“It Felt Like a Perfect Fit”: Zach John King and Bayker Blankenship Discuss Their Playful New Collaboration, ‘Life Behind Bars’

Collaborations have become a dime a dozen in the contemporary country music scene, with many now feeling label-orchestrated or purely put together in order to pick up some extra streams, rather than coming across as a genuine creative partnership.

Which is what makes Zach John King and Bayker Blankenship's new collaboration, ‘Life Behind Bars’, so refreshing. It's evident that there is an authentic camaraderie and friendship beneath the music, with King and Blankenship taking time away from their busy touring schedule to chat to Holler about the duet.

‘Life Behind Bars’ is a playful, feel-good ode to circling up your pick-up trucks around a bonfire with your buddies, cranking up some country music and sipping on some late-night whiskey. In a musical landscape that often feels a little overly skewed towards the despondent, King and Blankenship's nostalgic, rose-tinted homage to their upbringing offers listeners a welcome dose of levity and celebration.

It pivots around a satisfying piece of wordplay, with King admitting that when Jordan Reynolds, his co-writer alongside Heath Warren, threw out the title, he thought they'd be penning a song about something very different, “I think Jordan brought the idea. And I was like, ‘Man, I don't really want to write a song about jail yet’. He was like, ‘No, no, no, hang on. That's not what it's about’. He just explained the hook, and my brain immediately went to where I was raised. There's this spot called Wings & Things back in my town, and after football games, that's where the team would go. There's a dirt parking lot - or there used to be a dirt parking lot - to the right of it. My mind went straight to that, and what happens there. We just wrote it about that, and I think the cool thing about the turn of phrase is, if you've been in a small town, or you've been in a town from the south, you know that spot. You know what it is and you know what it looks like”.

While Blankenship has teamed up with the likes of Waylon Wyatt in the past, this serves as King's first ever collaboration. He underlines that, with this being his debut link-up, he was keen for it to come from a place of sincerity and genuine friendship.

“I had found Bayker way before I met him”, King explains, “I was a massive fan - I listen to him all the time. We had the same green room at C2C Berlin, and I was pumped, because I was like, ‘Oh, I get to meet him!’ I went by myself for that trip, and me and his team became fast friends, so much so that we hung out at each stop. So when my team was like, ‘Hey, we'd love a duet for this song’, we didn't even go over other options. I was like, ‘If we can get Bayker on the song, I've got to do it’”.

Blankenship echoes King's enthusiasm, “This was a song me and my boys would listen to at home, riding around a dirt road, just hanging out, having a good time, heading to a party down the road. Bro, that's what I was thinking about at the time. And Zach feels like a real homie to me...We're just two homeboys. He wrote the song and sent it to me, and I was like, ‘This is dope’. We're two bros chilling, making music, and we had the opportunity to go out and share it with people”.

Both Zach John King and Bayker Blankenship continue to establish themselves as key figures in country music's next wave of stars. While King has an ear for infectious, Morgan Wallen-esque melodies, Blankenship leans more towards the alt-country, Americana-infused side of town. They meet in the middle on ‘Life Behind Bars’, with both artists making it clear they are striving - and succeeding, in the process - to hone sounds that depart from the typical Country Radio blueprint.

“I wasn't going for the traditional route of ‘commercial country’, whatever that means anymore”, King emphasises, “And I wanted somebody actually cool and and actually unique. Literally, since I've met Bayker and listened his music...I mean, there's no-one else like Bayker. You hear the voice and you hear the songs, and it's identifiable immediately. That's really what drew us to him. We're trying to do the same thing. So it felt like a perfect fit, that also felt natural. We're buddies”.

Such is the strength of their friendship, when the call came from Zach John King, Bayker Blankenship was in the middle of taking a shower - but still made time for his pal, “Zach hit me up while I was in the shower, bro! I get a phone call from Zach. He's like, ‘Hey, bro - do you wanna go on this song?’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’”

Their camaraderie radiates throughout the fun, light-hearted visuals, which find King and Blankenship teaming up at one of the laidback bonfire parties they sing so fondly about.

While the visuals are all about kicking back and making the most of the good times, the way the video came together was a little more hectic, as King recalls, “It was crazy. We picked the song, then the next week, I texted Bayker, and then he said, ‘Yes’. We had the song recorded in a week, and we had a music video shot in two days”.

Blankenship confirms, “It was crazy, because I was out West somewhere, and they were like, ‘We gotta get this’, and I was like, ‘Alright, I'm all in’. So I was just busting tail, getting from there, flying in, recording the song, flying back out, playing some shows, and then coming right back. I flew in, did the music video, and, dude, it was so much going on at one time. But it was so exciting and it was worth it”.

‘Life Behind Bars’ ensures the momentum remains high behind both Zach John King and Bayker Blankenship. They both tease that there's more on the horizon - and if ‘Life Behind Bars’ is anything to go by, we reckon we've got good reason to be excited.

For the full lyrics to Zach John King and Bayker Blankenship's new song, ‘Life Behind Bars’, see below:

“Any given night you can see headlights
Keeping last call alive when the bars closed down
Can’t stay here so we take it outside
Trading neon sign for the moon coming out

-

In the parking lot, on the stereo
Somebody’s cranking up a little country gold
Pouring something strong in a double cup
Till the sun comes up

-

There’s always a rowdy bunch of boys in a Chevrolet
Talkin’ bunch of noise, some tough guy looking for a fighter
Some lonely girl looking for a lighter
Somebody's throwing fire on a round-here rumor
Cops wishing they'da got here sooner
Breaking up, making up, taking shots in the dark
Small town nights doing life behind bars

-

Any old hole in the wall’s got a dive outside
Anywhere this side of the track
Cover to get in is bring all your friends
There’s help yourself beers, but bring your own Jack
It’s a story in the morning
Right outside when they shut them doors

-

There’s always a rowdy bunch of boys in a Chevrolet
Talkin’ bunch of noise, some tough guy looking for a fighter
Some lonely girl looking for a lighter
Somebody's throwing fire on a round-here rumor
Cops wishing they'da got here sooner
Breaking up, making up, taking shots in the dark
Small town nights doing life behind bars
Small town nights doing life behind bars

-

In the parking lot, on the stereo
Somebody’s cranking up a little country gold
Pouring something strong in a double cup
Yeah, where I was raised up

-

There’s always a rowdy bunch of boys in a Chevrolet
Talkin’ bunch of noise, some tough guy looking for a fighter
Some lonely girl looking for a lighter
Somebody's throwing fire on a round-here rumor
Cops wishing they'da got here sooner
Breaking up, making up, taking shots in the dark
Small town nights doing life behind bars
Small town nights doing life behind bars
Small town nights doing life behind bars”

For more on Zach John King, see below: