Zac Brown Band

At the time, the Georgia-based group were considered as country as country could be, with their debut studio album, The Foundation, spawning a slew of platinum singles, including ‘Whatever It is’, ‘Free’ and the beautifully intricate ballad, ‘Highway 20 Ride’. In 2010, the band took home their first Grammy award for Best New Artist.

The tropically-tinged, island-inspired ‘Toes’, another platinum single from The Foundation, paved the way for a collaboration with the king of island-inspired Gulf and Western himself, Jimmy Buffett. ‘Knee Deep’ was a playful ode to the necessary joy of escapism, and swiftly became another multi-platinum hit for Zac Brown Band.

‘Knee Deep’ featured on the group’s 2010 project, You Get What You Give, which also produced a Grammy-winning collaboration with Alan Jackson, ‘As She’s Walking Away’.

The song’s airtight harmonies and traditional arrangements epitomised everything that fans loved about Zac Brown Band. You Get What You Give would ultimately go on to become Zac Brown Band’s second platinum album, and their first No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

You Get What You Give was succeeded by the successful Uncaged in 2012, which won the group their third and final Grammy to date for Best Country Album.

Two years later, the band put out their fan-favourite compilation album, Greatest Hits So Far… It brought together all the nuggets of country gold that the band had created, including the likes of ‘Jump Right In’ and ‘Colder Weather’.

Now, many fans view that album as an epitaph to the Zac Brown Band of old, with the group deciding to pursue a more genre-fluid, pop-leaning sound from that point on.

The group’s 2015 album, Jekyll + Hyde was a commercial success, again reaching No. 1 and going platinum. It contained the first hints of experimentation, with ‘Beautiful Drug’ testing out a new, EDM-influenced sound. This was consolidated by the band’s surprise 2015 collaboration with the late DJ, Avicii, on ‘Broken Arrows’.

The band has since released Welcome Home in 2017, The Owl in 2019 and, most recently, The Comeback in 2022. This trio of projects all exhibit flashes of the classic country sound that Zac Brown Band first won over fans’ hearts with, while still exploring new territories and satisfying the group’s sonic wanderlust.

Although these later albums are yet to go platinum, and despite their continued flirtation with other genres, Zac Brown Band remains one of the most loved bands in modern country music.