Stoney Creek

Ten years ago, Parmalee was a newly signed Stoney Creek act, publicly recognized as a band of survivors after drummer Scott Thomas nearly died when he was shot by a robber in South Carolina in 2010. Now the group has a completely new sheen, though it’s still a band of survivors, having navigated a difficult four-year run between hits and a harrowing change in label ownership to reimagine itself. The act has a brighter, pop-tinged sound that has brought back-to-back No. 1 singles to Country Airplay, accomplished just as COVID-19 forced it off the road and away from its fans. “Bring on the next pandemic,” guitarist Josh McSwain deadpans during a Zoom call the same day that Parmalee’s career-changing single, the Blanco Brown collaboration “Just the Way,” earned a double-platinum award fr...