Zach Bryan has the cure for your Summertime Blues.
His new 9-song EP (I guess when you crank out 34-track behemoths, 9 songs is an EP) is out everywhere today, and I’m happy to report that the duet we’ve always wanted is HERE.
Zach teamed up with his friend and frequent tour opener Charles Wesley Godwin for a kickass new song called “Jamie,” and though the tracklist was previously announced prior to today, it wasn’t confirmed that CWG would be featured on one of the songs.
Of course, it’s as great as you’d expect having these two on one track together.
Jamie is about a man who lost the love of his life and hasn’t been able to cope with her loss. He goes out to a bar, has too much to drink, and decides to drive to where is former flame is buried and ends up in trouble with the law, ultimately losing his own life as a result:
“‘Cuz this life ain’t worth livin’
If the love that you’ve been givin’
Is taken before you are
Now Jamie is dancin’
And spinning ’round his baby in the stars”
It’s sad, but it’s honest and raw, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally be able to add this one to my playlist:
This new EP comes on the heels of Zach’s monster 34-track debut studio album American Heartbreak, and my favorite on this new project is probably still “Oklahoma Smokeshow.”
A classic Romeo and Juliet-style tale (melody is infectious melody) about how Zach is a bad boy who will never settle down, or end up with a seemingly beautiful and perfect girl like he describes in the song, who’s “known God since she was a child.”
He wants to be with her, but knows it can never be because neither he, nor anyone else in town, is good enough for the “small town smokeshow” that they’re all pining after.
It feels like déjà vu saying there’s a lot of good new music from the Oklahoma native out today, but luckily it’s true, so do yourself a favor and dive into Summertime Blues because Zach Bryan has delivered once again.
“Oklahoma Smokeshow”
“Quittin Time”
Summertime Blues tracklist:
1. “Quittin’ Time”
2. “Motorcycle Drive By”
3. “Summertime Blues”
4. “Oklahoma Smoke Show”
5. “Jamie”
6. “Twenty So”
7. “Us Then”
8. “Matt and Audie”
9. “All the Time”
