This Zac Brown “Sir Rosevelt” Side Project Business
I’ll tell you exactly what’s going on with Zac Brown folks. He’s tired of just playing country and Southern rock, and he would sell out his entire career and fritter away all the cred he’s accrued with dedicated fans for going on two decades just for the chance to indulge his fancy that he can be some sort of power player in the weirdo hybrid Molly-dropping, glo-stick twirling bullshit EDM pop world. He decided to drag the entirety of the eight-member Zac Brown Band along with him in this lark on numerous occasions in the band’s last record Jekyll+Hyde, and even rope-a-doped country radio by releasing the idiotic and base “Beautiful Drug” as a single after Zac Brown initially promised that he wouldn’t.
In early September, Zac Brown posted a short video out of the blue announcing that The Zac Brown Band would be returning to the studio soon, and returning to their roots in new recordings. Beyond the odd timing, it was an admission of guilt that in moments, Jekyll+Hyde had gone way too far off the page and pissed off many loyal Zac Brown fans. The “back to our roots” announcement was also perfectly-curated posturing for what Zac Brown really had in store for the future.
Zac Brown now thinks he has it all figured out. Instead of putting the name “Zac Brown Band” on tracks that are basically him and some prick behind a MacBook, or waking up to the reality that all of this EDM garbage is the absolute antithesis of what Zac Brown Band fans want or expect from him and he’s terrible at it, he’s decided he’ll launch a side project, and hopefully that will stop everyone’s bitching about his EDM fetish, and he can satiate his stupid desire unfettered.
But all of this Sir Rosevelt stuff arguably makes things worse. Sure, call a spade a spade and if you want to make electronic music, actually call it that and credit the people who created it instead of calling it country. That was the irony of tracks like “Beautiful Drug” and “Tomorrow Never Comes” from Jekyll+Hyde. Here Zac Brown has assembled this badass band of some of the most top skilled instrumentalists in the business, yet the biggest single from the album barely featured any of them. Zac Brown Band has a full time fiddle player, and he performed on maybe two songs on the entire 16-song Jekyll+Hyde project.
But Zac Brown is the franchise, so everyone around him just goes along with wherever his whims take him. He’s like Shooter Jennings whose indulged his own dalliances into the weird electronic world without anyone around him willing to say, “Hey, is this really what you want to put your name behind?” because everyone around these guys sees them as their gravy train or stepping stone to their next big thing.
I don’t have any problem with electronic dance music or the people who enjoy it. If that’s what awakens your lust for life, then go crazy. And I’m sure there’s some artists out there doing some excellent and creative things in the electronic music realm. But Zac Brown is not one of them, and neither are these two lackeys he’s teamed up with.
Notice that in their original announcement of Sir Rosevelt, engineer Ben Simonetti—another Sir Rosevelt member—is sitting behind a Mac? So you can’t get away from your Apple products for three minutes even to make a stupid video? That shows you just how non-organic this collaboration is. They’re not huddling around acoustic guitars and legal pads, they’re composing beats and “sonic beds” around a laptop. Ben Simonetti is credited for “programming” on Zac Brown Band’s “Beautiful Drug.” And the other Sir Rosevelt member, Niko Moon, co-wrote “Beautiful Drug” with Zac. Basically Sir Rosevelt is the “Beautiful Drug” team formed into a band so Zac won’t wreck his country franchise with this formulaic pop nonsense. I mean they’re smoking hookahs in suit vests in the band photos. Could these dudes be more self-important?
What happened to the Zac Brown of The Grohl Sessions? How in God’s name did we go from that to this? It is not just about Zac Brown veering so completely off the beaten path that it alienates some closed-minded country listeners, it’s that the end result is just not very good. Sir Rosevelt is Zac Brown doubling down on this terrible direction, not making it better by isolating it from the Zac Brown Band brand. And as much as they want to present this as an autonomous project, of course they’re using Zac Brown Band social properties and infrastructure to get it out to the world, because otherwise nobody would be paying attention to it. All Sir Rosevelt will do is suck time, energy, and other resources away from the Zac Brown Band.
