Zac Brown Says the Band’s Returning to Their Roots in New Album
Don’t blame me for taking an “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude after listening to “Beautiful Drug” and “Tomorrow Never Comes” off of their latest album Jekyll + Hyde, but Zac Brown and the Zac Brown Band have just released a new missive putting their fans on alert that they’re heading back into the studio soon, and will be “returning to their roots” on the new album.
We’ll have to see if those roots are “Chicken Fried,” or some other version of the band when they’ve challenged for the role of being one of the best things that mainstream country can offer. But according to the band, it could be along the same lines of their now 5-times platinum record from 2008, The Foundation.
“Hey everybody, this is a message for our fans, for all the ZBB fans. Thank you so much for all your loyalty and all of the love you’ve given us over the years,” Zac Brown says in the message recorded on a tour bus and posted on Wednesday (9-7).
After patting himself on the back for Jekyll + Hyde going platinum, Zac says “We’re going in this winter to make a brand new ZBB record, straight back to our roots, Foundation-style (referring to the band’s 2008 record). It’s going to be an amazing album, we’re very excited to announce to you that we’re making the new one, and thank you again for everything that you do for us.”
The message seems a little strange coming from the band. Usually artists like to keep album news close to the vest until album artwork, a release date, or usually the first single are released, but it does seem to symbolize that the band sees the need for a change of direction, and sees the importance of letting their fans know about it sooner than later.
If nothing else, Jekyll+Hyde was ambitious, trying to court not just country fans, but fans of rock and progressive metal, pop and EDM. It felt like an album intended to launch Zac Brown Band into an entirely new stratosphere, but its “jack of all trades, master of none” approach failed to receive much mainstream traction beyond the band’s already-established tentacles.
Zac Brown’s seeming desire to launch some sort of EDM presence, including collaborating with Avicii, failed to garner any long-term presence in the genre. Perhaps the band has finally woken up to the fact that they are who they are—a jammy-style Southern rock band from Georgia. Much of Jekyll+Hyde didn’t even feature a lot of instrumentation for Zac Brown’s stellar band.
Before we can sound any bells that the best years of the Zac Brown band could be in the offing once again, we should probably hear some of the new material. But Zac Brown sure is talking the talk. Zac just better not hear what Bobby Bones has to say about holding on to your roots, or he may second guess his decision.
— Zac Brown Band (@zacbrownband) September 7, 2016
Jim
September 7, 2016 @ 11:22 am
If I were them I’d be doing my best to erase any memory of that horrible Chris Cornell collaboration too…
Jacob Sudduth
September 7, 2016 @ 6:11 pm
Heavy is the Head is one of their best songs. It’s not country but that in no way means it’s a bad song.
Rod Johnson
September 7, 2016 @ 6:28 pm
Nit country but a good song.
Kent
September 7, 2016 @ 11:39 am
Hopefully he’s gotten rid of Mr. “Hyde”… 🙂
Kross
September 7, 2016 @ 11:44 am
Thank goodness!! When they were playing parking lots in Buckhead their song selection was all over the place Tom Petty, Van Morrison and the standard county covers, but that EDM crap came out of left field for me.
ElectricOutcast
September 7, 2016 @ 11:58 am
“I’ll believe it when I see it” yeah can’t say I blame you but simultaneously what turned me off from listening to these guys in general was “Chicken Fried” out of all them. I cannot tell you how much I wanna put a knife in my mouth everytime I hear that song.
Scotty J
September 7, 2016 @ 12:03 pm
‘Returning To Their Roots’
Well, I guess that means they don’t want to grow!
Warthog
September 7, 2016 @ 12:11 pm
Yes!
I wasn’t having the best day, but this was just the kind of news I needed. I understand the “believe it when I see it” attitude toward this, but I am pumped. Can’t wait for the new album from ZBB, and I’m glad they (or rather, Zac) stI’ll remember where they came from, and aren’t ready to denounce that completely.
Jen
September 7, 2016 @ 12:35 pm
Never really liked them, personally. They have great voices, but song choices are another story altogether. There are some I love, but some are just awful. Some were just played to death! I honestly rarely listen to mainstream anymore, so I couldn’t really care less.
Mike
September 7, 2016 @ 12:58 pm
I hope in addition to instrumentation and stronger originals, he means more great cover songs like “Jolene.”
rockies
September 7, 2016 @ 1:00 pm
Jekyll + Hyde made me want to kick Zac Brown in the nuts!
I didn’t even look at their tour dates this summer…and until last year I had seen them at least one time every year.
The band has some great skills and the Jekyll + Hyde live show was a total crap fest.
I do hope they return to their roots. Their “roots” version of Junkyard makes what appeared on Jekyll + Hyde look like something out of a nightmare of bad ideas and what Music Row has become.
Trigger
September 7, 2016 @ 1:27 pm
I can’t help but wonder if this direction, and specifically this announcement wasn’t some answer to lagging ticket sales and a general malaise for growth in the band that they’re now having to acknowledge since it’s patently clear that Zac Brown Band is not going to transition into some top-tier popular music act on the level of Taylor Swift and Adele. Of course, this corner of the internet only represents one segment (and a pretty jaded and judgemental one) of the music populous, but I’ve seen so much anger at the direction of “Jekyll + Hyde,” I can’t imagine that hasn’t filtered its way back to the band and management. If everything went as planned with the last album, there would be no need to reverse course.
Nadia Lockheart
September 7, 2016 @ 3:11 pm
Honestly, I think it’s a combination of two things.
Firstly, Zac Brown thinks more like a CEO above all else so, as cynical as it sounds, have to concede this decision was more than likely informed by underwhelming commercial returns for “JEKYLL + HYDE”.
The second was being caught up in an awkward and unsettling drug bust controversy earlier on this cycle. Even if he had nothing to do with this incident (presumably), it still underscored how the company Zac Brown was keeping seemed a distraction from the image generally attributed to him. Even though he sang about being “Homegrown”, the pictures and news weren’t reflecting that. So I think the uncomfortable scrutiny Zac Brown got for the hotel drug bust resulted in some self-reflection on his end and, to his credit, I think he is wisening up again to what matters most…………and wants the band’s music to reflect that as well. Hopefully, anyway.
Trigger
September 7, 2016 @ 10:28 pm
Very good point about the drug bust. I had completely forgotten about that. One of the most brushed-under-the-rug stories of 2016. You could be on to something there.
Nadia Lockheart
September 8, 2016 @ 1:02 am
And if that is later confirmed somehow, I suppose we should all be fiercely relieved that unsettling instance occurred. Otherwise, even if his intentions were mainly pure, Zac Brown would have possibly been lured further down that precarious tightrope between authenticity and fame and could have been met with a much ruder awakening down the line.
And if that incident truly brought Zac Brown shock, elf-reflection and perhaps remorse, then good for him that he is making larger steps to ground himself to the same altitude as his fellow bandmates and so forth. That’s something we should encourage.
Lunchbox
September 7, 2016 @ 1:07 pm
after selling out the fans who got them to where they are, maybe they should try a little bit harder with the ass kissing. if any of my favorite bands try pulling that Jekyll and Hyde bullshit they wouldn’t see another penny from me.
albert
September 7, 2016 @ 1:30 pm
Hmmm …..I knew ZBB had alienated a few followers but I had no idea there was such little love around here for them . I think when the gun’s to your head to crank out ‘product’ , the product will sound like the gun was to your head .That’s why MOST acts deliver the superior goods on their first or second outings ( best foot forward , LOTS of material stored up to choose from , drawing from your roots ..etc.. ) When you are committed to cranking out product under contract the trend -chasing sets in , time is a factor and second-guessing takes a higher priority . I am not a huge fan of this band as I think most of their material seems less than fully realized ( rock , ECM , or otherwise ) while their sound has become almost completely unfocused and at best generic . I think they are capable of much better than they’ve produced thus far…and I think it probably should fall under the country/rootsy umbrella . But I also think they need some writing help if they want songs that have staying power AND relevance .
Stringbuzz
September 7, 2016 @ 1:34 pm
Bands can make mistakes with their direction.
Especially when they become successful. I hated the last album for the most part and ZB often sounded like a douchebag when talking about it, and the market segments, etc.
This is welcome news.
Shame to waste the talent in that band on shyt.
I saw them live a few years back and they were spectacular.
With the exception of a couple corny songs here and there I really like most of their discography.
So, we shall see.
albert
September 7, 2016 @ 1:35 pm
”…..if any of my favorite bands try pulling that Jekyll and Hyde bullshit they wouldn’t see another penny from me. ”
Too funny ,Lunchbox
” Don’t ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ me, man “
Jack Williams
September 8, 2016 @ 6:49 am
Jekyll and Hyde me once, shame on you
Jekyll and Hyde me twice, shame on me
Cool Lester Smooth
September 7, 2016 @ 2:04 pm
Thank God.
