Zach Bryan- The Great American Bar Scene
A guest post reviewing the indefatigable Zach Bryan's new record.
Zach Bryan's loud announcement of his mainstream entrance occurred about two years ago with the smash hit of American Heartbreak.
It represented an exodus from the independent cocoon of the social media driven, acoustic singer-songwriter world that Bryan had cut his teeth on for the previous couple of years. The success may have come as a shock to the world at large, but for those closely following the independent country scene, it was no surprise at all.
Fast-forward one year later, and the release of the self-titled album signified a further step towards not just country stardom, but pop star level fame, dragging Kacey Musgraves along with him to a number one single on the billboard charts. Country was experiencing a boom moment in pop culture. Bryan had a role in creating it, and he certainly took advantage.
Now, in year three, the third record of this insanely hot streak has been released. The Great American Bar Scene is Bryan's next step in both his artistry of the record as well as his fame and impact. The features on this record are indicative. Bryan is operating at such a high level of fame that he has the rock stars of generations past eager to collaborate with him- looking to draw a connection with the young generation- and also perfectly able to hand select and uplift an unknown artist to unbelievable levels of name recognition. Noeline Hofman was unknown one month ago. Now she is a household name to millions. This is the next level. There may be nothing higher. Or maybe we shouldn't count out what Zach Bryan can do. He's blown past every conceivable expectation thus far.
It really is a pity that I personally don't mesh well with his music. Perhaps it was the rawness of his early material (Quiet Heavy Dreams was my introduction to him) or his distinctive vocals disagreeing with my bias towards the mellifluous (capable singer he may be, but he ain't no Randall King vocally). His music falls into the camp of artistry I can respect, but not enjoy.
It is for that reason that although I do consider myself equipped to discuss the industry wide impact of the Zach Bryan phenomenon, I feel at a loss to granularly explain his music.
Thankfully, a long time reader has stepped up to the plate to fill in my gaps of knowledge. Gunnar Floyd is perhaps the biggest Zach Bryan fan I know of. He has contributed his thoughts on Zach Bryan to the blog in the past. I thank him for his work.
-Joe
The Great American Bar Scene - Review
By Gunnar Floyd
Coming off of his self-titled album, Zach Bryan had a lot to prove with The Great American Bar Scene. With such high expectations (Zach Bryan is my favorite album of all time,) I was not optimistic for this record. Some prereleases and teasers were rough around the edges, and I was expecting a lackluster record that tried too hard to capture the spark that both American Heartbreak and Zach Bryan easily achieved. I was pleasantly surprised on my first listen, and again in the subsequent fifty preparing my thoughts for this review.
The review is formated in a track-by-track style, so feel free to listen along.
Mechanical Bull
Mechanical Bull plays as a pseudo-opener for The Great American Bar Scene à la Overtime for Zach Bryan. It is first song after Lucky Enough, which is a poem that serves to set the vibe for the rest of the record. Mechanical Bull is one of the strongest on the entire record and my personal second favorite. Zach mentions all of his band, raising families, roping cattle, riding highways, and his lack of feeling like he belongs. Zach is currently on his nationwide arena tour, “The Quittin’ Time Tour,” a change of pace from the “Burn, Burn, Burn” or “American Heartbreak” tours. I saw Zach in October 2022 in a venue of about 2,400 capacity. Now, less than two years later, Zach is playing in whole stadiums of people. Instead of intimate settings, with unique experiences, he’s having to compensate for his lack of experience by running the same show over and over again. The line, “I’m a mechanical bull, throw a quarter in, watch me go,” is indicative that life has become formulaic for Zach. He longs for the old ways, when the band would bar hop post show, but realizes that those times are long dead.
The Great American Bar Scene
The Great American Bar Scene (TGABS for short) is closer to the bottom end of my rankings. While still being well written, performed, and produced, it just doesn’t click with me. A title track should encapsulate an album, in a way that TGABS doesn’t. Although I don’t love the song, making it a collection of stories told in and about bars is truly interesting and creative. The song almost feels as though it would’ve been better as the record’s poem.
