Earlier this month, Oliver Anthony posted a vlog on YouTube titled “What I’ve Learned from the Music Industry So Far.” In the video, he spins yarns about shady Nashville business practices and much more. At one point during the 15-minute video, he mentions an act that played after him at a festival. He claimed that the unnamed act used Auto-Tune, drum loops, and backing tracks. He didn’t name the act but fans connected the dots and revealed that he was talking about Parker McCollum.
Videos by American Songwriter
McCollum took issue with the allegations. As a result, he took to social media on Sunday (December 8) to respond. “Saw there was some speculation going around on this and wanted to clear things up. Not sure if it was a mix-up on which show/festival, but can confirm we have never once used any backing tracks or tuning and will never be true for my live show,” he wrote in the post’s caption. “We are a real band out there ripping it live every single night trying to respect country music as it should be,” McCollum added.
The post also featured a video of McCollum on horseback addressing the accusations. “Hey, guys, per the Oliver Anthony interview or whatever it was claiming that he saw drum loop modulars or whatever he called it. I don’t even know what that is,” he began. “100 percent fabricated lie. Never ever, ever, ever one time have I used Auto-Tune or a drum loop or anything fake of any kind onstage,” he added.
“Me and my guys are rippin’ it—the real deal—every single night. It has never been one single part of our show, not one note that was not live, raw, and in the moment. 100 percent fabricated story. That is 100 percent a lie and that will never change,” McCollum said. “We will always be out there really swingin’ it as a real band trying to do our best to respect country music,” he added. “That’s all I have to say on it. That’s where it needs to end. Thank y’all,” he concluded.
What Did Oliver Anthony Allegedly Say About Parker McCollum?
As Parker McCollum pointed out, maybe Oliver Anthony misremembered which festival at which he saw the artificially-enhanced country band take the stage. So, he may not have been talking about the Limestone Kid at all. However, it seems that Anthony was talking about the Carolina Country Music Fest. The “Rich Men North of Richmond” singer performed before McCollum during the festival.
“People don’t realize a band can go play a festival, make $450,000 for standing on stage for an hour, and you’re only listening to half the band,” Anthony said in the video. “A lot of these mainstream acts, especially in country, like these country music festivals, everybody runs backing tracks,” he explained.
“I’ll never forget. I won’t say who the act is but I think it was in South Carolina at the Myrtle Beach one. The band who played after us, the dude had six Auto-tune modulators on a pedalboard onstage just to help him with vocal pitch live,” he recalled. “They had backing tracks running, drum loops running. It’s like, for somebody to go pay hundreds of dollars to listen to a fake performance. Nobody talks about that stuff.”
Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Audacy
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.