History Music / ZacBrownBand

* NiceHat: Zac's skullcap.

* GenreRoulette: Southern rock, jam band, bluegrass, mainstream country? It's all there. ''Jekyll + Hyde'' pushes it UpToEleven with hard rock ("Heavy Is the Head", "Junkyard"), jazz ("Mango Tree", with Music/SaraBareilles), EDM ("Beautiful Drug"), and more. The electronic influences got turned UpToEleven on the Sir Rosevelt side project, which in turn informed ''The Owl''.

''Jekyll + Hyde'' followed in 2015, producing the country hits "Homegrown", "Loving You Easy", and "Beautiful Drug". This album included a vast array of collaborators such as Music/ChrisCornell, Music/{{Jewel}}, Music/SaraBareilles, and Music/CeeLoGreen, and a cover of alt-country singer Jason Isbell's "Dress Blues". The Cornell collaboration, "Heavy Is the Head", introduced the band's hard-rock influences for the first time, and even topped the Mainstream Rock charts (making them only the second act after Music/BonJovi to have both a #1 country and #1 mainstream rock hit). Alt-country producer Dave Cobb took the boards for the band's fifth major-label album ''Welcome Home'', led off by the tender ballad "My Old Man". At the same time, Zac started an electronic side project called Sir Rosevelt, which released one album in the last quarter of 2017. Electronic influence carried over to the band's next album, 2019's ''The Owl''.

CountryMusic band consisting of Zac Brown (guitar, lead vocals), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, backing vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass, banjo, ukulele, guitar, backing vocals), Coy Bowles (keyboards), Chris Fryar (drums), Clay Cook (guitar, organ, piano, pedal steel, mandolin, backing vocals), Matt Mangano (bass guitar), and Daniel de los Reyes (percussion). The band enjoyed several years of independent success in its native Atlanta, Georgia under a slightly different and smaller lineup of just Brown, Hopkins (who was then the bassist), De Martini, and little-known Marcus Petruska and Tim Ussery, the latter of whom was briefly replaced by Joel Williams.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''The Foundation'' in general. Most of the songs are re-recordings of stuff from their early independent days, so the lyrics are a lot simpler (particularly "Chicken Fried"), there's a lot less of a GenreRoulette feel (the album is mostly dominated by mid-tempos that feel like a cross between Music/DaveMatthewsBand and Music/JimmyBuffett), and some of the arrangements are different. This is because Marcus Petruska and Joel Williams were on drums and guitar instead of Chris Fryar and Coy Bowles, although session musician Brent Mason played some parts as well. Also, due to Clay Cook having not joined yet, all of the keyboard parts are played by session musicians (some by Greenwood Hart, others by Gary Prim), and the harmonies are only three-part instead of four-part. Finally, "It's Not OK" is their only song to date not sung by Zac (John Driskell Hopkins takes the lead vocal instead).

** The final verse of "Colder Weather". A cappella for the first two lines, and just piano for the rest.

''Jekyll + Hyde'' followed in 2015, producing the country hits "Homegrown", "Loving You Easy", and "Beautiful Drug". This album included a vast array of collaborators such as Music/ChrisCornell, Music/{{Jewel}}, Music/SaraBareilles, and Music/CeeLoGreen, and a cover of alt-country singer Jason Isbell's "Dress Blues". The Cornell collaboration, "Heavy Is the Head", introduced the band's hard-rock influences for the first time, and even topped the Mainstream Rock charts (making them only the second act after Music/BonJovi to have both a #1 country and #1 mainstream rock hit). Alt-country producer Dave Cobb took the boards for the band's fifth major-label album ''Welcome Home'', led off by the tender ballad "My Old Man". At the same time, Zac started an electronic side project called Sir Rosevelt, which released one album in the last quarter of 2017.

* GenreRoulette: Southern rock, jam band, bluegrass, mainstream country? It's all there. ''Jekyll + Hyde'' pushes it UpToEleven with hard rock ("Heavy Is the Head", "Junkyard"), jazz ("Mango Tree", with Music/SaraBareilles), EDM ("Beautiful Drug"), and more.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''The Foundation'' in general. Most of the songs are re-recordings of stuff from their early independent days, so the lyrics are a lot simpler (particularly "Chicken Fried"), there's a lot less of a GenreRoulette feel (the album is mostly dominated by mid-tempos that feel like a cross between Music/DaveMatthewsBand and Music/JimmyBuffett), and some of the arrangements are different. This is because [[ThePeteBest Marcus Petruska and Joel Williams were on drums and guitar]] instead of Chris Fryar and Coy Bowles, although session picker Brent Mason played some parts as well. Also, due to Clay Cook having not joined yet, all of the keyboard parts are played by session musicians, and the harmonies are only three-part instead of four-part. Finally, "It's Not OK" is their only song to date not sung by Zac (John Driskell Hopkins takes the lead vocal instead).