28
Far and away the biggest hit from the album thus far, 28 is the fan favorite from The Great American Bar Scene. Zach’s writing in 28 shows how much he’s grown since DeAnn almost 5 years ago. He’s deepened his rhymes, concepts, and of course instrumentation. Backed by a piano, cello, violin, and many other instruments, Zach’s created a beautiful song about finding love and life and being content. The beautiful winding fiddle is played by Hannah Cohen, Lucas Ruge-Jones’s temporary replacement whilst he spent a few weeks off with his newborn. Hannah has proven herself as one of the highlights of The Great American Bar Scene with her work on 28.
American Nights
Second only to 28 on the charts, American Nights is a banger in the same vein as Heavy Eyes, even down to the characters in both songs. Zach premiered American Nights in the rain at a show in Boston, proving its capability for arousing a crowd and keeping a show breathing.
Oak Island
Oak Island draws from Zach’s storytelling experience on songs like Crooked Teeth and Matt and Audie, while sounding similar to songs like El Dorado and All the Time. Oak Island serves as a short and sweet story that seems to build upon the Mickey character introduced in the title track.
Purple Gas (w/ Noeline Hofmann)
The first of four collaborations on The Great American Bar Scene, Purple Gas, is the only song on the record not written by Zach himself. Instead a write by Noeline, having performed the song on the Belting Bronco YouTube series a few months prior. While I personally believe it’s on the weaker end of the record, there is an undeniable talent in Noeline’s composition and voice. I expect this song to give her career and decent boost when she releases her first album.
Boons
Another one of my personal favorites on The Great American Bar Scene, Boons, is reminiscent of Tishomingo, my favorite song from American Heartbreak. The melodic tone, simple strumming, and beautiful lyrics lend itself to being one of only a few 10/10 songs on the record.
The Way Back
One of my most anticipated songs going into my first listen, The Way Back did not disappoint. Posted on YouTube 4 months prior to the album’s relapse, the song is mostly unchanged, aside from an additional verse. Zach keeps the strengths of the original while building on it with some additional backing from his band mates. Zach’s piano songs continue to satisfy with The Way Back.
Memphis; The Blues (ft. John Moreland)
Memphis; The Blues serves as a second collaboration, with Texas singer-songwriter John Moreland. By far my least favorite song on The Great American Bar Scene, there’s not much I can say about this track. The writing is subpar for Zach, and the instrumentation is nothing groundbreaking. The vocal performance and chemistry is present, much like Sarah’s Place with Noah Kahan, but I feel as though it’s wasted on this track.
Like Ida
Another song close to the bottom of my rankings is Like Ida. I don’t fully understand what this song is meant to be or represent in terms of The Great American Bar Scene. It seems to be a failed attempt at being a cross between The Butcher’s Floor (a deleted YouTube track), Highway Boys (American Heartbreak), and Cold Blooded (Elisabeth). I also believe that this song would’ve been more fitting of a John Mayer feature than Better Days later on the record. The more I listen to Like Ida, the less I seem to enjoy it.
Bass Boat
Bass Boat, another beautiful piano driven ballad follows Like Ida. Zach touches on his self-sabotage, suicidal ideation, and issues brought on from his upbringing. Bass Boat feels like an extension of Half Grown from American Heartbreak, in that everyone always has time and room to grow, and people will often pass their immaturity onto others. Backed by his photographer Louie Nice’s fiancé, Morgan Meinhart, Zach creates a tear jerking, nostalgic, life breathing song.
Better Days (ft. John Mayer)
Better Days is the third of four collaborative efforts on The Great American Bar Scene, and my favorite of the four. The choice to not give John Mayer a verse on the track, and instead giving him a guitar solo and some background vocals is a very welcome choice. Mayer is one of the greatest guitar players of all time, and using that is to the song's advantage. The song feels like it should’ve been on Zach Bryan, which is not a bad thing. Well-written and performed, Better Days is one of the strongest on The Great American Bar Scene.
