This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band performing in 2008.
Background information
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Country, Southern rock, Jam rock
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Home Grown Music Live Nation Atlantic/Bigger Picture Group Southern Ground
Associated acts	Keith Stegall, The Lost Trailers
Website	zacbrownband.com
Members
Coy Bowles Zac Brown Clay Cook Jimmy De Martini Chris Fryar John Driskell Hopkins

Zac Brown Band is a Grammy Award-winning, American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, vocals), Coy Bowles (guitar, keyboards), Chris Fryar (drums) and Clay Cook (guitar, keyboards, mandolin, steel guitar, vocals). The band has toured throughout the United States, including a slot on the 2009 and 2010 Bonnaroo Music Festival. They have also recorded four studio albums, and charted four Number One singles on the Billboard country charts: "Chicken Fried", "Toes", "Highway 20 Ride", and "Free," in addition to the single "Whatever It Is," which peaked at No. 2 on the same chart.

[edit] History

Zac Brown was raised in Dahlonega, Georgia, the 11th of 12 children. He learned to play classical guitar at age 7. As a teenager, he played solo gigs in local venues, doing country and pop cover songs.

Zac attended the University of West Georgia in 1998, where he was a member of the Zeta Kappa chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He was also a camp counselor at Camp Glisson, a United Methodist summer camp located in Dahlonega, GA.^[1] While in college, he started a band, and he played dates in local restaurants with the band, and solo as well, to earn money to pay for school. During this time, the band recorded a CD to sell at their gigs, but broke up during recording sessions. Zac decided that life was too short doing something he didn't love, so he decided to perform music full-time.

In 2002, the Zac Brown Band was formed, and they hit the road with a heavy tour schedule of about 200 dates a year. In 2003, Zac started his own label, called Home Grown (today, it's called Southern Ground for legal reasons).

In 2004, Brown opened a music club and restaurant with his father in the Lake Oconee area of Georgia called "Zac's Place" where the fare was southern-style cooking. The Zac Brown Band played in the club on weekends, and continued playing gigs on the road as well. A developer bought the restaurant, and Zac and the band bought a tour bus, and hit the road full-time, playing rock and country clubs as well as folk and jam band festivals.

The Zac Brown Band released its first album, Far from Einstyne, in 2004, followed by Home Grown a year later. A live album entitled Live from the Rock Bus Tour followed in 2007 on the Home Grown label.

In 2006, the band cut The Foundation with producer Keith Stegall. The album was picked up by Live Nation for their new record label. When the label folded, Atlantic picked it up and released the album nationally.

The Zac Brown Band then signed to Live Nation Records in 2008. Their first single, "Chicken Fried", was originally recorded in 2003 and included on the Home Grown album, but later re-recorded and released to country radio in 2008. This song was also recorded by The Lost Trailers, whose 2006 recording was released as a single but withdrawn after Brown decided that he wanted to release it himself.^[2] Brown also co-wrote "Simple Life", a song recorded by The Lost Trailers on their 2006 self-titled album.

In October 2008, Atlantic Records took over distribution of "Chicken Fried." The band's album The Foundation was released under Atlantic Records' newly re-established country division in association with the Home Grown/Big Picture label on November 18, 2008. The group had been previously signed with Live Nation Artists Records.^[3] "Chicken Fried" reached #1 on the country charts in November 2008, making them the first country band to reach #1 with a debut single since Heartland did so in 2006 with "I Loved Her First."^[4] In January 2009, Clay Cook joined as a multi-instrumentalist, and the band released its second single, "Whatever It Is." Like "Chicken Fried" before it, this song reached #1 on the 24/7 Mediabase country chart and Top 40 on the pop charts. In July 2009, a third single, "Toes," was released and it became their third #1 hit in late October 2009. The song was released in two versions, one containing the original lyrics ("toes in the water, ass in the sand") and a censored version with the word "ass" replaced by "toes" again. The album's fourth #1 was "Highway 20 Ride". On July 16 and 17, 2010, they performed at Citi Field as the opening act for the Dave Matthews Band. "Free" is the album's fifth single and on the week of August 21, 2010, it hit Number One.

Zac Brown Band received four nominations for the 2009 CMA Awards including New Artist of the Year, as well as Song of the Year, Single of the Year, and Music Video of the Year for their #1 single, "Chicken Fried". They also received three Grammy nominations for Best Country Album, Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocals and Best New Artist. On January 31, 2010, the band won the award for Best New Artist. Zac Brown Band becoming the fifth country artist to win the Best New Artist, after Bobbie Gentry, Debby Boone, LeAnn Rimes, and Carrie Underwood.^{[citation needed]}

The group has been nominated for three ACM awards, "Album of the Year", "Top Vocal Group", and is one of the eight contenders for "Entertainer of the Year".

The band is known to cover songs by their major musical influences in concert, with notable songs including Come Pick Me Up by Ryan Adams, The Devil Went Down To Georgia by Charlie Daniels, I Shall Be Released by Bob Dylan, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band, Blackbird by The Beatles, Into The Mystic by Van Morrison, One Love by Bob Marley, and Can't You See by The Marshall Tucker Band. On their 2010 Live benefit album Pass the Jar, these songs were included in their setlist.

Along with recent commercial success, the band has made appearances at the Hangout Beach, Music & Arts Festival, Hullabalou Music Festival and the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2009 and 2010 along with an opening slot for the Dave Matthews Band during their 2010 Summer Tour. Also, after several years as perennial favorites on the annual The Rock Boat theme-cruise, the Zac Brown Band has been elevated to hosting thier own theme-cruise, Sailing Southern Ground, in September 2010.

Jimmy Buffett and guitar virtuoso Tony Rice will join Alan Jackson as special guests on the new Zac Brown Band album, "You Get What You Give," which is due out Sept. 21.^[5]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] Compilation albums

[edit] Live albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] Featured singles

[edit] Other charted songs

Singles charted from unsolicited airplay or digital sales.

[edit] Music videos

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Zac Brown Band at Billboard.com
• Zac Brown Band at MySpace