Parker McCollum Says He “Said Yes Immediately” When Asked To Play President Donald Trump’s Inauguration

An honor that he couldn’t pass up.

It’s been a big 12 months for Parker McCollum. Last August he and his wife Hallie Ray welcomed their first child, a son named Major. And just today he released his self-titled, fifth studio album.

But back in January he got asked to do something that he couldn’t say no to: Perform at a presidential inauguration.

Parker performed at the Commander-in-Chief ball, one of three inaugural balls attended by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump during the inauguration day festivities. During his performance, Parker paid tribute to the late, great Toby Keith with a performance of “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” which Toby himself had performed at Trump’s first inauguration back in 2017.

@brandon.warren54

What way to cap the night off!! #parkermccollum #tobykeith #tribute #redwhiteandblue #wereback @parkermccollum @Toby Keith

♬ original sound – brandon.warren54

And of course there was the usual backlash from people who get mad at anybody associated with Trump, which is to be expected. But Parker apparently wasn’t worried about any of that.

During a recent interview with the AP, the Gold Chain Cowboy said he didn’t have to think about it when he was asked to perform at the inauguration:

“I said yes immediately.”

Despite immediately agreeing to perform, Parker says that it’s not until you’re actually there that you recognize the magnitude of the event:

“You don’t realize how big of an event that is until you go, and you’re the band at a presidential inauguration.

The city is shut down, it is just logistically a nightmare, but it was a crazy honor to get to be considered and thought of.”

And what did President Trump think of Parker’s performance? Well, he’s not sure…

“Donald Trump probably has no idea that we even played at the inauguration, but you get one shot on this planet. If you get to play a presidential inauguration, go play the inauguration. Like, what a crazy honor. And I was really glad we did it.”

Amen.

@apnewsentertainment

Parker McCollum reflected on the surreal experience of performing at Trump’s inauguration. The country singer drops his fifth full-length album, a self-titled project, this week. #parkermccollum #trump #donaldtrump #inauguration #presidentialinauguration

♬ original sound – AP Entertainment

The comments echo those made by Jason Aldean, who recently spoke on the honor of performing for a presidential inauguration, regardless of who’s taking office:

“I don’t think it’s a big secret that I’m a Trump fan. I love what he does. I think he’s my kind of president, you know what I mean?

He’s a friend, and it was an honor for us to get to play that. It was something that I actually made the call and said, ‘Hey, this is something that I want to be a part of, I want us to be a part of, and if there’s any way for you guys to include us, let me know.’

And they called and wanted us to play.”

Aldean says it was a bucket list moment, and an opportunity to check something off the list that he had never done: Play for a president.

“I think for us, I mean, 20 years on the road and we’ve done a lot of stuff. We’ve played Grammys, we’ve played all of it. Every awards show, we’ve played stadiums, we’ve done duets, we’ve done it all.

One thing we had never done was play for a president. And so to do that, I think for us as entertainers it’s another box to be like, man, this crazy life and career we’ve had. We did all these things and there’s another box we checked that we – I mean, just a bunch of reject kids that learned to play instruments and we’re like, this was not supposed to happen for us and here we are doing it. It’s cool.

So to me it was an honor. And it was cold…

It was electric around that place when we played that. It was so cool, just the atmosphere that night and being part of it, it was awesome.”

Regardless of your politics, it’s gotta be an honor to be asked to play for any President of the United States. And when that president happens to be a friend of yours, there’s no doubt it’s even better.The post Parker McCollum Says He “Said Yes Immediately” When Asked To Play President Donald Trump’s Inauguration first appeared on Whiskey Riff.