Parmalee brings music home to ‘Carolina’

Parmalee keeps on piling up the mileage and longevity from hit singles from their CD “Feels Like Carolina.”

First with “Carolina” hitting the top of the country charts in 2013, and “Close Your Eyes” cracking the Top 5 in 2014, “Already Callin’ You Mine” has hit the road in 2015, with a summer cruising sound.

The country rock quartet, named after their roots in Parmele, N.C., on U.S. 64, east of Rocky Mount, will play Friday night at House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach.

Calling Monday from Nashville, Tenn., on a break from songwriting, lead vocalist Matt Thomas said headlining for the first time at this House of Blues gives drummer and brother Scott Thomas, bassist and cousin Barry Knox, and guitarist and childhood friend Josh McSwain another peak reached since they started in 2001.

“We’ve played that place many times,” Matt Thomas said, recalling many memories from the Grand Strand that also have included multiple free concerts at The Boathouse Waterway Bar & Grill, just west of Myrtle Beach.

Spring break visits with family and friends from eastern North Carolina to a cottage in Myrtle Beach always brought “a good time,” he said.

After this concert Friday, though, the band won’t have time to vacation even for a day, because a show under a tent in Knoxville, Tenn., beckons the next afternoon, and Parmalee stays used to a busy pace, Thomas said.

‘Best reward you can have’

With Parmalee continuing to promote its breakthrough album on BBR Music Group’s Stoney Creek label, Thomas said with each hit resonating with fans, “That’s what you strive for as an artist … and you hope other people connect with it.”

“That’s the best reward you can have,” he said.

Patience with “Carolina” and “Close Your Eyes” each mounting a long ascent on the charts has paid off, Thomas said, also crediting their independent record label and “a great radio team.”

“The main part is having great songs to put out,” he said.

With any combination of bandmates helping write half the 12 tunes on the current CD, Thomas said through the years, they’ve amassed “tons of songs.”

“We never stop writing,” he said. “We’re always looking for the next thing. It’s always a work in progress. You can never sit back and rest, waiting for something until it happens.”

Pivotal paths of influence

As Parmalee’s members draw on their small-town background, Thomas called the process “natural, for anybody, to be influenced by the music, the people around you growing up, and the community or your area.”

“That’s what makes everybody unique where they came from,” he said. “You’re bringing this influence on the music now: That’s the fun part about it. Everybody’s not from the same place. That’s what makes diversity in music.”

Parmalee also has enjoyed the ride from opening on tours for the likes of Brad Paisley and Jake Owen, and from that experience Thomas said Parmalee sees “the importance of having big songs … and you also have to learn how to be a performer.”

He said “there’s nothing like” seeing a Jason Aldean concert, with “a whole hour and a half of No. 1 hits,” because “that’s what it takes to fill” bigger venues.

Parmalee also has appreciated the honor of playing around the world, entertaining U.S. service personnel.

“To have the troops out there, embracing us,” Thomas said, “and being approached for what we’re doing for them, you can’t put a price on that.”

He said stops to sing for deployed heroes have included Africa and a battleship in the Persian Gulf, “40 miles off the coast of Iraq … on the front line of defense,” remain unforgettable, especially from their first gigs on this global scale.

Thomas said troops’ genuine welcome, telling Parmalee all about their own jobs and interests carried out like clockwork “on a day-to-day basis” shows their endless job in overall protection “is serious business and all worthwhile.”

“Everybody has a big job there,” Thomas said.

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Parmalee brings music home to ‘Carolina’."