It's growing harder and harder every day to tell who is really country nowadays. Oftentimes, there are a lot of artists merely galavanting with the general aesthetic. The music would hardly match, only a rough approximation of the genre through a cowboy hat and a Carhartt jacket.
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Then, there are those who are particularly thorny towards being tied down to the genre in general. This accurately describes Parker McCollum, who's feeling less and less country the further he goes in his career.
Recently, McCollum spoke with WTVA 9 News, a local station in Tupelo, Mississippi. There, he ponders his days cutting his teeth in country music. After a while, he's starting to question if that truly describes him anymore.
"I wanted to be a country singer for as long as I remember, and the longer I do this, the more I kind of realize I may just not be one. The more I try to write country songs and make country records, the further I get away from what really has always made me, me. I don't know what you would call it, but you know all those names," Parker says. "If you took all of them and put them in a blender, I think it could come out as something similar."
Parker McCollum Questions Where He Stands in Country Music
At first, you might think that this sounds like an easy excuse to pivot into pop territory like Taylor Swift did ages ago. However, that's not really the case at all. Instead, McCollum looks at the modern landscape of country and decides it's not the sort of authenticity he's used to anymore.
"Country music used to be such a narrow genre, there was very strict criteria and nowadays, it's just not," Parker explains. "The criteria is as loose as it's ever been for something to be called country music... and once everybody starts to do something I want to do something else"
It's hard to fault McCollum on this logic. He's right about how country music lets just anything skate by to remain relevant. That's not to deny everyone access from the genre outright. Rather, it's just important to vet artists on if they really want to do this. Then, you can show them how to do it the right way instead of leaning on synthetic pop sludge. For the time being, Parker might reckon calling himself Americana if he's looking for a label to call himself.
