Zac Brown Band

Zac Brown Band

The Zac Brown Band are one of my favorite current country bands at the moment. They seem to have an easy going attitude which I like. Some songs I really like from them are;

“Toes”, “Chicken Fried”, “Highway 20 Ride” and “Goodbye in Her Eyes” being 4 of my particular favorites.

Okay a bit of history, the Zac Brown Band are based in Atlanta Georgia the line up at the current moment in time consists of;

Zac Brown(born July 31, 1978) (lead guitar,guitar)

Jimmy De Martini (born August 3, 1976) (fiddle, vocals)

John Driskell Hopkins(born May 3, 1971) (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar,banjo,ukulele,upright bass,vocals)

Coy Bowles(born February 20, 1979) (guitar, keyboards)

Chris Fryar(born November 22, 1970) (drums)

Clay Cook(born April 20, 1978) (guitar, keyboards, mandolin,steel guitar, vocals),

Matt Mangano (born May 12, 1976) (bass guitar)

Daniel de los Reyes(born July 18, 1962) (percussion).

Zac Brown began playing solo gigs while in high school performing both covers and original material. Whilst at College Brown performed had a band called “Far from Einstyne” and they produced a cd that they sold at gigs. When the band broke up he and trhe drummer performed as a duo for a while, after 9/11 Brown reevaluated his life and soon left College to perform full time. 

The first Zac Brown Band was put together in 2002 and performed around 200 gigs a year (an achievement still kept up today).

In 2003 Brown created his music label Home Grown later changed to Southern Ground for legal reasons, in the same year the album “Home Grown” was released then “Live from the Rock Bus Tour” in 2005, both albums became a success. In 2004 he opened a music club and restaurant serving southern food, when a developer bought the restaurant Brown hit the road full time with the band playing festivals and gigs in country and rock clubs. In 2006 they created the first album “The Foundation” first on Southern Ground then Live Nation and when Live Nation folded Atlantic Records took over, Atlantic rereleased “The Foundation” nationally in 2007 and the first single “Chicken Fried” was a hit getting platinum status. 

After that followed numerous albums both live and studio (including a “Greatest Hits” album released in 2014 ready for the holiday season) and the relentless touring continued, in between he set up a camp for kids with learning difficulties.

Check these great ZBB videos;