Parmalee Recall Playing Summertime ‘Pig-Pickin’ Parties’ [WATCH]

This summer, Mike's Hard's ongoing Grilled Series is featuring a bunch of exciting musical acts, including "Carolina" hitmakers Parmalee.

Their summertime-worthy tunes "Carolina" and "Already Callin' You Mine" are featured in acoustic performances, which you can watch below, that highlight the group's always-impeccable harmonies and catchy melodies.

Parmalee also sat down for an exclusive interview to talk about music, food and their memorable times together. The band, made up of brothers Matt and Scott Thomas, their cousin Barry Knox and best friend Josh McSwain, grew up in North Carolina, and -- no surprise here -- they were surrounded by music in their growing-up years.

"Dad plays music, and Barry's our cousin, so every time you went to grandma's house, you always brought your instruments," Matt Thomas recalls. "She had a piano there. Barry's mom played piano, my uncle played guitar, so it was always a jam session going on at Thanksgiving, Christmas or anytime we hung out."

Adds McSwain, "My dad was in a band, and they practiced in our house. So our basement [had a] full PA system, every instrument. Every night was a jam session."

The guys of Parmalee obviously have strong musical roots that go deep, but along with that comes a love for something else: food.

"My mom will come out to shows, and she'll still bring me stuff. She makes the best pickled okra," McSwain says as the band resoundingly agrees. "She always brings us a couple jars, and it is delicious."

And while his mom might be the okra queen, McSwain himself is quite the grill master, the band states. However, "Growing up, it was always my dad," he recalls, nodding to the memory of steaks and chicken on the grill while his mom stayed in the house making the sides.

For the rest of the band, Knox says, "It was always pig for us." And not just part of a pig -- a whole hog. Matt Thomas explains that the family would cook a pig Eastern North Carolina style.

"You cook the whole hog on ... a sprayer barrel that you cut in half and make a grill out of," he recalls. "Growing up ... everything revolved around the pig pickin'."

Parmalee have plenty of fond memories of pig-pickin' events because, when they first started playing together, some of their first gigs were at the pig-eating parties, complete with "all the pig you could eat" and "all the beer you could drink."

From their humble beginnings to playing in front of thousands at country music festivals and on their own headlining tours, Parmalee are now bringing home the bacon -- and working on a new album.

Parmalee Perform "Carolina":

Parmalee Perform "Already Callin' You Mine":