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Parker McCollum on the ‘Sacrilegious’ Origins of His Raw New Single, ‘What Kinda Man’: ‘It’s Going to Stick Out at Country Radio’

This week's Makin' Tracks column delves into the making of Parker McCollum's song "What Kinda Man."

It was McCollum’s voice all right, but the Dylan-style harmonica, rough-cut Flying Burrito Brothers arrangement and Hawaiian steel-like slide guitar challenge all the norms of modern commercial country. He wanted to include a specific line, “Swore that I would never step foot back in the Union Valley Church again,” which he had written as a reference to a spot in Oklahoma he stumbled on during his drive home from the turkey hunt. Sitting in the control room before they tackled “What Kinda Man,” McCollum determined they should record it as a shuffle, but outside of that, they mostly let the band play the song repeatedly, finding their groove along the way.

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