Texan singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Parker McCollum releases new album ‘Never Enough’, a statement album that cements his status as one of country music’s undeniable new stars, on May 12 via MCA Nashville. The follow-up to his 2021 major label debut ‘Gold Chain Cowboy’, it arrives with the momentum of the Gold-certified, chart-topping single ‘Handle on You’ behind it and a summer headlining tour plus stadium dates on Morgan Wallen’s tour too.
Whilst ‘Never Enough’ is McCollum’s second label album he actually released his debut single and EP in 2013 under his own PYM Music label and followed that up with the albums ‘The Limestone Kid’ in 2015 and ‘Probably Wrong’ in 2017. In 2019 he garnered wider attention when he teamed up with fellow Texan Danielle Bradbury for a cover of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s smash-hit ‘Shallow’, from the film ‘A Star is Born’. That same year McCollum signed with MCA Nashville (distributed by Snakefarm Records here in the UK) and scored his first number one with his major label debut single ‘Pretty Heart.’ That experience and the years spent out on the road make ‘Never Enough’ an accomplished, nuanced and vibrant listen for an artist just at the start of his major label career.
If ‘Gold Chain Cowboy’ was a brash, unapologetic introduction from Parker McCollum, ‘Never Enough’ cements the guy’s drive, passion and desire to be one of the best that Texas and Country music has to offer. Some of his rougher edges have been smoothed without him losing any of his fire and a list of stellar writers, from the Love Junkies, to Ashley Gorley and Brett James have been drafted in alongside longstanding colleagues like Jon Randall and Randy Rogers, to help him achieve those goals.
For me, Parker McCollum is at his best when the guitars are wailing and the drums pounding. His unique mix of Texan fire meets Tom Petty or Mellencamp-esque Heartland Rock is where he excels. ‘Falling Apart’ from previous album ‘Gold Chain Cowboy’ has always been one of my favourite songs of his, alongside ‘Why Indiana’, that type of melodic, singalong Country Rock is where we see him at his best and ‘Never Enough’ is jam-packed with songs in that similar vein.
The album opens with the double-whammy hit of ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Best I Never Had’. The former, co-written with David Lee Murphy, Jon Randall and Randy Rogers, is one of the stand-out tracks on ‘Never Enough’. It begins with a guitar riff eerily similar to that in the ‘Friends’ TV show theme tune from The Rembrandts! There’s a fantastic melody at play here too as McCollum weaves a tale about a girl destined to ‘get her name on a hurricane.’ ‘Best I Never Had’, meanwhile, is one of a number of songs on the album that find McCollum in a reflective, post-relationship headspace full of remorse and regrets. There’s an infectious cadence to this song as it barrels along in apology mode. ‘Why was I itching to get out of Nashville so fast?’ McCollum asks, ‘I made you believe my dreams were the only dreams we had.’
Elsewhere that tempo and that fire is matched by songs like ‘Tough People Do’, ‘Speed’, ‘I Ain’t Going Nowhere’ and ‘Wheel’. ‘Tough People Do’ builds nicely towards a melodic, singalong chorus about the strength and resilience of relationships. ‘Tough times don’t last,’ McCollum posits, ‘tough people do.’ A cracking guitar solo on this track heralds in the final third on a song that might well add to McCollum’s growing list of number ones should the label choose to send this one to radio. ‘Speed’, meanwhile, might well be my favourite track on the album. Chugging guitars and pounding drums drive this melodic rocker forward alongside some assured, confident vocals from McCollum as he encapsulates and reflects the urgency and impetuous nature of youth. ‘Wheel’ and ‘I Ain’t Going Nowhere’ are cut from two sides of the same cloth in terms of both being about loyalty, love and pledging your faithfulness to the one you love. Both are propelled by pounding percussion and dripping in classic Heartland Americana and Texan fire.
When Parker McCollum takes his foot off the pedal you can see the growth in him as an artist from his early independent days to now. The mid-tempo songs and ballads, in particular, have rounded out McCollum’s brash bombast in thoughtful and interesting ways. ‘Things I Never Told You’ is a confessional to his mother about all the things he did that would have meant, ‘you’d have whipped my ass back then, through and through!’ Piano, plaintive steel guitars and a whole bunch of emotions bring this track to life in a thoughtful and nuanced way. Similarly, ‘Lessons from an Old Man’, dripping in wisdom and piano flourishes comes across all ‘Walking in Memphis’ style Marc Cohn whilst ‘Have Your Heart Again’ is a huge Elton John style paino ballad about lost opportunities and regrets, something McCollum spends a lot of time writing about. It’s probably the most ‘grown up’ song on the album and provides a little hint as to where McCollum might go, creatively, three or four more albums down the tracks.
To Parker McCollum, ‘Handle on You’, his most recent number one was just a drinking song with clever lyricism (“I tell myself that I should quit/but I don’t listen to drunks”) and a late-Eighties country sound as smooth as Tennessee whiskey. “That song is a nod to some of the great records I grew up with,” says Parker, who counts George Strait, Willie Nelson, and cult hero Chris Knight as chief inspirations. “A lot of radio songs nowadays are kind of bubble-gummy. I don’t have any problem with pop-country, but I’d like to hear a little more classic country too. My team kept saying ‘Handle on You’ was a radio song and I said, ‘If y’all put that on the radio, then hell yeah.’
‘Too Tight This Time’ brings in a little Folk-inspired flavour to the album as McCollum warns a girl not to trust him and ‘Tails I Lose’, a sort of Country music ‘Nights in White Satin’, with steel guitars replacing the organ sound, is another song set in that ‘post-relationship’ universe but it is on ‘Burn It Down’, co-written with the Love Junkies (Lori McKenna, who features on a number of songs on ‘Never Enough’, Hillary Lindsay and Liz Rose) where the most growth and originality can be found. An acoustic guitar and unusual, almost military drumbeat, propel the song forwards. A tasteful female backing vocal adds a nice layer to the song too. A big chorus about ‘ashes and smoke’ and ‘smouldering coals’ arrives as McCollum’s brash, impetuous side wants rid of it all and a searing guitar only serves to add to the drama of this powerful song.
‘Never Enough’ is another statement of intent from Parker McCollum. The ‘gold chain cowboy’ is growing up although he’s not lost any of the fire and drive that got him here in the first place. It’s an album jam-packed with uptempo rockers, pounding drums and long, elongated, singalong choruses but you can also find a lot of thoughtful, heartfelt and relatable ballads too. There’s a lot of regret, a good deal of soul-searching and a huge amount of resilience and drive in McCollum’s desire to be the best at what he does, whether that’s as a musician or in his personal life too. He’s like a train thundering down the long expanse of the Texan tracks – you can either jump onboard and hold on for dear life or you can dive out of his way. We’d recommend the former.
Track list: 1. Hurricane 2. Best I Never Had 3. Things I Never Told You 4. Burn it Down 5. Stoned 6. Handle on You 7. Lessons From an Old Man 8. Tough People Do 9. Speed 10. Tails I Lose 11. I Ain’t Going Nowhere 12. Too Tight This Time 13. Don’t Blame Me 14. Have Your Heart Again 15. Wheel Record Label: MCA Nashville / Universal Release Date: May 12th Buy ‘Never Enough’ right now.