I unabashedly love You Get What You Give and Uncaged, so Jekyll + Hyde pissed me off to no end.
At their best, these guys are a perfect gateway drug into real country.
Chris
September 7, 2016 @ 2:07 pm
After buying their last several CDs and noticing their artistic quality dissipate rapidly, I won’t be buying anymore of their CDs.
There are more quality artists out there cutting CDs than I can accommodate already, so I won’t buy their next offering on the hope that it is something I can tolerate.
Nadia Lockheart
September 7, 2016 @ 3:06 pm
Called it!
I said “JEKYLL + HYDE” would be akin to the “Everyday” era for the Dave Matthews Band and that, given Zac Brown thinks like a CEO above all else, he had to have seen the diminished returns of this era as a disappointment and thus, much like Dave Matthews wisely did when he realized his fans wanted “The Lilywhite Sessions” more than his solo album packaged under the Dave Matthews Band name, Zac Brown would swallow his pride and follow suit.
*
At the same time, when they say they’re “going back to their roots”, I hope they mean more of a re-focusing on their chemistry as a band without any sort of hierarchy, and songs with a bit more intimacy, storytelling and that would translate well if strummed on a front porch.
Because I personally consider the songwriting of “The Foundation” to be inferior of that to “Uncaged” most notably, as well as “The Grohl Sessions: Volume 1”. I do hope their next album is more songwriting-centric more than anything.
Because, oddly enough, the best-written original songs on “JEKYLL + HYDE” were the hard rockers “Heavy Is The Head” and “Junkyard” (and the latter’s origin well pre-dated even their major label debut). Aside from “Bittersweet”, pretty much the entire rest of the album’s originals were shallow in the lyrical department. And I don’t really want them to ape “The Foundation” when it comes to lyrics because that album had its share of disposable filler too. Tracks like “Different Kind of Fine” and “Where The Boat Leaves From” never did anything for me and, obviously, “Chicken Fried”.
I know I’ve been giving Zac Brown a rather hard time with all my satirical posts within the past year mocking Zac Brown as a decent man who was nonetheless kidnapped by Scott Borchetta and Mikel Knight, given a lobotomy, had a nanotechnology chip installed in his cortex that programs him as a malicious, devious tycoon adamant about sucking any vestige of artistic identity in the mainstream country sphere and the scars concealed via a tophat installed upon his head by John Varvatos. But in all seriousness, I don’t even see the need to “forgive” him as long as the kind of music he’s making has heart to it.
Some of the experimentations from “JEKYLL + HYDE” DID have heart to them: namely the pair of heavy rockers. Others, especially “Beautiful Drug”, just didn’t. On the other hand, I thought most of the weakest songs on the album were actually the ones that sounded closest to country radio persuasions like “Young & Wild”, “Wildfire” and to a lesser extent “One Day”. They didn’t try nearly as hard to be “out there”, but they were bereft of heart to my ears.
They need to stop overthinking their sound and more what they’re about and what they have to say. I actually hope it’s not long before we get Volume II of “The Grohl Sessions” because I think the material from the first EP provides a great roadmap for where the band can go from here and still sound as though like they’re growing and moving forward rather than settling into a comfort zone.
Two Feathers
September 11, 2016 @ 12:39 am
Nadia, I would like to know why you don’t like chicken-fried, and perhaps explain why it is so universally disliked here. I have always found it to be a nice pick-me-up type song when I’m not in the best mood. Is it a great song? Certainly not, but I do believe it is not nearly so offensive as everyone here says, especially considering that laundry list songs were not even popular at that point.
Btw I ask you because you, along with Trig, seem to be the most level headed people on this site.
RWP
September 7, 2016 @ 4:09 pm
Good news.I’d even be okay If he threw in a little of “You Get What You Give” in there too.
I also hope he leaves that stupid fn top hat with Hyde too.
Stephanie G.
September 7, 2016 @ 6:51 pm
I don’t know how old the song is and I realize it was credited to Zac Brown solo, but “Grandma’s Garden” off of Southern Family was a solid offering. If ZBB wants to keep in THAT lane, I’d be happy to have a new album like that.
Nadia Lockheart
September 8, 2016 @ 1:09 am
Yeah, that was a great song! =)
KeepItCountryKids
September 7, 2016 @ 7:07 pm
Thanks guys, but the “big bearded guy who actually plays and writes country music in the mainstream” role has been filled by Chris Stapleton. There can only be one. Go hang out with Jamey Johnson and wait your turn.
