Parmalee's "Carolina" Triumphs After Long Journey To Top of Charts

BMI celebrated the team behind North Carolina band Parmalee’s two-week No. 1 hit “Carolina” Tuesday (Feb. 11) at the company’s offices in Nashville. Written by Richard Beato and Parmalee’s Scott Thomas, Matt Thomas, Josh McSwain and Barry Knox, the song earned all five writers their first No. 1 song. It has been a long journey for the band, but a fulfilling one. In February 2011, the band performed a final showcase for Stoney Creek Records, after enduring a near-fatal robbery attempt that severely injured Scott Thomas. “The label waited for Scott to heal, and we came down to do another full showcase [before signing Parmalee to a deal]. We are definitely a family band, and so we found the perfect family for us,” said his brother and bandmate Matt.
Among those celebrating were BMI’s Jody Williams, Bradley Collins, Sony-ATV’s Tom Luteran, BBR Music Group/Stoney Creek Records’ Benny Brown, Jon Loba, Chris Loss and Carson James and the entire promotions staff. “All No. 1 records are fights,” said Loba. “This one had a long journey, but represents how much this team cared about the artist and the song.” The song spent 44 weeks on its slow journey to the top of the charts, including several weeks at No. 40. “I don’t think anyone has seen a song chart quite like this,” said James. “We bought real estate at the No. 40 spot. The song fell off the chart twice and had to be put back on, but our staff was tenacious, and it paid off.”
The song marked the third No. 1 tune for production company New Voice Entertainment’s Rich Redmond, Kurt Allison, David Fanning, and Tully Kennedy. Publishers on the songs include Lonely Runer Music, B Knox Music, Slip Joint Music, Pooskie Music, Boogall Music and Revelry Music.
Avenue Bank’s Ron Cox announced that Avenue Bank would be making a donation to North Carolina Children’s Hospital.