Cody Heckber
This week, the band Parmalee and Blanco Brown return to the top of the country chart, this time with their collaboration, “Just the Way.”
The Tarheel natives Parmalee previously topped the radio airplay tally with “Carolina” in 2013, while Blanco made a name for himself with his triple-Platinum earworm, “The Git Up,” just a couple years ago.
“When I created the song, I had this mindset of bringing joy to everyone that heard the record, because it brought me so much joy,” Blanco reflects on “The Git Up.” “And I told myself when I was creating it, man, it could be like the 2019/2020 ‘Achy Breaky Heart.’ And I put out a one-minute clip video and it just WENT!”
Along the way, Blanco got to be good friends with Matt Thomas and his bandmates, who also happen to work with the same record company.
“I met ’em at Jason Aldean‘s spot [in] downtown [Nashville] last year,” Blanco told ABC Audio in 2019, “and we just clicked.”
“And since then we’ve been jeep-jumping, BB-thumping!” he added.
Both acts knew they were onto something with “Just the Way,” which Matt co-wrote.
“Ah man, we have something special special!” Blanco says of the collab. “It’s gonna be good to you, good to the world! It’s purposeful, and the song is just out of here.”
Matt believes part of the magic is definitely Blanco’s vocals.
“It’s a song that allows Blanco to really sing, because he can sing,” Matt declares. “And it mixes it up with our band, and it’s just a cool, like, combination that you probably wouldn’t expect from either of us. But it’s a really cool song with a great message.”
You can check out the uplifting, inclusive video for “Just the Way” now.
By Stephen Hubbard
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