The Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulele, upright bass, vocals), Coy Bowles (guitar, keyboards), Chris Fryar (drums), Clay Cook (guitar, keyboards, mandolin, steel guitar, vocals), Matt Mangano (bass guitar), Daniel de los Reyes (percussion), and Caroline Jones (guitar, keyboards, harmonica, vocals).
The band has released seven studio albums, three live albums, one greatest hits album, and three extended plays. They have had 16 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay chart, of which 13 have reached number 1. Their first album, The Foundation, is certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, while its follow-ups, You Get What You Give and Uncaged, are certified platinum. They have collaborated with artists such as Alan Jackson, Angie Aparo, Jimmy Buffett, Kid Rock, Jason Mraz, Dave Grohl, Chris Cornell, Brandi Carlile, Avicii, Los Lonely Boys, Sara Barellies and John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
In 2002, Brown was traveling with a heavy tour schedule of approximately 200 dates a year. The initial Zac Brown Band lineup consisted of Brown, on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, backed by drummer Marcus Petruska and bass guitarist Jacob Lawson. In 2003, Brown started his own label, called Home Grown—it was later renamed "Southern Ground".
In 2004, Brown opened a music club and restaurant with his father in the Lake Oconee area of Georgia, called "Zac's Place" where the fare was southern-style cooking. A developer bought the restaurant and, in turn, the Zac Brown Band bought a tour bus and began touring full-time, playing rock and country clubs, as well as folk and jam band festivals. The release of the Zac Brown Band's first independent album, Home Grown, occurred during the same year.
Also in 2004, Brown added violinist/fiddler and tenor vocalist Jimmy De Martini to the lineup. According to an interview with De Martini, he explained that Wyatt Durrette, Brown's frequent songwriting collaborator, was working as a bartender at Sidelines Sports Bar in Kennesaw, Georgia, at the time, where the Zac Brown Band frequently performed. Durette suggested De Martini to Brown, who was wanting a "lead instrument" in his band, as well as a harmony singer. After doing several performances with the band at the club, Brown asked De Martini to become a permanent member, to which De Martini gladly obliged.
Brown met John Driskell Hopkins in 1998 when Hopkins was hosting an open mic night at CJ's Landing in Buckhead, Georgia. Hopkins later recorded Home Grown in his music studio, Brighter Shade Studios. The two remained friends, and in 2005, Hopkins stepped in as bass guitarist while helping the group finish what became their number-one single "Toes". "Toes" was the second single from the band's major-label debut, The Foundation, which was partially recorded in Hopkins' studio. You Get What You Give was also partially recorded in Brighter Shade Studios.
Coy Bowles transferred to Atlanta's Georgia State University to study music. He subsequently became involved in Atlanta's various music scenes, and eventually formed Coy Bowles and the Fellowship in 2004. Two years later, Bowles decided to reconnect with Brown. Through mutual friends, he learned that the Zac Brown Band was scheduled to perform in Atlanta one evening. Bowles and Brown spent the afternoon prior to the performance reacquainting with each other, which ended with Brown inviting Bowles to sit in with his band at that night's performance. To return the favor, Bowles invited the band to attend his own gig with the Fellowship a couple of months later, which in turn resulted in Brown and his band sitting in at that gig.
This turn of events continued for eight months until Bowles concluded that it was too overwhelming to balance his time with Brown's band and his own band, in addition to other activities; he therefore made a decision to put the Fellowship on an indefinite hiatus, and became a permanent member of the Zac Brown Band.
In 2008, the Zac Brown Band signed to Live Nation Artists Records, in association with Brown's own Home Grown label, after Chris Fryar became an addition to the band. An Alabama native, Fryar attended the University of North Texas and the Mississippi University for Women, and made a name for himself in the Birmingham music scene. According to Fryar, a mutual friend recommended him to Brown, who was in need of a new drummer for the band. Fryar, who in turn had just finished a stint with a previous band, subsequently auditioned and shortly afterward became the Zac Brown Band's newest member.
The Zac Brown Band's debut single, "Chicken Fried", was originally recorded in 2003 and included on the Home Grown album, but later re-recorded and released to country radio in 2008. This song was also recorded by The Lost Trailers, whose 2006 recording was released as a single but withdrawn after Brown decided that he wanted to release it himself. Brown also co-wrote "Simple Life", a song recorded by The Lost Trailers on their 2006 self-titled album.
In the third episode of HBO's music documentary series Sonic Highways, Brown was a featured interviewee and explained why Lost Trailer's version of "Chicken Fried" was pulled from the radio. Brown stated that after six years of touring that he was broke and sleeping in his tour van. In 2005 the Lost Trailers contacted Brown and expressed interest in recording "Chicken Fried". Brown stated he agreed under the condition that the song would only be an album cut and not a single as he still had hopes of releasing the song as a radio single himself.
Both parties agreed and the Lost Trailers recorded the song. Some months later the Lost Trailers landed a deal with Sony Nashville, and when they submitted the tracks for their album, they included "Chicken Fried". Joe Galante, then the Chairman of Sony Music Nashville, heard the tracks and chose "Chicken Fried" as the single that the label wanted to promote.
Brown described hearing his song on the radio: "The first time I hear 'Chicken Fried' on the radio and it wasn't us singing it. It was a nightmare." Brown then called his lawyer to have the song pulled from the radio immediately. Brown's lawyer warned him that because of Galante's power in the Nashville music scene that pulling the song could essentially have him blackballed in Nashville. Brown was insistent that his agreement with the Lost Trailers was violated, so his lawyer issued a cease and desist letter and the single was pulled from the radio.
A few months later The Zac Brown Band was booked to perform at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville and producer Keith Stegall came to watch their performance. Stegall and Brown had drinks later that night and Brown recalled Stegall stating, "I just had to meet the kid that told Joe Galante to fuck off!" Brown credits this incident and his meeting and collaboration with Stegall as the beginning of his success in the music business.
In October 2008, Atlantic Records acquired distribution of "Chicken Fried" after Live Nation Artists closed. The band's album The Foundation was released under Atlantic Records' newly re-established country division in association with the Home Grown/Bigger Picture label on November 18 of that year. "Chicken Fried" reached No. 1 on the country charts that same month, making them the first country band to reach No. 1 with a debut single since Heartland did so in 2006 with "I Loved Her First".
In January 2009, two months after "Chicken Fried" went to No. 1, Atlanta native Clay Cook joined the Zac Brown Band as its multi-instrumentalist and high tenor vocalist. Cook had previously collaborated with John Mayer and Shawn Mullins, and was also a member of the Marshall Tucker Band for two years prior to joining the Zac Brown Band.
Cook explains how he first met Brown: