Parker McCollum credits his older brother Tyler for inspiring his early interest in songwriting and country music
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McCollum’s wife Hallie Ray Light McCollum, pregnant with their second son, joined him at the 2026 ACM Awards
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The singer has now won three ACM Awards, including New Male Artist of the Year in 2022 and Visual Media of the Year in 2024
Parker McCollumis exactly where he's supposed to be.The "Pretty Heart" singertook home the awardfor Album of the Year at Sunday night'sACM Awards, but earlier in the evening, he joked with PEOPLE about his standing within the country music community."I just look around the room and nights like this and wonder how the hell they let me in here," McCollum, 33, said. "But the best of the best are performing and nominated tonight. Literally the best singers, songwriters, performers and entertainers of country music. They're here tonight, and they're doing the thing, so to get to be a small part of it makes you feel like you belong."
Had it not been for the singer's older brother, Tyler McCollum, a singer and songwriter, the winner might not have been on stage on Sunday with his new hardware — his third ACM Award."I loved music, naturally, and really took to melodies and country songs that I fell in love with as a kid, but he was really the one who introduced me to songwriters and songwriting. I just don't know if I would have ever really done this. I probably would have at some point, but not at the age that I did if it wasn't for him,” he explained. "I got those gears in my brain working at such a young age, and I owe literally every bit of that to him.”The "What Kinda Man" singer can still remember when his brother came home from college one day and asked what he'd written. Parker, then 16, played "Permanent Headphones," which appears on his now-award-winning self-titled album. Tyler was stunned, telling his younger brother that he had the chops to be "the next George Strait.""He was lying, of course, but it was enough for me to believe it at 15, 16 years old. He hung the moon to me, so if he thinks that, he's got to be right," McCollum said.
The musician attended the award ceremony withhis wife, Hallie Ray Light McCollum, who ispregnant with their second son, due this summer. The couple are already parents toson Major, 21 months.
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In addition to his Album of the Year win on May 17, McCollum took home the ACM Award for Visual Media of the Year in 2024 and New Male Artist of the Year in 2022.
The 2026 ACM Awards streamed live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Viewers can watch them back on Prime Video.
Read the original article onPeople
