman.
MCA Nashville surprised McCollum by selecting “What Kinda Man” as his next single, believing the production might be too harsh for country radio. But the story fits his own transformation from troublemaker to married man and the song overall lives up to his standards.
“The only thing I ever think about when I'm writing songs,” says McCollum, “is, you know, would Rodney Crowell think this is good? Would Steve Earle think this is a good thing? Would James McMurtry or Robert Earl Keen think this is good for country music? And I think they would think that song was good for country music.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/country/parker-mccollum-what-kinda-man-makin-tracks-1235778812/