It appears that Zac Brown has spent too much time being bathed in adulation, and it’s all gone to his head. Remember the report about him being found in a hotel room at 2:40 in the morning with strippers and cocaine? That has got the be the most brushed under the rug country music story in 2016. Brown’s contracted some sort of weird version of music megalomania where he thinks he can do anything and be anybody, while he’s fallen head first into the dance club lifestyle. He’s a Georgia hillbilly that’s been dazzled by the bright lights of the big city. He wants to be a megastar and launch clothing brands. He wants to be the biggest thing in music. And you can’t do that by just fronting a Southern rock band.
Zac Brown can do a lot of things in music very well. But EDM is just not one of them. I’m all for artists exploring creative boundaries and “evolving” and all of that, but only if it’s truly evolution and working in new forms of creative expression instead of falling in line with whatever they think is most popular at the moment and will get them the most attention. And the sad part is, it’s very questionable if it will even work. “Beautiful Drug” failed before Big Machine put a big budget and pulled their industry strings to make it a marionetted success, and so far Sir Rosevelt looks like more of a musical oddity than a commercial success.
Bring back the beanie version of Zac Brown. This shit is awful.
Turn it up and watch @SirRosevelt’s debut music video, Sunday Finest! #NewMusicFriday pic.twitter.com/6KHPP0egHd
— Sir Rosevelt (@SirRosevelt) September 29, 2016
seak05
October 3, 2016 @ 7:26 am
If Zac Brown wants to make bad EDM (or good EDM, honestly I can’t stand EDM in general, whatever, that’s my bias) then go forth. If it’s labelled EDM, sent to pop radio, and all his fans know it’s EDM, who cares? Some of his fans will want to buy it bc they just like Zac that much, other fans won’t bc they only
like country Zac.
Do I wish thta he wanted to go back to making good country music? Yes. But I also get wanting to try new things, & indulge in other areas that interest you. This way he’s letting me know that I can ignore anything he puts out as Sir Roosevelt.
JC Eldredge
October 3, 2016 @ 7:49 am
This sounds like a generic song in a commercial for hispter beard oil or some sort of juice made out of grass and coconut oil.
John Dowling
October 3, 2016 @ 7:33 pm
“hipster beard oil” lol what a concept! thanks you made me laugh
The Ghost of Buckshot Jones
October 4, 2016 @ 6:08 am
Most people just call it “beard oil”. If you’ve got anything more than a 2 week scruff, it’s a necessity if you don’t want to look homeless.
BwareDWare94
October 4, 2016 @ 7:47 am
ROFL. The only time beard oil is a necessity is never. It’s just a dumb trend product that lumberjack-looking dumbasses who can’t even change tires buy because their masculinity is so threatened by their overwhelming lack of male traits that they feel it necessary to compensate.
RD
October 4, 2016 @ 6:12 am
Just make sure its in an “old timey” package and is infused with Organic Hops. Also, make sure that it comes in a real small package, so you know its good and rare.
Chris
October 3, 2016 @ 8:00 am
I foolishly bought a few of this band’s CDs without first listening to its music on youtube.
What a waste.
I won’t make that mistake again.
RD
October 3, 2016 @ 8:02 am
Haha. Complete shit. I want to be on record for always thinking Zac Brown was a douchebag and that his music was terrible. Is Zac Brown starring in an updated version of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas? Nikki Minaj as Miss Mona? That swarthy looking dude in the video as Sheriff Dodd and Zac Brown as Sheriff Dodd’s fluffer?
Jim Bob
October 3, 2016 @ 8:09 am
Haha! People used to think I was nuts for thinking the guy was a douche back when chicken fried was big and I seemed to be the only one who hated everything about it. I still hate that stupid ass song
ElectricOutcast
October 3, 2016 @ 8:04 am
The only place I would rather go for Electronic Dance Music in general is listening to the music of Dance Dance Revolution because believe me when I say this, some of the music they pick for DDR is pretty fucking dark I’m not shitting you. Too bad the company behind DDR, Konami, has become the Curb Records of Video Games…if not worse.
But to get on topic here, even since the days of “Chicken Fried” I always thought there was something fucked up about Zac Brown so I had never jumped into his bandwagon from day one and I refuse to even listen to any of his past records. And this basically furthers the reason why.
albert
October 3, 2016 @ 8:06 am
Again , I’m reminded of the “Pet Rock” craze which swept a ‘gotta -be -hip’ nation several decades back. Someone had the idea to put a rock ( a small stone/pebble – not a ‘rock’ at all ) in a box and market it as a pet. And guess what !!!! Folks were gullible enough to buy it cuz it was deemed hip and the latest fad/trend . Eventually the pet rock went the way of most every other stupid ,pointless , ridiculous , trendy cash grabbing gotta-have-it product and civilization once again came to its senses …..until the NEXT ridiculous $$$$-focused ploy was foisted upon us .
With a little luck , Zak Brown’s schizophrenic approach to doing music will be his undoing and perhaps,post-implosion , radio and the other media won’t need to waste valuable ink , airplay and OUR time pacifying and evaluating the whims of his rudderless musical ship . There are just so many worthy , talented , hard-working FOCUSED artists being ignored to spend any more time dissecting the ZBB and cow-towing to their label’s efforts to promote its arrogance and lack of serious artistic vision ..
Kross
October 3, 2016 @ 8:23 am
man oh man, this is bad. I am truly haveing trouble wrapping my mind around this one. I used to watch this cat play parking lots in Buckhead. He’d spend 2 hours playing David Allan Coe, Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac covers. Then throw in the Chicken Fried song for good measter. It was awsome, and fun and the best way to spend a spring saturday afternoon in Atlanta. Now I feel like I just found out my dad has been cheating on my mom for the last 20 years.
Michigan Music
October 3, 2016 @ 8:28 am
I’m glad you jumped all over this Shooter. I’ve listened to 3 tracks by Sir Roosevelt and its a mess. No, its not country and I’m not against it on that premise alone. Good music is good music. This isn’t even good.
Make it worse, Zac Brown seems to have a defiant, arrogant attitude about this all. Surprisingly Shooter didn’t drop in quotes from the Billboard interview. Read it below linked below, but warning, you all will be even more annoyed at ZBB. These guys used to be SOOOO great. And now they are releasing this junk. Sigh.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7526468/zac-brown-sir-rosevelt-interview-dance-pop-edm-diplo-skrillex
“It’s fun, we get to explore all the other influences that we like and I think it’s just got a lot more international appeal. It’s not shoved in a bucket like country music is.”
Bertox
October 3, 2016 @ 11:57 am
Forgive me for finding it hilarious that you are referring to Trigger as “Shooter”
Tezca
October 4, 2016 @ 8:15 am
“You can’t really take Zac Brown Band and go play Germany and Switzerland because when we’re forced to be called something, which people generally call us a country band,”
Uhh correct me if I’m wrong but err didn’t the Highwayman go on a world wide tour back in their day? And I’m pretty sure they had tons of fans over there and last I checked they are most definitely, 100 percent considered country.
Only thing I’m not sure is if they performed in Germany and Switzerland but I would imagine they did.
Nadia is correct in her comment about this.
Justin
October 9, 2016 @ 5:22 am
Germany and Europe in general has TONS of country (real, authentic country) fans. I was in Germany last year and the German cab driver was listening to one of Alabama’s #1 80s hits, in English! (I can’t remember the exact song.)
Benny Lee
October 3, 2016 @ 8:34 am
Dear Zac Brown,
The high cost of livin’ aint nothin’ like the cost of livin’ high.
Sincerely,
Jamey Johnson
Sam Cody
October 3, 2016 @ 8:56 am
Give him a break. He just needs the extra cash to cover the surgery to remove the pineapple that got lodged up his butt during the recording of that ridiculous Castaway song…
BwareDWare94
October 5, 2016 @ 7:11 am
I like ZBB’s more serious songs, but the beachy songs have always been so irritating. If I wanted to hear that kind of music, I’d…well, I’d never want to hear that kind of music. It’s too fluffy and “life is so good!” to even feel real.
Justin
October 9, 2016 @ 5:26 am
Leave the beachy stuff to Kenny C and Jimmy B. 🙂
Jim
October 3, 2016 @ 9:06 am
You hinted at this in the article, but I’ve always wondered… Not once, in the entire creative process from writing to recording, mastering, release, marketing, etc, did anyone ever stop and go, “I don’t know, guys. This just isn’t very good”? Or maybe one guy did, and he’s looking for a new job now.
