Parmalee ‘Almost Wrecked a Van’ the First Time They Heard Themselves on the Radio

Country four-piece Parmalee were lucky enough to all be together the first time they heard one of their songs play on the radio -- and even luckier that they didn't crash their van at the surprise of hearing it! Below, the band shares the story of that unforgettable day, and explains why they never turn off the radio when they hear their songs now, no matter what.

We were all together. We almost wrecked a van, and we almost all died.

We were coming back from -- we had done some shows in North Carolina, and we were driving back. I think we had crossed the [Tennessee] border. So we were in Tennessee, and we heard "Musta Had a Good Time." We have it on video somewhere. It was great.

I think it [feels] the same every time [you hear yourself on the radio]. It's awesome. It's weird, but it's great. You can't turn off the channel. That's rule No. 1. If your song is on the radio, I don't care what happens -- you can't turn it off. I don't care if you get pulled over by the cops and they pull guns and say to shut your engine down. We won't until the song is done.

[That's because] if you hear your song on the radio now, the you back when you were getting started would slap the you now listening if you turn it off. Like, "Fool, that's your song on the radio! What're you turning it for?" That's kind of the idea. You always have to think back to when you didn't have your song on the radio -- what [the person you were then] would tell yourself now.