More than 10 years, five No. 1 hits, and 1 billion streams into their country music odyssey, Parmalee is again flexing its Carolina swagger with its new seven-song album Fell In Love With A Cowgirl.
Comprised of brothers Matt Thomas (guitar/lead vocals) and Scott Thomas (drums), along with their cousin Barry Knox (bass) and life-long friend Josh McSwain (guitar), the Parmalee branded Fell In Love With A Cowgirl is a genuine bucking good time.
Out April 4, Fell In Love With A Cowgirl is stacked thick with seven songs that span the traditional-leaning to ultra-contemporary diversity of Parmalee’s eclectic country career. Shared production elements cohesively lace the tracks together.
“This project is getting back to the organic side of it,” Josh said. “It’s more acoustic instruments, and there’s still slick production, but no made-up sounds. It’s real instruments.”
The band wrote “Cowgirl,” the album’s debut single, with James Daniel Lewis, David Fanning, Peter Daniel Newman, Robbie Jay, Thomas Frank, and Ridley Horsley. The light-hearted, rhythm-driven bop combines country lyrics about captivating cowgirls in Chevy trucks and Levis with a progressive country pop track. In other words, it’s country radio gold. “Cowgirl” roped in 93 adds its first two weeks at country radio – enough to give Parmalee the most significant impact of their career.
“Cowgirls are definitely part of the culture now,” Matt said. ”Every time you watch these shows, you’re like, ‘Man, these girls are badass. I’m in!’ It’s just so much fun.”
With “Cowgirl” climbing the charts at country radio, it joins the fun-loving band’s other beloved chart-toppers, including “Carolina,” the Blanco Brown collaboration “Just The Way,” “Take My Name,” “Girl In Mine,” and most recently, “Gonna Love You.”
Fell In Love With A Cowgirl is the first of a two-album set that Parmalee spent more than a year carefully crafting. The band listened to countless songs on their bus, brought in songs, and kept lists of song ideas and finished titles they loved. They looked at the album as a whole and worked to ensure it takes listeners on the ride of their lives.
“Cowgirl,” “Day One,” “God Knew Better,” and “Feels Like Home” are creatively straight down the Parmalee pipe. “Feels Like Home” reaches back to “Carolina” – musically and lyrically.
“It embodies that whole thing of returning to where you came from and finding somebody that makes you feel like home,” Matt said. “It’s got the fast beat, and I feel like most people are waiting for the train kind of beat. But we wanted to do it more like Green Day or with steel guitars and fast picking.”
“God Knew Better” is a meaningful track for the band because lyrically, it’s about lessons learned, and musically, it fits like an old friend.
“I go off and practice my drums on my own to get the feel of the songs, and when I play ‘God Knew Better,’ it just hits a different way,” said Scott. “It just feels like old-school Parmalee.”
“Beautiful” and “Miss Me When You’re Drinkin'” lean into the band’s late ’90s pop-rock influence. The men namechecked Lifehouse and Incubus for reference.
“You can’t put out an album full of songs that are right down this same lane,” Matt said. “We got to do stuff that we all think is fun, and we love just as much as the easy-as-pie hits. We just wanted to branch out.”
“Beautiful” is a band favorite because it feels like new but authentic creative territory.
“I just like the way that it builds from the beginning to the end, and it’s just massive,” Barry said. “It’s a beautiful song.”
Josh singled out “Miss Me When You’re Drinkin'” as a standout track. While the story unfurls around a man who loves a woman who only misses him when she’s drunk, Josh is partial to it because of the mood the music puts him in.
“It’s like a laid-back chill vibe,” Josh said. “Get your head nodding to it. I just like the way that song makes me feel. When I hear that, I picture right now we’re sitting in a snowstorm sitting by the fire. That song is just calming and relaxing.”
“Enough” is also a tempo-driven, vibe-forward song. However, this uncomplicated jam embraces love gone right. Parmalee is drawn to melodies and tempos not often heard in country music. “Enough” falls in that ring.
“We were jamming on the bus, and once that beat hit, everybody jumps out of their seat, and they’re just doing the run dance,” Matt said
Scott added: “It’s like that Kid Laroi, Justin Bieber song, ‘Stay.’ It’s got those vibes.”
Josh emphasized that despite the diversity among the songs on Fell In Love With A Cowgirl, the acoustic guitar is the common thread that sonically ties the project together. On the heels of Pamalee’s most successful year to date, all eyes – and ears – in country music are on them. The men won’t disappoint.
“We’re good-time guys,” Matt said. “We love to have a good time, and that’s what we’re all about. We just hope people can sing along, smile and ride the roller coaster of emotions with us.”
We know Parmalee is all about the fun onstage and the toe-tapping hits that dominate the radio dial, but who is Parmalee offstage is the band’s most challenging dilemma and enigma.
Everyone knows when the curtain goes up on Parmalee, Matt Thomas will anchor vocals while his brother Scott Thomas keeps the beat on drums. Barry Knox rounds out the rhythm section on bass, and Josh McSwain is the guitar master – but did you know?
Barry likes to juggle. “It’s kind of weird,” he said. “But I like to juggle balls.” Then he jokingly added, “Sometimes chainsaws.”
But funny enough, Scott said chainsaws are among his hidden talents.
“I can run a mean chainsaw,” Scott said. Scott’s chainsaw prowess is tied to his education – he has a degree in forestry technology. “We’re third-generation loggers,” Scott said. “Before we signed a record deal, I was always in the timber business. We kept logging up until the day we signed our record deal.”
Josh went to college on a drama scholarship to be an actor. “I’m currently in a deep role of the character Josh McSwain, guitar player for Parmalee,” Josh said.
And Matt, back in the day, was a half-naked Spring Break celebrity. “I was on MTV’s Spring Break one time – King of the Beach,” he said. “They paraded us across the stage, and we were half naked.”
“On a serious note though, I’m a Jeep fanatic, especially the CJ models” he said. “I love riding top down. That’s my favorite thing to do, just cruising through springtime and summertime. I love it.”