{"id":3951,"date":"2015-03-29T08:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-29T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/?p=3951"},"modified":"2015-03-31T17:19:14","modified_gmt":"2015-03-31T22:19:14","slug":"the-new-zac-brown-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/2015\/03\/29\/the-new-zac-brown-band\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Zac Brown Band"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.countrymusicrocks.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Zac-Brown-Band-Jekyll-+-Hyde-Album-CountryMusicRocks.net_.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"167\" height=\"167\" \/>A few weeks ago Saturday Night Live had Zac Brown Band as their musical guest. I hadn\u2019t heard much from them lately, but I\u2019ve been a fan ever since their album debut The Foundation. Their 2010 album You Get What You Give was another one of my favorites, and it sounded largely similar to the first one. I found out through their performance on SNL that they have a new album coming out called Jekyll + Hyde, scheduled for release in April. Since it had been a couple years since I\u2019d seen ZBB perform I was expecting to see the signature Zac Brown beanie and to hear a couple bluegrass-influenced songs similar to \u201cChicken Fried\u201d and \u201cWhatever It Is\u201d. Boy was I to be surprised.<\/p>\n<p>The first performance was actually more like Zac Brown Band of old, as the band played the first single from the album, \u201cHomegrown\u201d, a country song about being proud of where you\u2019re from or something along those lines. But even though the song sounded like a typical ZBB song, the appearance of Brown was different, simply because he ditched his beanie for a top hat. In addition, it seems as though Brown is trying to convey a \u201ccleaner\u201d look, with well-groomed facial hair rather than his scraggly beard.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 313px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/a.abcnews.com\/images\/Entertainment\/GTY_zac_brown_mar_140508_16x9_992.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"303\" height=\"170\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Old Zac Brown<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 307px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/sitewide\/assets\/img\/artists\/zac_brown_band\/getty\/451996886-x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"297\" height=\"198\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">New Zac Brown<\/p><\/div>\n<p>So it was obvious to me that Brown is trying to change his image, to what though I wasn\u2019t sure. Then the band was introduced for their second song, and instead of a feel-good song like \u201cKnee Deep\u201d or \u201cToes\u201d, the band played the second single from the new album called \u201cHeavy is the Head\u201d. The song is absolutely nothing like the Zac Brown Band we\u2019re all used to, and my mind was blown. The song even features guitarist Chris Cornell from the rock band Soundgarden.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Zac Brown Band - Heavy Is the Head (Live on SNL) ft. Chris Cornell\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PiIfqEdpEyU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re like me after watching this video, you\u2019re thinking \u201cIs that really Zac Brown Band?\u201d I mean, that distorted bass line is nothing like we\u2019ve ever heard from ZBB. This is a full-fledged heavy metal song. What\u2019s even wilder is Brown\u2019s \u201cmad-hatter\u201d top hat, complete with the feather.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/www.darkinthedark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/mad-hatter-johnny-depp-in-alice-in-wonderland_vf.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"233\" \/> <a href=\"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/03\/ZBB1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-3953\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/03\/ZBB1-181x300.jpg\" alt=\"ZBB\" width=\"157\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/03\/ZBB1-181x300.jpg 181w, https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/03\/ZBB1.jpg 577w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 157px) 100vw, 157px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not sure what Brown\u2019s intentions are with this \u201cpersonal rebrand\u201d, but it seems like he\u2019s ready to distance himself from the previous image of the band. It\u2019s worth noting that most of their songs on the upcoming album will be more along the lines of what we\u2019re used to, including the single \u201cDress Blues\u201d, which is softer and more like a country song. Still, I don\u2019t think they released \u201cHeavy Is the Head\u201d for no reason. To me, ZBB is trying to send a statement that they\u2019re more than a country band, they can be rock stars too.<\/p>\n<p>Another interesting fact about this song is that it\u2019s the first Zac Brown Band song released to rock radio, rather than country. It\u2019s also the band\u2019s first entry on the Billboard Rock charts, debuting at number 37.<\/p>\n<p>Even though I was shocked to discover the new sound\/image of Zac Brown Band, I quickly learned that they have been a versatile band for a while. I found videos on YouTube dating back as far as 2009 featuring the band covering artists including Pink Floyd, Snoop Dogg, Rage Against the Machine, and Metallica, and they strangest part was that all of these covers were good. I never knew how talented the band really was, and although I prefer their original sound I would love to see them in concert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few weeks ago Saturday Night Live had Zac Brown Band as their musical guest. I hadn\u2019t heard much from them lately, but I\u2019ve been a fan ever since their album debut The Foundation. Their 2010 album You Get What &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/2015\/03\/29\/the-new-zac-brown-band\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-country-pop","category-movies-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3951"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4088,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3951\/revisions\/4088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}