Yes, Zach Bryan is Releasing Another Album, “Summertime Blues”

Yes, Zach Bryan just released a 34-song album in May called American Heartbreak. Yes, it’s been in one of the top 3 spots on the Billboard Country Albums chart ever since and is one of the biggest releases in country music all year, cementing Zach Bryan as one of the biggest artists in country music at the moment. Yes, Zach Bryan is about to release a whole new 9-song album called Summertime Blues on July 15th. And yes, he’s calling it an “EP,” but at nine songs, it’s as long as most albums these days.

I have absolutely no idea how to evaluate this move. Just like everything Zach Bryan is doing and has done, it’s unprecedented. Conventional wisdom would be to say he’s wearing out the public, overloading them with music, and running the risk of deprecating his only months-old American Heartbreak album that still is enjoying tons of momentum with a new release so soon. But this is Zach Bryan, and he’s done nothing but defy convention from the beginning, and found wild success doing so. He’s completely rewriting everything we know about music.

So sure, go ahead and release a new album. How it will all shake out, we’ll find out soon enough. The album includes a couple of songs already familiar to many hardcore Zach Bryan fans. One such track is called “Oklahoma Smoke Show” that he’s been playing live recently, as well as the title track “Summertime Blues,” which no, is not the old Eddie Cochran tune about raising a fuss and a holler that was once covered by Alan Jackson (and countless others). Bryan tried to release “Summertime Blues” previously, but there was some permissions issue that got in the way, but has since repopulated on YouTube (see below).

Apparently the album did start out being a bit shorter, but stuff got added, including a song called “Jamie” that may have slipped on the track list by accident. Bryan continues to reference the album as an EP. American Heartbreak received over 87 million streams upon its debut, and with 34 tracks, will likely remain the dominant release. But Summertime Blues could ensconce Zach Bryan in yet another top spot on the country albums chart, and juice his cumulative sales and streaming numbers.

Meanwhile, Zach Bryan is getting ready to play the Calgary Stampede on July 11th, the Wild Hare Music Festival in Oregon on July 15th, and Under The Big Sky Fest in Montana on July 17th. Some continue to wonder what the hype is about. Many others are fully bought in, and are ready to vacuum up whatever Zach Bryan releases, and will eat this “EP” up.

Summertime Blues Track List:

1. “Quittin’ Time”
2. “Motorcycle Drive By”
3. “Summertime Blues”
4. “Oklahoma Smoke Show”
5. “Jamie”
6. “Twenty So”
7. “Us Then”
8. “Matt and Audie”
9. “All the Time”

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