RWP
October 3, 2016 @ 9:07 am
I guess I get confused on what exactly EDM is. When I think edm, I think Halsey,Melanie Martinez,Chainsmokers,Ellie Goulding,Calvin Harris,etc (some of those actually have good lyrical content).
This sounds like a left over Bruno Mars -B-side cut. Or is he considered EDM as well? I don’t know anymore.
justin casey
October 3, 2016 @ 9:29 pm
I mean Halsey has a bit of edm influence in her music (she has a song with the chainsmokers that is everywhere) but Melanie Martinez not really I consider her what I like to call alternative pop
And on a final note no Bruno Mars is not considered edm
The Ghost of Buckshot Jones
October 4, 2016 @ 6:10 am
“EDM” is the new “Alternative”. Dance-ish track produced mostly on a computer with heavy autotune and studio effects. Everyone wants to be Phil Spector.
Warthog
October 3, 2016 @ 9:21 am
Eh…
I don’t like the song, but hey, I’m glad Zac has a side project to do this shit with instead of dumping it on us ZBB fans. Also, it’s not being marketed to country radio, it’s labelled as a side project, so I have no problems with js.
Warthog
October 3, 2016 @ 9:47 am
*it. no idea how the hell I let “js” slip by me.
Trigger
October 3, 2016 @ 10:12 am
But he’s pushing it through all the Zac Brown Band channels, and invariably this is going to take away from new material and tours from ZBB. I can’t see how you could avoid it if you’re a Zac Brown fan.
seak05
October 3, 2016 @ 4:36 pm
You don’t have to open something just because it’s sent to you (or you see it on twitter). I think he’s entitled to let his fans know he’s done it…I am not required to buy it.
And yes this will invariably take away from ZBB, but I don’t want him doing ZBB stuff if that’s not what he wants to do, halfhearted music invariably sucks.
LoganD
October 3, 2016 @ 9:40 am
What the hell did I just watch/listen to?? I can’t believe I paused an old American Aquarium record for that. By the way, Kip Moore gave a nice shout out to American Aquarium today. That was cool to see.
Hank Fischer
October 3, 2016 @ 9:47 am
Sausage grave train. This is garbage. Countach is a great record, seems you can’t accurately report that. Too bad too much bias. Ah well, its why you cant break 200 comments.
Trigger
October 3, 2016 @ 10:16 am
“Countach is a great record, seems you can’t accurately report that.”
How can you accurately report an opinion?
“Too bad too much bias.”
I agree. It’s a shame that some Shooter Jennings fans are so bias they resort to death threats immediately when a discouraging word is said against him, resulting in a moratorium on coverage of him that is anything but puff pieces.
” Ah well, its why you cant break 200 comments.”
Ha! Saving Country Music has industry-leading comment interaction and I’ve been asked to conduct seminars on how to engage readers. I’ll see your 200 comments, and raise you 434:
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/the-sound-of-deception-country-raps-mikel-knight-his-notorious-street-teams/
Go try to leave a comment on Rolling Stone.
sbach66
October 3, 2016 @ 10:31 am
And boom goes the dynamite.
GoRaiders!
October 5, 2016 @ 9:31 am
Thats funny. Industry leading? You’ve been asked to do seminars? 434 comments is nothing. I don’t even know who mikel knight is. Your blog is tiny (and if you were ‘industry leading’ you would know how to make some money here and quit acting humble about your rent and the size of the blog) and unimportant. Just because a banjo festival one time asked you to speak to 0 people doesn’t make you industry-leading. And just because Bobby Bones mentioned you once (because you literally threw a million hate-bate grenades at him) doesn’t make you popular. Your numbers are public and they’re small. Go comment on rolling stone.
Trigger
October 5, 2016 @ 9:17 pm
Read what I said dummy.
“Saving Country Music has industry-leading comment interaction“.
I never said it was an industry-leading blog.
