ARTIST SPOTLIGHT = Zac Brown Band (3 songs)

This Atlanta GA-based band consists of Zac Brown, Jimmy De Martini, John Diskell Hopkins, Coy Bowles, Chris Fryar, Clay Cook, Matt Mangano & Daniel de los Reyes. While they are a new group (debuting in 2008), they’ve had tunes with that vintage feel.

#1
Written by Zac Brown & Wyatt Durette, this song was released 11/23/2009 as the band’s 4th single from their debut album ‘The Foundation’. While some have related it to US 20 (running from Boston MA to Newport OR), Brown was actually inspired to write it while driving along I-20 between Atlanta GA & Augusta GA. In early 2010, it became their 4th straight Top 5 & their 3rd country chart topper.

#2
Zac Brown, Coy Bowles, Wyatt Durrette & Levi Lowrey wrote this song, released 12/20/2010 as the 2nd single from the band’s 2nd album ‘You Get What You Give’. It became popular the summer of 2011, during my “Coast-to-Coast” (& last) road trip; I heard it many times during that trip, several times sticking in my mind. It claimed #1 on the country charts that year, becoming their 5th straight chart topper.

#3
Released 08/22/2011 as the 4th single from the band’s 2nd album ‘You Get What You Give’, this song became the band’s 8th & 7th straight chart topper. Their prior release, 2011’s “Knee Deep” with Jimmy Buffett, had also become their 1st (& so far only) Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #18.