On June 15th, Parker McCollum walked alongside George Strait into Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. Besides offering fans an unforgettable night of country music, the concert also made history. With Kyle Field able to fit nearly 103,000 people, the concert brought in a little fewer than 111,000. Showing the massive impact Strait had on country music over the decades, the concert became the largest ticketed event in the country’s history. Truly an iconic moment, over a year later, McCollum still struggled to process the night.
Sitting down with ESPN’s Ryan McGee and Marty Smith, McCollum discussed some of the milestones in his career. And while having more than a few memorable moments throughout his time in the genre, nothing came remotely close to a night with Strait. “I really still have never thought much about it. Processed it really. I mean, growing up in Texas, and you want to be a country singer, the bar is George Strait. It’s dangerous because it’s untouchable. You can’t…There ain’t another one of those. God only gives us one of those, but that is the bar, and he is the standard.”
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Parker McCollum Considered George Strait Concert “Coolest Thing I’ve Ever Done”
Dreaming about performing with Strait as a child, McCollum admitted he refrained from thinking about it. “I try not to think about it just because you go down this rabbit hole in your head of just, ‘Why me? And how in the heck?’ I don’t know, man… when I say I’m blessed, I mean it.”
While McCollum didn’t spend much time thinking about that night, he still remembered every second. “I hate to sit here and act like it’s not the damn coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but I just don’t… I think I’ll be an old man before I really realize how special and how cool that was to do with him.”
Holding both the night and Strait in high regard, McCollum concluded, “That’s just The King, man. I would never take the time to get all gushy and tell him how much it means to play those shows with him, and Kyle Field particularly. It’s just crazy. I don’t know, any dream I’ve ever had, anything I’ve ever wanted to do in this business, I’ve gotten to do it. And I’m getting to do it.”
Although McCollum considered the night a cherished memory, the country singer looked ahead to his career and creating some historic moments of his own.
(Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)
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