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Zach Bryan has unveiled the title of his new album, which is set to be released in early 2023. In a tweet last year, the Oklahoma native revealed that the title of the project will be ‘Writers and Fighters’.
Zach continues to tease an array of unreleased tracks, including a recently shared collaboration with The War and Treaty.
@hollercountry What IS THIS slice of heaven?! @Zach Bryan + @The War and Treaty 😍 we need this now. #newmusic #zachbryan #tiktokmusic #countrymusic ♬ original sound - Holler
Earlier in the year, we outlined our theory that Bryan had some new music up his sleeve, and it seems our suspicions have been confirmed.
The prolific singer-songwriter has gained a reputation for his relentless release strategy, having dropped his American Heartbreak album, a summer EP, a smattering of singles and a live album in under twelve months.
Regarding the studio album, ‘Fifth of May’ and ‘The Greatest Day of My Life’ will presumably find their way onto the tracklist, along with Bryan's other recent singles, such as ‘Burn, Burn, Burn’ and ‘Starved’.
With Bryan having teased a plethora of songs over the past year or so, it'll be difficult to narrow it down into one tracklist - especially given the fact that Writers and Fighters will seemingly be less than a third of the length of his 34-song American Heartbreak record.
In an April tweet, Bryan revealed that it would be just eleven songs long.
One of Zach Bryan's unreleased tracks, ‘Deep Satin’, is also expected to make the cut. In September, the country songsmith confirmed that the track would be on his next album.
Another teaser that's expected to join ‘Deep Satin’ is the recently shared ‘Tradesman’, along with ‘Hey Driver’.
Towards the end of the year, Bryan stated that the project would be released around February 2023.
However, on the first day of February, the Oklahoma maverick apologetically confirmed that the album would no longer be released in February, and that fans would have to wait a little longer before they got their hands on Bryan's American Heartbreak follow-up.
On November 18, Bryan posted a clip of a moving new song, ‘Dawns’, about his late mother, who passed away in 2016. The snippet was accompanied by a black-and-white video featuring a winding, wintery road.
When Bryan released his live album on Christmas Day, he also made the full music video for ‘Dawns’ available for fans that signed up to updates via Bryan's Laylo platform.
The song, which features moving vocals from Maggie Rogers, was then removed, but on January 27 Bryan gave the haunting track an official release.
Shortly after the start of the new year, Zach Bryan treated fans to a clip of an untitled and unreleased song, possibly called ‘Lost Faith in the World’ or ‘Summertime's Close’.
The gentle track showcases the singer-songwriter's unrivalled ability to captivate listeners over nothing more than a simple, noodling acoustic guitar.
In early December, Bryan also teased a haunting new song written for a woman named ‘Marie’, and we expect that this will also make the Writers and Fighters tracklist.
As New Years Eve approached, Zach Bryan introduced fans to another unreleased track, a warm-hearted ode to his girlfriend, Debbie Peifer.
He posted the song, which could be entitled ‘Dear Miss’ or possible even ‘Debbie’, following a series of tributes to Debbie, ahead of the couple's one year anniversary.
In addition, over the past few months Bryan has regularly posted clips of unfinished songs to Tik Tok.
These include tracks with working titles such as ‘Round and Round’, ‘Just Like The Movies’, ‘Back to Oklahoma’, ‘Holy Roller’ and ‘Young and Numb’.
In mid-February, on the same weekend that Bryan's beloved Eagles lost the Super Bowl, the singer-songwriter teased a brand new song snippet, entitled ‘Dallas’.
The track explores the feeling of restlessness while in a relationship, as well as touching on Bryan's widely documented distaste for Nashville's country music industry (“When you make it to Nashville / You can tell by one hat-tilt / That place just ain't my scene”).
@zachlanebryan I love out of tune guitars, taking jokes too far and my bartenders, extra damn mean.
♬ Dallas - Zach Bryan
Alongside these teasers, a number of unreleased snippets and clips have surfaced on YouTube, such as tracks speculatively titled ‘Please Don't Move’, ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Honey’, ‘Somebody’, ‘The Sea Today’, ‘Homebound’, ‘Ghost Town’, ‘Safe With Me’.
‘Please Don't Move’ finds Bryan reprising the warm, lovestruck character that took the lead on previous releases such as ‘Snow’, ‘Right Now the Best’ and ‘Darling’.
When another unreleased track, ‘The Sea Today’, receives the studio treatment, it feels as though it could certainly turn into a driving anthem in the mould of ‘Dawns’.
Fans are holding out hope that Bryan will also include a number of older unreleased songs, such as fan-favourites, ‘Dark’, ‘Sunday Afternoon’ and ‘Sunday Flannel’.
Recently, after deleting his Twitter and Instagram accounts, the Oklahoma maverick took to Tik Tok to share two emotive song teasers, entitled, ‘177 Chrystie’ and ‘Tourniquet’.
@zachlanebryan hotter than concrete feet during summers end
♬ 177 Chrystie - Zach Bryan
Although he's already teased enough music for three or four albums, Bryan continues to test out new material on social media. In March, the Oklahoma chart-topper shared a clip of him performing a new track, entitled ‘Fear and Fridays’, with a little help from his girlfriend, Deb Peifer.
@zachlanebryan I got a fear dear that its gonna’ end, won’t you get angry at me and say you love me again
♬ Fear and Fridays - Zach Bryan
Towards the end of March, the singer-songwriter posted a snippet of a heart-rending new exploration of loss, ‘East Side of Sorrow’.
He followed this up with another demo of a track named ‘Smaller Acts’, which showcases Bryan's trademark observational skills, as he pays tribute to his girlfriend's appreciation of the little things.
@zachlanebryan and boys who use their backs
♬ Smaller Acts - Zach Bryan
While in the middle of his 2023 UK and Europe tour, Zach Bryan found time to share a powerful rendition of ‘Fine Dry’, a touching, folk-leaning ballad that explores newfound sobriety.
Zach Bryan's announcement of a 2023 studio album reverberated around the country music world, especially given Bryan's role as one of the most popular and trailblazing artists in the genre.
Despite spending much of 2022 either touring or releasing new music, Bryan still found the time to secure a 2023 Grammy nomination for ‘Best Country Solo Performance’ in November.
Throughout the tail-end of the year, Bryan kickstarted a feud with Ticketmaster, after publicly criticising their handling of the Taylor Swift pre-sale fiasco.
The title of Bryan's Christmas Day live album, All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live From Red Rocks), is a tongue-in-cheek nod to this.
In January, Bryan confirmed that he'd be playing a series of low-cost dates in 2023 as part of his Burn, Burn, Burn tour in retaliation against the ticketing service.
In December, Bryan also continued his close relationship with Kevin Costner's Yellowstone, as his music was once again featured in the neo-Western drama. Both ‘The Good I'll Do’ and ‘Whiskey Fever’ have been included on the Season 5 soundtrack.
For more on Zach Bryan, see below: