Parmalee & Blanco Brown Discuss Their No. 1 Hit “Just the Way”

Last summer, Blanco Brown watched his life flash before his eyes when he suffered a near-fatal motorcycle accident. More than seven months later, the rising country star continues physical therapy, but he’s living the most out of every moment he has. “My purpose never changed,” Brown reflects on a new episode of “Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen.”

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“Now more than ever, you just got to get the message out there, the positivity. And continue to just strive at what I do and what I love to see in people. It’s another day, another smile,” he adds.

He’s beaming these days, and for good reason. His collaboration with country band Parmalee “Just the Way” hit the top spot on country radio in March — a first for Brown (and Parmalee’s second chart-topper). Parmalee frontman Matt Thomas took a minute to retrace the moment they knew the song was going to be something magical. “I’ll never forget. We were sitting in the studio. And we had the board mix of it, just all vocals up. And then as soon as we send it over to the label, they all lit up,” he says. “That’s when we knew that there was some excitement going on. Blanco being the positive energy he is, he called it out. He’s like, ‘We’re going to have a number one together.'”

Brown chimes in: “It was a day before the song came out. I shot a video in Atlanta. And I was like, ”Just the Way,’ it’s going, number one. I feel it, when this record comes out, it’s going number one.’ And we actually documented it. We got it on film, and it went number one.”

“Just the Way” (written by Thomas, Nolan Sipe, and Kevin Bard) was released in late 2019. Its hopeful spirit even now feels like something special. I love you just the way God made you / Girl, he don’t make mistakes / What you call your imperfections / I call beautiful, babe, the chorus gathers every ounce of unconditional love. So let my eyes be your mirror / And you’re bound to see it too / ‘Cause I was made for loving / Just the way God made you.

Brown isn’t a stranger to success. His 2019 hit “The Git Up,” a genre-bending smash, went No. 1 on Country Streaming after going viral on TikTok earlier that summer. “Just the Way” climbed to No. 7 on the same chart.

Listen to the full episode on demand here.

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