* OnceAnEpisode: Every album except the ''Grohl Sessions'' EP has an upbeat beach-themed song that generally gets released in the summer ("Toes", "Knee Deep", "Jump Right In", "Castaway"). ''Welcome Home'' had "Start Over", but unlike its predecessors, it was not released as a single.

** There's a remix of "Beautiful Drug" that lessens the EDM elements in favor of more fiddle.

de Los Reyes joined just before their third album, ''Uncaged'', which included the smashes "Goodbye in Her Eyes" and "Sweet Annie", along with the Music/JasonMraz-penned "Jump Right In". This was also their last album under the production of Keith Stegall, best known for his work with Jackson. Matt Mangano joined in 2014, taking over as bassist so that Hopkins could begin playing other instruments as well. During the transition, the band recorded a four-song EP produced by music/DaveGrohl.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''The Foundation'' in general. Most of the songs are re-recordings of stuff from their early independent days, so the lyrics are a lot simpler (particularly "Chicken Fried"), there's a lot less of a GenreRoulette feel (the album is mostly dominated by mid-tempos that feel like a cross between Music/DaveMatthewsBand and Music/JimmyBuffett), and some of the arrangements are different. This is because [[ThePeteBest Marcus Petruska and Joel Williams were on drums and guitar]] instead of Chris Fryar and Coy Bowles (although some of the guitar parts are played by session musician Brent Mason instead). Also, due to Clay Cook having not joined yet, all of the keyboard parts are played by session musicians, and the harmonies are only three-part instead of four-part. Finally, "It's Not OK" stands out due to being their only song to date not sung by Zac (John Driskell Hopkins takes the lead vocal instead).

** "Castaway" was remixed for radio by moving the coda to the beginning and toning down the bridge a bit.

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Hopkins sings most of "It's Not OK" on their debut album, and Cook sings part of "Last but Not Least" on ''Uncaged''. The band has also done covers of "[[Music/TheWho Baba O'Riley]]" in concert with Brown and Cook alternating the lead.

* AnimatedMusicVideo: "The Wind" has one animated by Creator/MikeJudge. Yes, ''that'' Mike Judge.
* BadassBeard: Zac Brown.
* {{Bowdlerize}}: Several radio edits of "Toes" exist, primarily censoring "I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand" to "...[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment toes in the sand]]" and censoring "roll a big fat one". Zac was not pleased, but his co-writer didn't mind.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''The Foundation'' in general. Most of the songs are re-recordings of stuff from their early independent days, so the lyrics are a lot simpler (particularly "Chicken Fried"), there's a lot less of a GenreRoulette feel (the album is mostly dominated by mid-tempos that feel like a cross between Music/DaveMatthewsBand and Music/JimmyBuffett), and neither Chris Fryar, Coy Bowles, nor Clay Cook is present (thus meaning that Marcus Petruska and Joel Williams are credited on drums and guitar, session musicians play all the keyboard parts and some of the guitar parts, and all of the harmonies are only three-part instead of four part). "It's Not OK" also stands out due to being their only song to date not sung by Zac (John Driskell Hopkins takes the lead vocal instead).

* OnceAnEpisode: Every album except the ''Grohl Sessions'' EP has an upbeat beach-themed song that gets released in the summer ("Toes", "Knee Deep", "Jump Right In", "Castaway").

* SixthRanger: Matt Mangano had collaborated with the ZBB a few times (most notably on one track from ''Uncaged'') before officially becoming bassist in 2014.

''Jekyll + Hyde'' followed in 2015, producing the country hits "Homegrown", "Loving You Easy", and "Beautiful Drug". This album included a vast array of collaborators such as Music/ChrisCornell, Music/{{Jewel}}, Music/SaraBareilles, and Music/CeeLoGreen, and a cover of alt-country singer Jason Isbell's "Dress Blues". The Cornell collaboration, "Heavy Is the Head", introduced the band's hard-rock influences for the first time, and even topped the Mainstream Rock charts (making them only the second act after Music/BonJovi to have both a #1 country and #1 mainstream rock hit). Alt-country producer Dave Cobb took the boards for the band's fifth major-label album ''Welcome Home'', led off by the tender ballad "My Old Man".

de Los Reyes joined just before their third album, ''Uncaged'', which included the smashes "Goodbye in Her Eyes" and "Sweet Annie", along with the Music/JasonMraz-penned "Jump Right In". This was also their last album under the production of Keith Stegall, best known for his work with Jackson. Matt Mangano joined in 2013, taking over as bassist so that Hopkins could begin playing other instruments as well, just in time for an EP produced by Music/DaveGrohl.