Towers
By far my favorite track on The Great American Bar Scene is Towers. An elegant song written initially as a poem in Paris, that grew into a masterpiece backed by a choir. Towers could easily become one of my favorite Zach songs ever, let alone on this record.
Sandpaper (ft. Bruce Springsteen)
The fourth and final collaboration on The Great American Bar Scene is with none other than The Boss; Bruce Springsteen. The writing on Sandpaper is immaculate, along with the vocal chemistry between Zach and Springsteen. The song only just falls short of Better Days in my ranking, but Sandpaper is still one of the best songs on the whole record.
Northern Thunder
Every summer, I work the finish line at a horse race back in my home county, and Northern Thunder reminds me of a race horse’s name. That aside, this track takes a top five spot on the record for me. With striking lines like “Mama I made a million dollars by accident,” albeit a little silly, this has become one of my favorite Zach songs as I’ve listened to The Great American Bar Scene.
Funny Man
Funny Man is to The Great American Bar Scene what The Good I’ll Do is to American Heartbreak. A beautiful melodic ode to a lover in Zach’s life. The song only takes a step down on a line in the chorus, “it was cold but I was warmer than I’d ever been,” that has never felt like something Zach wrote to me.
Pink Skies
The lead single for The Great American Bar Scene, Pink Skies, got me extremely excited for The Great American Bar Scene. The writing, vocal performance, instruments evocative of Quiet, Heavy Dreams, Zach’s only 10/10 project in my personal opinion. I’ve listened to Pink Skies over 300 times, and it hasn’t worn on me at all. But on the album, the track got a seemingly unnecessary outro tacked onto the end sung by the band Watchhouse. While it’s beautiful, I can’t help but prefer the single version of the track over the album version. Pink Skies dropped down a lot on my rankings, sitting closer to the bottom than it should be.
Bathwater
The eighteenth and final song on The Great American Bar Scene, Bathwater, is what I would say is a perfect closer for the album. Sitting at just a minute and forty seconds, Bathwater is punchy and potent. Zach sings about being a puppet of the machine, a dancing monkey, a mechanical bull. He’s self aware of where he is in his career, and the song is a Zach Bryan song through and through.
In Conclusion
A close friend of mine expressed to me after The Great American Bar Scene released that he’s begun looking back on his life based on what the most recent Zach Bryan album was. The albums challenge their beliefs, mindsets, and attitudes. Each album has become a benchmark, and not just for Zach and his career. His listeners, casual and hardcore, are impacted on an extremely deep level. Zach is a star, burning brighter than ever. If you aren’t all in, you’re missing out. The Great American Bar Scene has challenged my view of reviewing, and my increasing disillusion in looking at music so critically. Zach’s music, while not free from criticism, is an anomaly. It’s identifiable, relatable, electric. Everyone connects with each song in a different way. There are memories attached to the songs. Fishing in the dark quietly with people you’re scared you’ll never see again, sitting in gravel by a fire pit eating elk burgers in the heat of July. This music impacts so many people from all different walks of life on huge scales. Zach Bryan is a modern day Elvis Presley for young fans. He has command over a crowd, he has reach. Zach has an energy that screams rockstar. Zach’s gone from a nobody military man to one of the most influential and impactful musicians in modern history.
Song Rankings
Towers
Mechanical Bull
Boons
Northern Thunder
Bathwater
The Way Back
Oak Island
Better Days (ft. John Mayer)
Sandpaper (ft. Bruce Springsteen)
American Nights
28
Bass Boat
Funny Man
The Great American Bar Scene
Like Ida
Pink Skies
Purple Gas (w/ Noeline Hofmann)
Memphis; The Blues (ft. John Moreland)
Thank you for reading. I am always open to a collaboration. I can be reached in the comment section or email at Today I Heard Blog at Gmail dot com.
Much thanks to Gunnar Floyd on his wonderfully thorough breakdown so quickly after album release. I rarely am so timely on album reviews. The aim of this blog is quality, not immediate reactions and quick turnaround. However, upon reading the draft sent to me, I felt that his work satisfied on both accounts. Kudos.
Joe