Yes, the numbers are public, and I think people would be blown away at the amount of traffic SCM gets compared to my peers, especially considering that it is a one man operation. But I’m fine with some thinking this site is “tiny.” I don’t want to be the Wal-Mart of anti-country hatred. I’ve purposely kept Saving Country Music small because I want to keep it true to its mission.
You have no idea what my opinions are on “Countach.” If you read what I said about it, I said that nobody around Shooter is willing to be honest with him. That doesn;t mean it’s a bad album. And as I said in my intial response, I would LOVE to share my opinions on “Countach,” but the rank immaturity of some Shooter fans precludes me from doing so. If I gave it a glowing review, my family would receive death threats and the site would be attacked by novice hackers. If I gave it a negative review, my family would receive death threats and the site would be attacked by novice hackers. So I do neither.
The fact that you know so much about the site proves what I’ve always said about some Shooter fans: you don’t hate me, you have a hard on for me. You are obsessed with this site, and obsessed with destroying and discrediting it like a crazy ex-girlfriend who can’t process her feelings and can’t delineate love and hate. It’s wrestling.
Tezca
October 6, 2016 @ 2:14 pm
I know you just said you aren’t going to do a Countach review, I just want to say I would’ve been interested in reading your opinion on the album.
The only opinion I have on it is its good and granted I was only born during the last half of the 80s, but I feel like the album does a better job of giving me a taste of what the 80s sounded like or at least some of the sounds from that decade than a homage to the 80s song I heard in an indie movie the guys at channelawesome.com did years ago.
sbach66
October 3, 2016 @ 10:05 am
Two quotes from the Billboard article reference above (thanks for the link MM) that leave me shaking my head…
“Will we ever see ZBB and Sir Rosevelt share a bill?
Yeah, absolutely, and also we’ve paid for all that production with Zac Brown Band, it’d be easy for Sir Rosevelt to play the after party because somebody is gonna go drink somewhere anyway.”
“It’s gonna be interesting to see but I don’t see any of our fans that love what we do not loving Sir Rosevelt. They’re not losing Zac Brown Band, they’re gaining Sir Rosevelt.”
Trigger
October 3, 2016 @ 10:17 am
See, this isn’t a side project, it is an extension of the Zac Brown Band. It’s a side project only in name. Zac Brown fans, and by extension, country fans, are going to get a big snootful of this project.
sbach66
October 3, 2016 @ 10:35 am
Yep. This really pisses me off. Seems like eons ago that a friend of mine from south Georgia was playing this catchy song on his computer while we were vacationing with friends up on St George Island. Asked him who it was, he said “It’s this group Zac Brown Band, they’re from around Atlanta.” Checked them out online and ordered “The Foundation” from their website. Really liked it, especially “Sic ’em on a Chicken.”
And now…this pablum. What a damn shame.
CountryKnight
October 3, 2016 @ 1:09 pm
St. George Island?
I have always wanted to go there, since St. George is my patron saint.
How is it?
Christian H.
October 3, 2016 @ 10:09 am
I had never listened to Zac Brown until a friend gave me a bunch of his music a few years ago. I could not get through one complete album, barely even a full song. I know the advice that we should listen to the album in its entirety; fair rule. But this stuff was so bad. And now this??? I’m glad I followed my instincts on this one and did not succumb to the peer pressure to listen to any ZBB. Looking forward to giving my buddy a few sharp jabs for making me even try (all in fun, of course).
yittycent
October 5, 2016 @ 8:56 pm
I guess that’s why you’re here now, commenting on his side projects
Amanda
October 3, 2016 @ 10:57 am
2013: Zac Brown (deservedly) calls out Luke Bryan on his horrible song “That’s My Kind of Night”, declaring it to be the “worst song ever”. Zac shows he actually has the balls to say something about bro-country and defend the genre of country music. At this point, he is considered one of the “good guys” of mainstream country music. Fast forward two years later…
2015: Zac Brown releases EDM monstrosity “Beautiful Drug” as a single. Without statements, this move establishes Brown as a hypocrite. Zac Brown follows the Sam Hunt EDM schtick polluting the country radio airways as of late. He sells out for money and devastates the hearts of tons of his fans that counted on him for quality country/southern rock music.
2016: Zac Brown teams up with two other guys to form Sir Rosevelt, a weird EDM-type group.
And the hypocrite of the year award goes to…………….Zac Brown.
Nadia Lockheart
October 3, 2016 @ 10:57 am
Honestly, I’m fine with Zac Brown continuing to make forays into EDM as long as they’re juxtaposed from the Zac Brown Band moniker.
My issue here actually has to do with his arrogant interview with Billboard magazine. You can basically feel the seething, disgruntled passive-aggressiveness in his tone as he whines about one-star reviews on iTunes and being put in a bucket and so forth.
THAT is the real story here, in my opinion. Yikes!
Tezca
October 4, 2016 @ 9:44 am
I agree with what you said about the interview. I read it earlier and thinking on it, it seems like he has a problem with the stigma that country music has and I don’t want to sound like I’m denying there are stereotypes, but I guess does he realize there are people in another countries that do like country music? And I don’t know why but the way he said that he didn’t like his earlier country stuff cause it was country is kinda bugging me for some reason.
Like I know every artist out there has some early stuff they don’t like anymore or anyone who created something for that matter, but the way he said it, I don’t know its like he regrets the early stuff just cause of the genre its in.
Lindsey
October 3, 2016 @ 11:11 am
Gross!
HayesCarll2323
October 3, 2016 @ 1:00 pm
This was the same dude dissing Luke Bryan? Ha. Wow.
I liked Zac Brown’s first album, but their other stuff is garbage. This song, however, takes the cake.
justin casey
October 3, 2016 @ 7:26 pm
You get what you give is I think they’re best album after that and the grohl sessions ep they released after uncaged they’ve really gone downhill
justin casey
October 3, 2016 @ 4:04 pm
Ooh he said the f word for no reason how mature
Seriously this is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day
justin casey
October 3, 2016 @ 4:09 pm
brother zachery you have been deemed obsolete and for that you must face deletion
(hopefully someone will get the refrence)
Tezca
October 3, 2016 @ 5:54 pm
And I think I did in a few seconds flat lol
(You’re referencing the Cyberman from Doctor Who right?)
justin casey
October 3, 2016 @ 7:18 pm
I was referencing Matt Hardy (he’s a wrestler in tna) that may be where he got from though not overly familiar with doctor who
Tezca
October 4, 2016 @ 7:00 am
Oh ok
Corncaster
October 3, 2016 @ 5:05 pm
This is Zac being jealous of the uptown funk crowd.
Dude, your dance moves come from self-parody prom night, 1985.
Agreed that above all, this is business overreach. I’m sure his accountants gave him the green light.
Zac, you’ve given us home folks the finger.
Nice knowin ya.
CCRR
October 3, 2016 @ 8:15 pm
Ummm….well…shit….I don’t even know how I feel about this. Let’s see….it’s not good…that’s all I got.
Cool Lester Smooth
October 3, 2016 @ 10:29 pm
I’m just gonna stick my fingers in my ears and pretend this isn’t happening, haha.
Sam Jimenez
October 4, 2016 @ 6:24 am
He oughtta go snuggle up to that Eric Paslay douche, so they can go out High Classin’!
The Ghost of Buckshot Jones
October 4, 2016 @ 6:35 am
This song was better when Lee Ann Rimes did it a decade ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z-XvUU83rk
Kevin Smith
October 4, 2016 @ 7:26 am
This guy officially loses all country cred with this release. He might as well announce he’s going hip hp or gangsta rap, same effect…wrecked credibility.
This will alienate some of the fans and probably solidify a decision for those leaning on the fence. Best case for his fans, the album bombs and disappears into the ether the same way Garth Brooks I’ll fated Chris Gaines album vanished….
Joel
October 4, 2016 @ 11:04 pm
Ugggg… Looks like I have had too much internet tonight. I’m going to go to bed and hope when I wakeup that this is just a bad dream.
At-least Beautiful Drug sounded like a song that someone put a little thought into when it was being written. While it wasn’t a Country song, I enjoyed it more than most of the stuff I hear on the pop station at work. This song sounds terrible, and the video was even worse on my eyes than the sound was on my ears, I can imagine that if my PC could transmit smell like it does sound and visuals, that I would have been hit with something that smelled like a truck-stop bathroom after a group of carnival workers that had just eaten Taco Bell used it.
