Zach Bryan- Zach Bryan
Label: Warner
Producers: Zach Bryan, Eddie Spear
Over the span of four short years, Zach Bryan has become one of the truly remarkable ascendance stories in all of music, going from a YouTube sensation to a grassroots country-rock hero, and one of the most lucrative new touring acts in the game. This, of course, all comes without even one top-twenty radio single to his credit. His trajectory is an undeniable indicator of the rapidly changing channels and barometers of star-making success in the music industry, in a decade that will surely see digital avenues like streaming and Internet virality finally snuff out dated, traditional gate-keepers like terrestrial radio. Continuing down that unconventional path, Zach Bryan arrives abruptly without any pre-release promotion, and has already set pace to become one of the year’s biggest commercial successes, and it’s undoubtedly one of the year’s best records too. It’s another sterling collection built upon the same gritty songwriting, roots-based arrangements, and honest, hair-raising performances that have made modern legends out of obvious influences like Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson, not to mention Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. The set opens with a spoken poem, “Fear and Fridays”, which soulfully utters that both are “overdone, and glorified, and always leave you wanting.” None of these distinctions can be leveled against the album itself, despite the fact that it “only” offers up sixteen tracks, less than half of what populated last year’s triple-album breakthrough and instant classic, American Heartbreak. Bryan belongs to an elite crop of singer-songwriters that can so magically and painfully capture how so much of our life experience is spent trying to stop both our loved ones, and time itself, from slipping through our fingers. And too often, we spend that fleeting time gifted to us squarely running away from or after those people and places that we love so dearly. It’s a central theme that runs through his music, whether it be on tormented romancers like “Summertime’s Close”, “Jake’s Piano- Long Island”, and “El Dorado”, painful self-examinations like “Oklahoman Son” or confrontations of one’s lineage like “Overtime”, and especially on “East Side of Sorrow”, a harrowing reflection on his Navy past. Also boasting four collaborations (featuring the likes of Kacey Musgraves, The War and Treaty, Sierra Ferrell, and The Lumineers), the album makes clear that Bryan has rightfully earned the admiration of his roots music peers, and each of these tracks is a highlight in their own right. It’s clearly evident that Zach Bryan’s moment has arrived and that it’s merely in its infancy. If he’s not on your radar as of yet, what the hell are you waiting for?
Track Listing:
- “Fear and Fridays (Poem)” (Zach Bryan)
- “Overtime” (Bryan)
- “Summertime’s Close” (Bryan)
- “East Side of Sorrow” (Bryan)
- “Hey Driver” featuring The War and Treaty (Bryan)
- “Fear and Fridays” (Bryan)
- “Ticking” (Bryan, Justin Byrd)
- “Holy Roller” featuring Sierra Ferrell (Bryan)
- “Jake’s Piano- Long Island” (Bryan)
- “El Dorado” (Bryan)
- “I Remember Everything” (featuring Kacey Musgraves) (Bryan, Kacey Musgraves)
- “Tourniquet” (Bryan)
- “Spotless” featuring The Lumineers (Zach Bryan, Wesley Schultz, Jeremiah Fraites)
- “Tradesman” (Bryan)
- “Smaller Acts” (Bryan)
- “Oklahoman Son” (Bryan)
The 706 
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