Zach Bryan- The Great American Bar Scene
Label: Warner
Producer: Zach Bryan
“I’m a mechanical bull/Throw a quarter in me and watch me go.” This line, from the track “Mechanical Bull”, would be an appropriate metaphor to describe the relentlessly prolific pace at which Zach Bryan bestows new music upon us. The Great American Bar Scene and its nineteen originals arrive just ten months after his blockbuster self-titled release, which itself was released only fifteen months after his 2022 breakthrough double album, American Heartbreak. That’s not to mention the additional two EPs and live album that were interspersed in between. Remarkably, all of this intense artistic achievement has coincided with an unprecedented rise to superstardom for an indie, roots-based artist. Not only has Bryan emerged as the heir apparent to the thrones of Americana kings like Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, and Tyler Childers before him, but he has transcended those origins by becoming a bona-fide American superstar and one of the premier box office draws across all corners of music. With no mainstream backing, and an emphasis on lo-fi production and heavy song-craft, his rise unequivocally stands as one of the most inspired musical success stories in a generation, not to mention a new framework for what kind of massive breakthroughs are possible in the streaming era. As the hype surrounding Bryan intensified in the time leading up to this album, the public pressures placed on his musical path likewise swelled. Would he finally embrace his reluctant status as a country music superstar? Would his creative fire burn out given the rapid pace of output? Would he finally leave his scrappy, lo-fi approach in the past and make the kind of full-scale production worthy of a blockbuster headliner? Refreshingly, aside from a few lyrical acknowledgements of his life-changing success, industry speculation seems to have done nothing to sway Bryan from the unconventional approach that has been precisely the key to his organic success and authentic appeal. Few artists on similar trajectories would have demonstrated that same will-power. In turn, The Great American Bar Scene is another musical feast that serves up the same kind of intensely raw moments that have defined Bryan’s career to this point. His unfiltered pen and appealingly imperfect vocals show no signs of losing their emotionally triumphant impact, and his role as a new generation voice for the common man experience feels unshakable. Loosely a concept album based around the sorts of everyday people that would occupy a small-town tavern, the record ruggedly and unflinchingly balances blue-collar storytelling with Bryan’s own heart-on-sleeve biographies that will continue to gracefully draw parallels with the real-life experiences of its listeners, even as he’s bemoaning his accidental wealth and fame. There’s a newly discernible Heartland Rock influence bleeding throughout the record, with rustic anthems like the title track, “American Nights”, the brassy and amplified “Oak Island”, and “Boons” feeling like what John Mellencamp’s biggest 80s hits would have sounded like if he had recorded them within his stripped post-millennium sound. The most obvious influence however proves to be Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen (who also fittingly appears on album highlight, “Sandpaper”), of which fingerprints abound across pensive material like “Pink Skies”, the Nashville-dismissive “Like Ida”, and especially “28”, which immediately feels like a new definitive self-portrait in his body of work. Like Zach Bryan before it, collaborations also abound with the Boss being just one name on a guest list also including John Moreland (“Memphis; The Blues”), Noeline Hofmann (“Purple Gas”), and John Mayer (guitar on “Better Days”). This trend of features only further adds to the notion that Zach Bryan records are events, and more importantly these collaborations only stand to enhance rather than distract from the core identify of Bryan’s musical statements. But there really is no denying that a Zach Bryan release in 2024 is indeed a momentous pop music event. And they are so without having to ever sacrifice any Americana elements or imperfections, qualities that will likewise continue to register it as another highlight in the canon of roots albums that have quietly kept America’s musical heart beating for the past three decades. And what a uniquely triumphant moment it is that those two vastly different touchstones can, finally in 2024, be one and the same.
Track Listing:
- “Lucky Enough (Poem)” (Zach Bryan)
- “Mechanical Bull” (Bryan)
- “The Great American Bar Scene” (Bryan)
- “28” (Bryan)
- “American Nights” (Bryan)
- “Oak Island” (Bryan)
- “Purple Gas” featuring Noeline Hofmann (Hofmann)
- “Boons” (Bryan)
- “The Way Back” (Bryan, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance)
- “Memphis; The Blues” featuring John Moreland (Bryan, Moreland)
- “Like Ida” (Bryan)
- “Bass Boat” (Bryan)
- “Better Days” featuring John Mayer (Bryan)
- “Towers” (Bryan)
- “Sandpaper” featuring Bruce Springsteen (Bryan)
- “Northern Thunder (Bryan)
- “Funny Man” (Bryan)
- “Pink Skies” (Bryan)
- “Bathwater” (Bryan)
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