Craig
October 5, 2016 @ 4:37 am
He’s not trying to call this country, or get country radio play, so what’s it to you Trigger? I get being upset about Beautiful Drug because it was a crap EDM song that Zac and company branded as ‘country’ in order to steal some radio play. But this is just a straight up side project. And it’s not terrible – yeah it’s superficial but as he spends more time in the genre the sound may mature – or not. But either way it’s a side project, it’s not EDM being shipped as country, it’s just DJ inspired EDM. So what? I give him credit for giving it a shot. He’s a musician. He wants to make all kinds of music. Good for him.
Also, what exactly is ‘inorganic’ about using a Mac to create music? You can use a Mac to create great music or to create bullshit music. It doesn’t do anything for you, it’s up to you to ‘play’ it well or poorly. You might as well be ranting about those newfangled ‘electric guitars’. Dollars to donuts all of the SCM traditional country heroes of 2016 at one point or another during either the creation or recording process of their traditional country gems used a Mac, same as they would have used a TASCAM back in the day.
Trigger
October 5, 2016 @ 6:13 am
Remember when Zac Brown promised us that “Beautiful Drug” would not be released as a country single? I’ll believe Sir Rosevelt is a whimsical side project with no affect on country radio when I see it. I think you can make the argument it has already encroached on country.
sbach66
October 5, 2016 @ 11:25 am
Mark my words, if/when this CD tanks, you’re going to see Sir Rosevelt open a show for Zac Brown Band to gain exposure. I’ll also bet you that the CD will be for sale at the merch tables at ZBB shows as well. Watch.
Craig
October 5, 2016 @ 4:51 am
What exactly is ‘inorganic’ about using a Mac to create and record music? Should everyone still be using a Tascam? You may as well be ranting against those newfangled ‘electric guitars’. I guarantee every one of the SCM traditional country heroes of 2016 used a Mac at some point in the creation or recording process of their SCM ‘approved organic’ projects. Logic and GB represent a huge leap forward for musicians – back in the day we used to have to work a crap job for a year just to record a demo. Now we can record studio-quality demos for the price of the hardware and software. For the DIY set, the Apple revolution has been a true revolution. Yes, there’s a lot of worthless music being produced on Macs right now. But don’t blame the tool. Blame the tool making the music.
And let Zac Brown do whatever the hell he wants. If his fans don’t like it they won’t play ball. Remember Chris Gaines? All fans have limits. If Zac broke your heart then I’d recommend you don’t put so much of yourself into artists that aren’t you. They’re just people amusing themselves. Sometimes during that process they say or sing something that gives us a bit of insight into ourselves and our condition, But most of the time, just amusing themselves.
Kevin Smith
October 5, 2016 @ 5:37 am
You make some good points, I happen to work with a fellow who has a home studio and records and produces bluegrass and southern gospel for numerous ohio artists. He is totally Mac all the way, 100 % digital recording…HOWEVER……he uses real guitars, mandolins, banjos, upright basses and drums. Would I call what he does organic? Sure. He doesn’t rely on the artificial sequencers, drum machines, synthesizer effects etc like Zac uses with this current abomination. So I agree with you that recording with a Mac is legit. That said, many of the artists I listen to still record themselves on actual tape and pride themselves on it.
Corncaster
October 5, 2016 @ 11:23 am
If your foot doesn’t make the bass drum go FUMP every time, you’re cheating me.
.02
WestTexasRain
October 6, 2016 @ 8:24 am
That song is hilariously bad I watched it just to see how bad it was. If they were going gor comedy EDM then they succeeded but if this was meant to be serious it’s just plain ole sad. I don’t get the EDM craze EDM gives me a headache and no not some old fudy duddy I’m far from old.
Paul
May 12, 2017 @ 9:13 am
Does anyone have the other tracks?
Been curiously waiting
Glenn
December 15, 2017 @ 10:25 am
I’m sorry, but I really like this album. Sure it’s not country, but it’s not billed as country, and as dance/pop music, it harks back to the 80’s as well as feels current in 2017. I listened to the whole thing on Apple Music this morning (12/15/17), it’s good stuff.