Zac Brown

In the closing years of the 2000s, Zac Brown Band rose to prominence through the chart-topping country singles “Chicken Fried” and “Toes,” tracks that evoked the country-rock style of the 1970s. For a period the ensemble sustained that approach, landing another relaxed, coastal success via “Knee Deep” while honoring their ’70s singer/songwriter lineage through the mellow, polished ballad “Colder Weather,” yet they soon revealed themselves as an energetic jam ensemble equally inclined to raise volume levels or settle into a fluid rhythm. Such exploratory impulses prompted Zac Brown Band to record a 2014 EP alongside Foo Fighters rocker Dave Grohl and to immerse themselves in mainstream pop on 2019’s The Owl, moves that simultaneously built an enduring audience ready to follow their shifts. Brown occasionally ventured outside the Zac Brown Band—he launched the dance-pop outfit Sir Rosevelt in 2016 and issued his first solo album, The Controversy, in 2020—though he consistently rejoined the collective.

Atlanta native Zac Brown spent his childhood in the Lake Lanier area of the north Georgia mountains. Growing up in a blended household with his mother and dentist stepfather, Brown discovered music young, picking up his mother’s guitar at age eight. His broad listening habits encompassed pop, country, bluegrass, and rock, elements that surfaced in his own compositions. As a teenager he began performing these originals plus chosen covers at coffee houses, and while enrolled at the University of West Georgia he increased his live appearances.

By 2002 Brown assembled the first incarnation of Zac Brown Band, which performed steadily across the South. He established his independent label Southern Ground—originally named Home Grown—in 2003, and his business activities expanded further the next year when he and his father launched Zac’s Place, a Lake Oconee eatery showcasing regional acts. A developer later purchased the venue; Brown used the proceeds to acquire a tour bus and fund his debut album, Home Grown, issued in 2004.

Over 2004 Zac Brown Band continued to solidify, as fiddle player/vocalist Jimmy De Martini entered a roster that already included drummer Marcus Petruska. Multi-instrumentalist John Driskell Hopkins, who had produced Home Grown, joined next on bass. In 2006 guitarist/pianist Coy Bowles became a permanent member, after which the group signed with Live Nation Artists Records.

Zac Brown Band’s major-label debut, The Foundation, appeared in 2008. Live Nation Artists Records soon faltered, yet Atlantic assumed the contract and propelled the first single, the sunlit “Chicken Fried,” to the top of Country Airplay; three further tracks from the set—“Toes,” “Highway 20 Ride,” and “Free”—duplicated that feat, while “Whatever It Is” reached number two on the same chart.

Shortly after The Foundation’s release, Petruska departed and Chris Fryar stepped in; multi-instrumentalist Clay Cook joined soon afterward. This configuration delivered the 2010 album You Get What You Give, which entered Billboard’s Top 200 at number one and featured collaborations with two of Brown’s heroes: Alan Jackson on “As She’s Walking Away” and Jimmy Buffett on “Knee Deep,” both number-one country singles. “Colder Weather” and the relaxed “Keep Me in Mind” also topped the chart, and “No Hurry” peaked at number two.

With percussionist Daniel de los Reyes added as a full-time member, Zac Brown Band broadened their scope on 2012’s Uncaged, creating music that resisted strict country categorization. Although the album opened at number one on the Billboard charts and yielded Country Airplay leaders “Goodbye in Her Eyes” and “Sweet Annie” plus the number-two “Jump Right In,” it ventured into rock-oriented terrain. The band highlighted that direction by cutting an EP with Dave Grohl, the ex-Nirvana drummer who fronts Foo Fighters. Released in 2014 as The Grohl Sessions, Vol. 1, the EP reached number 25 on the Billboard Top 200. By its arrival, bassist Matt Mangano had joined Zac Brown Band, shifting John Driskell Hopkins to a wider instrumental role.

In 2015 Zac Brown Band entered a joint arrangement with Big Machine and Republic Records and issued Jekyll + Hyde under the new deal. The set, which included appearances by Chris Cornell, Sara Bareilles, and Jewel, debuted at number one on Billboard and generated three number-one country singles: “Homegrown,” “Loving You Is Easy,” and “Beautiful Drug.”

Brown pursued further experiments in 2016 by forming the dance-pop group Sir Rosevelt. When the Sir Rosevelt album surfaced in December 2017, Zac Brown Band had already reverted to their relaxed origins on the Dave Cobb–produced Welcome Home, released by Elektra; its lead single “My Old Man” climbed to number 14 on Country Airplay and “Roots” reached number 36.

After moving to BMG, Zac Brown Band delivered The Owl in September 2019. Crafted with an array of high-profile producers, the album debuted at number two following its September 20 release. One week later Brown startled listeners by issuing The Controversy, his debut solo album, recorded with many of the same producers. The track “The Man Who Loves You the Most” followed in June 2020.

Neither The Owl nor The Controversy yielded radio successes—the non-album 2020 single “The Man Who Loves You the Most” likewise failed to register—so Zac Brown Band relocated to Warner Music Nashville for their subsequent release, The Comeback. Fronted by “Same Boat,” a relaxed, coastal number recalling “Toes” and “Chicken Fried” that reached number three on Country Airplay, the album intentionally reclaimed the band’s foundational sound and entered the chart at number 27 upon its October 2021 arrival.