Zach Bryan Confirms He's Already Written “14 Songs” For His New Album

During his conversation with Bruce Springsteen for Rolling Stone, Zach Bryan touched on a fascinating array of topics, from their mutual admiration to their respective songwriting approaches.

One moment that will have no doubt piqued fans’ interest is when the Oklahoma singer-songwriter shared some tantalising details about his forthcoming studio album.

Judging from what he said, his follow-up to The Great American Bar Scene, which arrived back in early July, is already in the works, with Zach confirming he has “14 songs” written for it.

Zach Bryan went on to add the caveat that he's trialling a more deliberate process, “I'm not sure how I want to record a lot of them, and I just don't know right now. But this is the first time in my life where I've given myself time not to know. I'm really thinking about it”.

When Bruce Springsteen asked where he's keeping these songs, Zach Bryan revealed, “Some [recordings] are on my phone, and some of them are at Electric Lady, some of them are full productions here, and some of them are at fields...I want to have the staying power to be like, ‘I'm gonna make this a studio album’”.

Zach Bryan expressed how he's been drawing great inspiration from Bruce Springsteen's legendary 1982 album, Nebraska. Bruce admitted that, when putting together that body of work, he adopted the mentality of “I'm gonna slow this down a little bit”.

Zach Bryan eagerly responded, “I'm in the exact place now, with my writing and career. I'm like, ‘Oh wow, I really came out of the gate fast. I've really risen fast, but now at this point I can't even catch my own backwind. Not in a bad way, either...it just feels like I've put so much music out, people have read into it so much but in reality I was just writing music and characters, and now I gotta slow down and hone in”.

Elsewhere during their discussion, the ‘Pink Skies’ hitmaker spoke movingly about what drives his keenness to write about his mother, as well as claiming he doesn't want to be considered a “country musician”, and instead wants to be a “songwriter” first and foremost.

Watch the full conversation between Zach Bryan and Bruce Springsteen for Rolling Stone below:

For more on Zach Bryan, see below:

Featured photo by Laura Ord