Country star wants to be remembered for more than his music

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Zac Brown Band

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‘We just wanted to make music that’s a snapshot of where we are as a band’

For such a positive guy, Zac Brown admits his songs used to be pretty depressing.

"For a long time -- when I was first learning how to write songs when I was 14 or 15 -- the only time I would write was when I was sad," Brown says over the phone from a field in Manhattan, Kansas, where he was set to play the annual Country Stampede.

"I would use my writing as therapy. I realized one day, 'If I don't take the time to write when I'm happy I'm never going to write any happy music,' so I changed the focus."

His change in viewpoint has worked. Since forming the Zac Brown Band in 2002, he has seen the group's fan base grow steadily as the ensemble recorded four studio and two live albums, had eight singles top the country music chart in the U.S., won two Grammy Awards and earned more than 50 nominations at various award ceremonies.

And the group's popularity isn't just confined to country music fans: the band's willingness to stretch out its songs and dabble in a variety of genres has earned accolades from jam band fans, bluegrass aficionados and southern rock lovers.

"I think being a fan of all that music helps," Brown says. "I'm an avid music fan, so when I get a chance to listen to new music it all translates into what we do. We've all spent years and years playing and covering other types of music, so it doesn't sound contrived when we play it.

"I think we write about things that are real. We write about life. We work really hard individually to write our songs and play our instruments together as a band to create that chemistry that translates on the albums. We live together, write together and practise together."

The 33-year-old grew up in Dahlonega, Ga., 100 kilometres northwest of Atlanta in the North Georgia mountains. He was the 11th of 12 children and was exposed to a wide variety of music growing up, owing to his siblings' record collections and a few who played instruments. He took guitar lessons as a child, started playing solo shows in high school and attended the University of West Georgia on a vocal scholarship before transferring to Atlanta's Georgia State University to study music.

The Zac Brown Band released three albums on Brown's own label, Southern Ground, and hit the road hard in a tour bus paid for with money Brown made from the sale of a bar/restaurant he co-owned with his dad.

Their 2008 album, The Foundation, was picked up by Atlantic Records and was given a national release, featuring a re-recorded version of Brown's 2003 song Chicken Fried. The single went to No. 1 on the country charts and sold more than 40,000 copies in Canada, good for a gold record (in the United States it went platinum with sales of more than two million).

The song and album were nominated for Grammy Awards and the band won the Best New Artist trophy at the 2010 ceremony.

That same year the band released You Get What You Give, which topped the Billboard 200 and resulted in five singles, numerous award nominations and a Grammy win for As She's Walking Away with Alan Jackson.

Despite the band's recent success, Brown said he didn't let the pressure get to him when writing their new album, Uncaged, set for release on July 10.

"We just wanted to make music that's a snapshot of where we are as a band. We went in and wrote them and got them down. And we're still writing: we have new songs in the works," he says.

"I definitely think, and I know people say this a lot, but it's the best album we've ever made and I'm really proud of it. I can't wait to get it out there."

The band is playing up to five new songs on its current tour, which stops at Dauphin's Countryfest Saturday night.

"I want people to feel like we're feeling, and if we can capture those moments and translate that to the audience, that's great," Brown says.

Besides spreading the positive vibrations on stage Brown tries to help out as much as he can when he's off it.

The songwriter donates his time and money helping out with various charities. He was a camp counsellor in high school and is in the process of opening his own children's camp, Camp Southern Ground, at a site he donated south of Atlanta.

The camp will specialize in programming to assist and rehabilitate children with developmental disorders including ADD, dyslexia, Asperger's syndrome, Tourette syndrome and autism.

Brown hopes the camp, currently in the process of securing funding and partnerships, will become something of a centre for learning about different children's disorders and sharing that information with doctors and clinics around the world, while featuring activities like canoeing, swimming, horse-riding, rock-climbing, zip lines and organic gardening.

"I think it's just from my personal experience and seeing if my life is going to mean something when I die or is it just going to be a bunch of doctors and lawyers going to divvy up the proceedings.

"It's about leaving something."

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

Concert preview

Zac Brown Band

Dauphin's Countryfest

Saturday

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 28, 2012 D1