The country star brought his “Pretty Heart” to Raising Cane’s Dallas-area support office ahead of the 59th ACM Awards
Parker McCollum knows how to “Burn it Down,” but does he know the secret sauce for creating the perfect Raising Cane’s Box Combo? Award-winning country music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist McCollum, the “Gold Chain Cowboy,” avoided the “Young Man’s Blues” with a tour of the brand’s Dallas-Area Restaurant Support Office on Thursday (May 16th) with founder and owner Todd Graves.
McCollum – who won New Male Artist of the Year at the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM Awards) and Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2022 Country Music Television Awards (CMT Awards) – spent the morning with his good friend Graves ahead of playing the 59th ACM Awards at the nearby Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. No stranger to the spotlight or ACM recognition, McCollum just won Visual Media of the Year during a pre-awards show event and was nominated for Single of the Year for “Burn it Down.” McCollum recently announced 13 additional tour stops for his now 53-stop Burn it Down Tour, which kicked off in January.
Before McCollum donning his Cane’s-cowboy best at the Dallas-Area Restaurant Support Office, he hosted a star-studded night at ACM Lifting Lives Live: Parker McCollum and Friends at Topgolf at the Colony, Texas alongside Graves and fellow country music stars Old Dominion, Jordan Davis, Ashley Cooke and Kameron Marlowe. Also in attendance were Kane Brown, Miranda Lambert, and numerous other stars. During the show, McCollum and Graves were joined by good friend and country music sensation Koe Wetzel, who performed “Love” with McCollum on stage. The event benefitted ACM Lifting Lives, the philanthropic partner of the ACMs dedicated to improving lives through the power of music.
Later in the night, Graves and Doug Kindy, president of Lucchese, joined McCollum on stage to match McCollum’s $10,000 donation to ACM Lifting Lives, contributing to the more than $700,000 raised. After the concert, Graves and McCollum went outside to serve hungry fans from the Raising Cane’s food truck, which was on-site at the request of McCollum to help the charitable cause. McCollum sported a Cane’s hat and his signature gold chains while serving up chicken fingers to the masses.
“It was great spending the night with Parker at his show and having him here at the office this morning to see some fun mementos of our history. Parker and I have been good friends for a while and it’s been amazing turning that friendship into something more meaningful,” Graves shares. “I’m also glad we had the opportunity to come together last night and make an impact on ACM Lifting Lives. It was heartwarming seeing Koe and everyone enjoying a fun night that benefits an amazing charity.”
During the morning’s tour of Cane’s three-story Dallas-Area Support Center, McCollum got an inside look at the celebrity “Hall of Fame,” where McCollum is featured working a “shift” at his hometown Raising Cane’s in Conroe, Texas, before headlining the 2023 Houston Rodeo. Graves – who built the first Raising Cane’s, “The Mothership,” across from the North Gates at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1996 – gave McCollum an exclusive look into the chicken finger magic that made Raising Cane’s a household name.
“Todd is a family man, which helped our friendship develop naturally before we got into business together. When people see that Raising Cane’s sponsors me, they know Todd only partners with people who are genuine and hardworking – both characteristics that he embodies himself,” McCollum adds. “Having Raising Cane’s on my eighteen-wheeler is so exciting and I always have enough food on the bus after my shows to feed a small village.”
Graves’ support of the “Gold Chain Cowboy” dates back to May 2020, when McCollum and country music star Randy Rogers hosted a virtual concert for Cane’s “In the Moment Series,” during which the stars performed live from Lava Cantina The Colony. The performance benefitted Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization focused on helping people affected by poverty or emergencies, like COVID-19.
We were on-site following the tour to talk to McCollum in a press conference at the facility with a one-on-one conversation between our Matt Bailey and Graves.
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