Are Parker McCollum fans these days familiar with his debut record The Limestone Kid? I sure hope so.
Parker McCollum is back with new music, sort of, releasing a spectacular live acoustic version of his classic tune “High Above the Water,” and now it’s got me reminiscing on the greatness of the album that started it all for him.
Check out the new release here:
Five or six years ago, anyone familiar with the Texas music scene knew that McCollum was the next guy up, following in the footsteps of his mentors like Randy Rogers, Josh Abbott, and Wade Bowen, to emerge from the Texas music scene and give Nashville and country music radio a real shot. And as he was on the verge of making that shift in his career, no one doubted for a second that he had the potential to really do something special with his career and become one of the genre’s superstars.
And man, did McCollum take Nashville and country music by storm. Now, fresh off of his fourth #1 single at country music radio with “Burn It Down,” McCollum has been on an absolute tear in the mainstream for several years, and I couldn’t be happier for him and the role he is playing in bringing actual good music to country radio.
But no matter how big he gets, and I think the bounds are limitless here, I’ll always keep going back to his first couple of albums, especially his 2015 debut The Limestone Kid.
Coincidentally, perhaps, this new recording of “High Above the Water” comes at a time when there has been some buzz around the direction McCollum plans to take his music from here. While I could have sworn I saw a tweet recently that specifically implied he was trying to get back to that Limestone Kid sound, I can’t seem to find it, but McCollum has been dropping other hints on social media about what the future may hold for his music.
And it’s now dawning on me, that with as big as he’s gotten and all of the music he’s put out over the years, it’s very possible that many of his fans out there, and country music fans in general, may not be acquainted with his first and best album.
So, for those of you who haven’t taken the time to listen to The Limestone Kid, or anyone who needs a reminder of how good this album is, here’s a few from the album that started it all for Parker McCollum.
A modern classic in Texas country music, it’s hard to beat The Limestone Kid.
“High Above The Water”
“Lucy”
“Galveston Bay”
