Country singer-songwriter, Parker McCollum is always striving to heighten his musicianship and one of his greatest inspirations is John Mayer. A lifelong fan of the real-life guitar hero, Parker recently opened up to Audacy’s Rob + Holly about how much he idolizes Mayer, his music, and shares why he turned down the opportunity to meet him.

“He’s a massive inspiration to me. I’ve been a fan of his songwriting, I’ve tried to write songs like him for years — I love his records all the way back to Room for Squares,” McCollum shared. “I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent looking in the mirror, playing guitar, writing songs trying to write something that he would approve of. It’s really been a driving inspiration for a lot of the songs I’ve written.”

While Parker says he’ll always strive to reach Mayer’s level of musicianship, he may be closer than he thinks as the two artists both played the same area just four days apart from one another. As a super fan, McCollum knew Mayer would be at Austin, Texas’ Moody Center just a few days after him and decided to leave one of his favorite guitars behind with the hopes that Mayer would sign it.

“He has a Martin Signature [guitar] it’s called the OMJM acoustic guitar, it’s his signature Martin guitar and I have one and [it’s] one of my favorite guitars — I play it all the time,” Parker said before sharing he left it behind with hopes it would make it to Mayer for a signature. “I said [to the employees], ‘Hey, look. I’m gonna leave this guitar here in y’alls hands [for him to sign]… I put a little letter in there that said, ‘Hey man, If not, I totally get it. You probably have no idea who I am but I understand the grind and the life you live. But if you don’t want to do it — no worries.’”

Just hours ahead of the show (which Parker had front row tickets for), Mayer reached out via Instagram, giving McCollum the shock of a lifetime. “I was sitting on my couch about two hours before the show and I was on Instagram and I just had my DMs pulled up and I was sending a meme to somebody and [a message popped up from] John Mayer... I was beside myself.”

The two spoke via Instagram DMs for 20-30 minutes before Mayer expressed he’d be happy to meet McCollum in person one day, however Parker surprisingly declined. “I’m like, ‘We don’t need to know each other,’” he said before explaining further. “I’m such a fan of those records and I don’t really want to know him, I don’t want him to be real and really exist… I’m sure he’s a great guy, nice guy — I don’t think it would be a bad experience or anything, I’m just still chasin’ that. I always will be, so I don’t want it to be tangible.”

While he won’t be meeting Mayer, Parker did jump at the opportunity to meet another one of his musical heroes —  the king of Country music, George Strait. Growing up on Strait’s music, he couldn’t pass up to opportunity to meet George and was even asked to open for him during his only home state show at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field — fitting it also falls on Parker’s birthday (June 15).

“There was no higher than George Strait in our house, it was God and then George Strait,” Parker shared of his Texas upbringing. “It kind of feels like getting his approval to play before him in front of a crowd of 130,000 people for his only Texas show this year… I’m glad to be actually living out a real dream.”

To hear more from Parker about the show, his love for John Mayer and how he is preparing to be a first-time Dad, check out his full conversation with Audacy’s Rob + Holly above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Rob + Holly