Parker McCollum brought his Texas charm to the Nissan Stadium stage with a captivating performance of his latest single, “What Kinda Man.”
Wearing his signature look of a button-up shirt, jeans, cowboy boots, gold chain and a ball cap, the country superstar and Texas native commanded the stage with ease, letting his unique vocals to shine as he strummed his acoustic guitar and belted out the lyrics to the fan-favorite track.
“Yeah, I’ve been runnin’ so damn long/ There ain’t a woman who could settle me down/ Wilder than a bat out of hell/ Off the rails and blazin’ through town/ But then you walk in floatin’ on air/ And you look across the room at me/ Forget the man I am, what kind of man do you need,” McCollum delivered on the track’s chorus.
Co-written by McCollum alongside Natalie Hemby and Jeremy Spillman and produced by Frank Liddell and Eric Masse, “What Kinda Man” finds McCollum singing about settling down and cleaning up his act from his days of being “wilder than a bat out of hell, off the rails and blazin’ through town” to be there for his wife.
Of the track, McCollum told Music Mayhem and other media outlets, “[It’s] pretty accurate to how Hallie Ray, what she did for me when we first met, that’s when I really started to clean it up. I’d been running really hard for a long time and living the way I thought that songwriters were supposed to live on the road, and she was really kind of the one that made me start to clean it up and dial it back a little bit. And so I think that song comes from a very real place.”
The track marks his current single at Country radio, following McCollum’s string of four consecutive hits such as “Burn It Down,” “Handle On You,” “To Be Loved By You” and “Pretty Heart.”
“What Kinda Man” appears on Parker McCollum’s forthcoming new Self-Titled album, which arrives on Friday, June 27. The 14-track project will also feature the previously released tracks “Big Sky,” “Killin’ Me,” “Hope That I’m Enough,” and more, as well as a brand-new duet alongside his fellow Texan Cody Johnson, titled “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues.”
Parker McCollum follows the release of the country star’s 2023 project Never Enough, and 2021’s major label debut, Gold Chain Cowboy.
2025 CMA Fest
Dubbed “The Music Event of Summer,” CMA Fest Presented by SoFi also featured 30+ performances from some of Country music’s hottest stars, including Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Cody Johnson, Riley Green, Jason Aldean, Trace Adkins, Jordan Davis, Ella Langley, Megan Moroney, Ashley McBryde, Rascal Flatts, The Red Clay Strays, Dylan Scott, Zach Top, Keith Urban and more.
The three-hour broadcast also included unforgettable collaborations from the 2025 CMA Fest. Brooks & Dunn teamed up with Lainey Wilson for “Play Something Country” and with Marcus King for “Rock My World [Little Country Girl],” Dierks Bentley joined forces with Zach Top on “Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)” and a “Mountain Music” medley, Cody Johnson and Carín León performed “She Hurts Like Tequila,” Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll delivered a powerful performance of “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” Jason Aldean and Travis Tritt united for “It’s A Great Day To Be Alive,” Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins teamed up for “Hillbilly Bone,” and Bailey Zimmerman and BigXthaPlug showcased their new duet “All The Way” and more.
CMA Fest presented by SoFi was filmed at Nissan Stadium during Music City’s four-day country music festival, which took place Thursday, June 5, through Sunday, June 8. 2025 marked the 19th consecutive year that CMA has produced a summer concert TV special. The show is a production of the Country Music Association, executive produced and written by Robert Deaton and directed by Alan Carter. The 2025 airing marks the 22nd consecutive year CMA has produced a summer concert TV special.
The CMA Fest special aired on Thursday, June 26 at 8/7c on ABC and is available to watch on-demand on Friday, June 27 via Hulu.
