“He Works VERY Quickly...”: Kings of Leon's Caleb Followill Sheds Light on Collaborating with Zach Bryan

During a new instalment of Rolling Stone's Nashville Now podcast, the Kings of Leon frontman, Caleb Followill, delves into his experience of working with Zach Bryan in recent months.

The rock trailblazers have so far teamed up with Bryan on two tracks, ‘Bowery’ and ‘We're Onto Something’, with the latter frequently citing Kings of Leon as one of his biggest influences. They've joined forces on stage on a number of occasions of late, even releasing a live recording of their ‘Atlantic City’ cover with Bruce Springsteen.

One of the most fascinating elements of Bryan's creative process, Followill reveals, is just how swiftly the ‘Something in the Orange’ singer-songwriter writes new material.

Followill recalls, “Once we played some shows and we got to really kind of hang with him, I got to see his personality a little bit. He had sent me ‘Bowery’. It was just a verse. So on the flight home, I wrote the rest of the chorus and the verse - and stuff like that - to ‘Bowery’, and sent it to him...He works very quickly. He was like, ‘Alright, next weekend, New York, I want you guys there. We're recording it next week’”.

The ‘Sex on Fire’ crooner jokes, “[I was like,] ‘Let me see if my family [is okay with that first and see] if I can do that...’ So on the way there, we're like, ‘Man, if we're going to record with him, then let's get him on one of our songs’. You know, I feel like that's what people do these days. You kind of scratch each other's back”.

Followill praises Bryan's unique methods, “Like I said, he works so quickly, and we record it, and then he's like, ‘We're putting it out in one week’. Well, that's it? We're not gonna, like, listen to it, see what we think...? But we love that approach...I feel like that's his thing, you know. He has an idea, he puts it on video and sends it out into the world before he's tweaked it...It reminds me of old school Hip-Hop, you know? How it was just that hands-on approach - warts and all”.

He concludes by paying tribute to the authenticity and rawness this engenders, “Just give it to the world, and people eat that up because it's like, ‘Oh, that reminds me of myself, or it feels like something that I can do myself’. You know, if the only thing they hear from you is the polished finished product, then you're not letting them see the process - and that's the thing that's going to really make them a fan”.

With there being a clear sense of mutual admiration between Followill and Bryan, and given how seamlessly their respective styles mesh on both ‘Bowery’ and ’We're Onto Something’, we're hoping there are plenty more collaborations in the pipeline...

Watch the full clip below:

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