Parmalee takes the stage at Penn’s Peak Nov. 3
Parmalee comes to Penn’s Peak on Nov. 3 in support of it’s latest CD, “27861.”
For the members of the chart-topping country quartet, those five digits are more than the postal code of their hometown, Parmele, North Carolina, population 278. They’re a badge of honor, tattooed on each of their arms and on each of their hearts. And now, it’s the title of their second album for Stoney Creek Records.
The band includes brothers Matt and Scott Thomas (lead vocals and drums), cousin Barry Knox (bass) and their best friend Josh McSwain (lead guitar). Parmalee is the quintessential American country band.
Raised on a diet of Southern rock, country and blues, they formed in 2001 as a bunch of small-town boys chasing wild weekend nights, but their talents eventually took them beyond the little concrete-block barn they rehearsed in and onto country music’s biggest stages, not to mention the top of Billboard’s country chart.
More than a decade of blue-collar persistence made their 2013 breakout single, “Carolina,” into a Platinum-certified No. 1 hit, while their debut album landed in the Top 10.
Two more singles (“Close Your Eyes” and “Already Callin’ You Mine”) rose to No. 4 and No. 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and all the while they kept their noses to the grindstone, touring hundreds of dates a year.
Awards nominations from the Academy of Country Music and Teen Choice Awards came rolling in, and headlining tours were launched. Now with their next batch of music, they’re offering up a tribute to the place where it all began, and embracing the future.
“We have been wanting to call an album ‘27861’ for years now,” Matt explains. “Everybody has their own story, and you never know where people come from or how their lives have panned out. But we grew up around rural, hardworking people.”
“You started working young, and you started learning that hard-work ethic,” Scott says, thinking of the backbreaking days he and Matt spent logging local forests. “That’s still our mentality now.”
Just like the ink embedded in their arms, the hardworking virtues of that upbringing have seeped into Parmalee’s soul. And with “27861,” they propel the band into a bold new chapter — one with respect for where they came from, but harnessing the same adventurous spirit they left home with all those years ago.
“It’s embedded in our soul,” Barry says.
Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, the Penn’s Peak Box Office and Roadies Restaurant and Bar. For more information, go to www.pennspeak.com or call 866-605-7325.