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Zac is back
IF YOU GO
Who: Zac Brown Band
When: 7 tonight at Blossom Music Center, 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls; and 7 p.m. Sunday at First Niagara Pavilion, state Route 18, Burgettstown, Pa.
Tickets: $39.50 to $69.50 (Blossom Music Center) and $44 to $68 (First Niagara) at Ticketmaster outlets
Info: ticketmaster.com
By John Benson
The Zac Brown Band may be one of Nashville’s hottest acts but the country group is anything but typical Music City. In fact, you might even say there’s a duality that imbues the outfit. Perhaps this explains why the platinum outfit named its recently released fourth studio album “Jekyll + Hyde.”
Whether it’s recording with grunge singer Chris Cornell, covering Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” in concert or writing a song that preaches loving each other over religious differences, the Zac Brown Band isn’t afraid of presenting different ideas – albeit stylistically heretical or even controversial – in the hopes of opening the collective mind of its audience members.
“We’re able to pull off all styles of music,” said organist-pianist Coy Bowles, calling from somewhere in Alabama. “As far as taking a risk, I don’t know if we think about it like that as much. It’s more like, let’s write this song and be as true to what we’re trying to say.”
What the Zac Brown Band is saying on “Jekyll + Hyde” song “Remedy” is nothing short of risky when compared with other country artists. The mid-tempo fiddle-heavy tune with heavy vocal harmony starts out like seemingly every other country song, including a shout-out to Jesus, but Brown’s lyrics send a different message.
He sings, “Jesus preached the golden rule/ Buddha taught it, too/ Gandhi said eye for an eye/ Makes the whole world go blind/ With a little understanding/ We can break these chains/ That we’ve been handed/ I’ve got the medication/ Love is the remedy.”
Yep, “Love is the remedy” isn’t too far removed from The Beatles’ hippie mantra “All You Need is Love.”
“The message to the song is more or less kind of ‘love one another’ kind of thing,” Bowles said. “Whether it be beatniks or hippies or whatever, overall, I think the climate we live in right now, there could be a lot more of people showing each other love instead of the other things that cause things to get so heightened.
“Hopefully it’s a message that will vibrate out and catch a hold. And if it just makes one person’s life different, than you kind of did your job.”
So far audiences have been reacting to the No. 1 album “Jekyll + Hyde,” which includes chart topper “Homegrown” and current single “Loving You Easy,” as well as the rocker “Heavy Is the Head [featuring Chris Cornell],” the EDM-esque “Beautiful Drug” and old-school/choir-backed “I’ll Be Your Man [Song for a Daughter].”
Despite the Grammy Award-winning Zac Brown Band’s platinum catalog (“Uncaged,” “You Get What You Give” and “The Foundation”) and its 11 No. 1 hit singles, you don’t get the sense the group is taking the safe route.
So, regarding the title of the band’s latest album, does Bowles feel the outfit is feeling like a friendly Jekyll or devilish Hyde?
“I feel like it’s all of it at the same time,” Bowles said. “There’s definitely the duality of us kind of wanting to do things one way and then do things the exact opposite at the same time, always.”