Zac Brown Band plays MerleFest

The Comeback

If you have even a passing familiarity of Zac Brown's personal history starting around 2018, you know the inspiration for this CD's title. First, Brown's 12-year marriage collapsed. Then, the world shook its collective head when he released a solo pop record ("Controversy") simultaneous to a ZBB release ("The Owl"). Why saturate the market with oneself, especially when the solo outing was a mess? The cover of that pop/hip-hop experimentation said it all: Brown, ...

Welcome Home

With "Welcome Home," the Zac Brown Band continues to do what it does best, which is making quality roots music. In fact, one of the album's songs is even titled "Roots." Brown may not be the most religious guy, but his latest songs focus on many truly spiritual cornerstones of life: family and friends. Both "Family Table" and "My Old Man" find Brown reflecting on his family life, with the latter also looking at 'the here and now' of being a father himself. ...

Jekyll + Hyde

Fans looking for the Zac Brown Band of 2005 won't find it in "Jekyll + Hyde" - there's nothing but an aftertaste of the Georgia group's chicken-fried origins. That might be why the album's name is so appropriate. Fans have gotten to know the country-folk band, but a deviant creeps in on all 16 tracks of its fourth album. And, like the classic story, Hyde stands out as more interesting. It hits hard, too. The opener, "Beautiful Drug," has an electric-pop ...