Like Gold Chain Cowboy, it pairs Parker with producer Jon Randall (Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley), a fellow Texan who understands exactly what fuels Parker’s artistry: authenticity, vulnerability, and a little bit of defiance. Never Enough bristles with honesty and attitude and is shot through with equal parts rock guitar and country songwriting.
“What I do best is write songs from a very real place and sing country music, but also be very ‘me’ and not try to sound like someone else,” Parker says. “We definitely did that on this record and every one of the 15 songs sounds different.”
Compare album opener “Hurricane” and the confessional ballad “Have Your Heart Again” to hear his point. “Hurricane,” a song about a strong-willed girl who blows through your life and leaves it in tatters, is a driving rock anthem with a guitar riff that calls to mind the theme from Friends (“I’m sure some people will hate on that, but I don’t give a shit,” Parker laughs. “I thought it was cool”). “Have Your Heart Again,” meanwhile, is a simple vocal-and-piano arrangement with Parker hitting a stunning falsetto note. The songs are each irresistible and unique, rich in lyrical imagery, and unlike anything you’ll hear coming out of Nashville today.
Credit that to Parker, as sturdy as a live oak, for knowing exactly who he is.
“This town can eat you alive, the music business can eat you alive, with artists trying to remain relevant and have hit songs. That’s something I never cared about when I’m writing or making a record,” he says. “I’m never thinking about singles. I’m trying to just write songs that can potentially stand the test of time. That’s the sole purpose of writing songs for me.”
Even Never Enough tracks that have since become gold-certified hits weren’t written with radio in mind. To Parker, “Handle on You” 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 or, perhaps, a Shiner Bock.
“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.’”
A mostly solitary songwriter prior to his entrée into Nashville, Parker has now written with some of country music’s finest. Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, and Liz Rose (a.k.a. The Love Junkies), David Lee Murphy, Brett James, and Ashley Gorley all contribute to Never Enough, along with Parker’s Texas peers Randy Rogers, Wade Bowen, and Ryan Beaver.
“That’s been the biggest change since coming to Nashville: having access to some of the best songwriters in the world and sitting in a room with them to write,” Parker says. “The way these songwriters care and write, it’s from a place that I think I do as well. It’s made me look at songwriting differently.”
The proof is in Parker’s chart history. He scored his first-ever No. 1 country hit with 2020’s “Pretty Heart,” his debut single. “To Be Loved by You” followed suit, also hitting No. 1. Now, he’s staring down a career-making single in “Burn It Down,” a moody, smoldering break-up song that equates a busted relationship to a house reduced to just ashes and smoke.
Written with the Love Junkies, “Burn It Down” was born during a writing session at Parker’s home, where he spontaneously started singing the words “burn it down” over and over again. “Some days are like that, where the melody and the idea for the song is so good and everybody is on the same page,” he says. “If you’re talking about moving the needle in my career, ‘Burn It Down’ is probably going to be the song.”
Parker lives for the type of spontaneous creation that happened that day. He’ll often challenge himself to write a song without changing a single word. He did that with “Too Tight This Time.” With a pretty acoustic guitar lick, a Dobro guest shot by Jerry Douglas, and a heavy dose of humility and introspection in Parker’s vocal performance, “Too Tight This Time” is Parker’s favorite track on Never Enough.
“I said, ‘Let’s pour this thing out and whatever it is in 15 minutes, that’s what it’s going to be forever.’ I love to write songs like that and live with the end result. This one was easy to do because the melody was so good,” he says. “The line ‘There must be something broken inside this lonely man’ just hits so hard.”
For all his quiet strength and rough-hewn masculinity, Parker isn’t afraid to bare his soul. But, ironically, one of the most personal songs on Never Enough is the only song he didn’t write: “Things I Never Told You,” penned by Monty Criswell, Lynn Hutton, and Taylor Phillips, parallels Parker’s relationship with his mother. “When I moved away from home/I didn’t realize how much I’d miss ya,” he sings. “A phone call don’t take the place/of your smilin’ face cooking in that kitchen.”
“Those lines were all in there. People send me songs all the time and I never really hear any that I’m blown away by,” he says. Currently getting ready for a massive summer tour, including stadium dates with Morgan Wallen, Parker debuted “Things I Never Told You” for his mother during rehearsals. “We were in this massive amphitheater and my mom came the last day and I sang it for her. It was pretty cool.”
To Parker, the gesture was a way to show he cared. Never Enough then is a testament to how much he cares about country music.
“Sometimes I wish I didn’t care so much because everything would be easier. Hopefully one day people will look back at what I’ve done in country music and think it was honest and good for the genre,” Parker says. “This album may be called Never Enough, but if they see that what I did was real, that’ll be enough for me.”
The Truth
Parker McCollum Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Had a bad idea got a broken heart
Seeing it all now shoulda' done what I did not do
Learnin' to love you was tearing me apart
I gotta go I can't love you and leave you in the middle
Darlin' why'd you leave it up to me
Been a long hard crawl through the
Had no plans of being that man that you were beggin' me to be anymore
Oh it ain't that I don't love you I
just love this all a little bit more
Baby since you left I'm as lonely as I've ever been
Cause if it's hard on you well its hell on me
I do my best to try to hide how I really feel
And how I am right now I hope you never see
Cause I gotta go I can't love you and leave you in the middle
Darlin' why'd you leave it up to me
Been a long hard crawl through the
bottom of the wall but its a place I like to be
Had no plans of being that man that you were beggin me to be anymore
Oh it ain't that I don't love you I
just love this all a little bit more
(Guitar Solo)
Well its been so long since you left and I'm still missin' you
So I just sit alone and drink in the dark
I don't feel too bad for how it all went down
You stole my dog and I broke your heart
I gotta go I can't love you and leave you in the middle
Darlin' why'd you leave it up to me
Been a long hard crawl through the
bottom of the wall but its a place I like to be
Had no plans of being that man that you were beggin' me to be anymore
Oh it ain't that I don't love you I
just love this all a little bit more
Oh it ain't that I don't love you I
just love this all a little bit more
Just a little bit more
Ooooo
Alright
The Parker McCollum's song "The Truth" tells the story of a man who had to end a relationship even though he was still in love with the woman. He reflects on how he loved her but couldn't continue because the relationship was tearing him apart. Despite missing her and feeling lonely after she left, he knows that he made the right decision for himself. He feels that he needs to love this lifestyle more than he loves her.
The lyrics of "The Truth" convey an honest and personal narrative of a painful decision. The line "Oh it ain't that I don't love you, I just love this all a little bit more" highlights the difficult choice between personal passion and romantic love. The song shows us that sometimes people must prioritize their own dreams and aspirations over romantic relationships, even if that means ending things with someone they deeply care about.
Line by Line Meaning
Baby you just left and I'm already missin you
I am feeling the pain of your absence even though you just left.
Had a bad idea got a broken heart
I made a mistake and now I am dealing with the consequence of heartbreak.
Seeing it all now shoulda' done what I did not do
Reflecting on the situation, I realize that I should have done something differently.
Learnin' to love you was tearing me apart
The process of loving you was emotionally draining for me.
I gotta go I can't love you and leave you in the middle
I am unable to continue loving you if we can't be together.
Darlin' why'd you leave it up to me
I am questioning why you put the decision-making responsibility solely on me.
Been a long hard crawl through the bottom of the wall but its a place I like to be
I have been through a tough time, but I take comfort in being in a low place.
Had no plans of being that man that you were beggin' me to be anymore
I no longer have any intention of being the person that you were asking me to become.
Oh it ain't that I don't love you I just love this all a little bit more
I do still love you, but I am not willing to sacrifice what I love doing for the relationship.
Baby since you left I'm as lonely as I've ever been
I feel incredibly alone since you left.
Cause if it's hard on you well its hell on me
I am experiencing the difficulty of our separation as well, if not more so, than you are.
I do my best to try to hide how I really feel
I am attempting to conceal my emotions from you and the world.
And how I am right now I hope you never see
I do not want you to witness the extent of my current emotional state.
Well its been so long since you left and I'm still missin' you
Even though it has been a while, I still miss you greatly.
So I just sit alone and drink in the dark
I am spending my time alone, drinking in solitude.
I don't feel too bad for how it all went down
I do not feel too guilty about how things ended between us.
You stole my dog and I broke your heart
You took my dog and I took revenge by breaking your heart.
Oh it ain't that I don't love you I just love this all a little bit more
I still love you, but I prioritize my interests more than our relationship.
Just a little bit more
I just love my interests a little bit more than you.
Alright
The song has ended.
Contributed by Avery P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.