Brian
September 7, 2016 @ 7:38 pm
That sounds like a very successful formula for advancing good country music. I don’t care if there are fifty guys with beards playing country music, if it is good then let it flow.
Robert S.
September 8, 2016 @ 6:50 pm
There are a lot of bearded guys doing great country music today. To name a few, Cody Jinks, Matt Woods, and Whitey Morgan.
TheRealBobCephus
September 7, 2016 @ 7:49 pm
I felt like the band reached this really great place with the Grohl Sessions, and then they dumped Jekyl and Hyde on us….If they can find more of what made the Grohl Sessions so good, I would settle for like 8 or 9 tracks instead of their usual double digit totals
Chris
September 8, 2016 @ 12:24 am
Honestly I feel like the band has taken the kenny chesney route. Most of what they put out now has a real island sound to it and is borderline reggae. Chicken fried was a good song to start out with but the next several singles all sounded the same musically. The band became rather boring. After a few years they ended up where they are now and honestly I feel like they don’t really have much more room to go. I’ll be interested to see how this new album turn out.
Nadia Lockheart
September 8, 2016 @ 1:16 am
It seems like it has been a tradition from the onset of their major label career to cut two island songs per album.
With “The Foundation”, we got “Toes” and “Where The Boat Leaves From”. With “You Get What You Give”, we got “Knee Deep” and “Settle Me Down” (lyrically it’s not easy-breezy but musically it certainly is). With “Uncaged” we got “Jump Right In” and “The Island Song”. And with their current album, we got “Castaway” and “Mango Tree” (musically not island-sounding, but lyrically definitely so).
I agree this formula has been getting stale since none of their more recent island songs are remotely as quirky and fun as “Toes”. But I acknowledge it seems to be a ritual the band has chosen to adopt to date for each full-length release.
Kingpete
September 8, 2016 @ 6:58 am
Island songs = beer and spirits endorsements. Two island songs doubles those odds.
Johnny Rebel
September 9, 2016 @ 7:33 am
I don’t see how “island songs” are even Country. I’d rather visit the Smokies, Rockies…or anywhere else in this beautiful country than some fake paradise.
Nathan Burnham
September 8, 2016 @ 12:09 pm
As a fan of all of Zac Brown Bands music styles out does not bother me or excite me on going back to their roots. In excited for more of their music. 99 % of the time, when a band changes their style I do not like it but with ZBB, it felt like an original style that still meant something to them. As a country fan, ZBB still felt like an independent artist group, unlike most of the rinse and repeat country I hear on the radio.
Kenneth Coker
September 8, 2016 @ 6:46 pm
I was a ZBB fan from day 1. I am disheartened with the atrocious offering of their latest album and thankful I did not purchase it. I am taking a wait and see approach to forgiving them for their transgressions.
Johnny Rebel
September 9, 2016 @ 7:31 am
Just tinkering with the idea of messing with EDM pretty much flushes my respect down the toilet. I’m just going to have to pretend I never heard of ZBB and hear their new stuff with a clear mind. I don’t care for sellouts that try to come back
Michigan Music
September 9, 2016 @ 7:35 am
Seems we’ve settled on 2 possible routes the band has taken with Jekyll & Hyde (for the record I’d give the album 6 / 10. Interesting music, even if not country, and a few songs I really enjoyed)
#1: Innocently they were trying to do something different to test themselves, as a little project, as something different, etc. They are all great musicians and fans of music thus leading them a bit away from country for this effort. Now, that’s behind them and they are back to it and the path they were on before
#2: They purposefully tried to push the envelope of their sound, and their fan reach with J&H. They wanted to be bigger than just country. The CEO and ‘markets’ comments certainly support this. For whatever reason, they/their mgmnt did not get the feedback and results they had hoped for and now are tucking their tail and returning ‘to their roots’. Look for their next single to be called Comeback Kid.
I want to believe #1 because I’ve been a huge fan of their skills, their songs, their story telling – but the general skepticism around here and by Trigger pushes the odds in favor of #2 being the reality.
Loudist
September 9, 2016 @ 3:01 pm
Only 3 of the current group were even around for the Foundation recordings, including Zac. It’s a different band now.
thebugman10
September 10, 2016 @ 6:43 pm
I hope ZBB does go back to their old sound, but I also wish they would get back in the studio with Dave Grohl.
Anyways, in my opinion, Colder Weather and Natural Disaster are my two favorite ZBB songs.