If you have ever wondered how collaborations come to be in the world of music, Zac Brown makes it sound like it’s not all that complicated.
The 47-year-old artist knows a thing or two about successful, musical collabs. Zac Brown and the Zac Brown Band have previously worked with artists like Kenny Chesney, Kid Rock, Brandi Carlile, and maybe most notably Jimmy Buffett. I’d bet that everyone has heard their 2010 hit collaboration “Knee Deep.” It’s a beach trip staple.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to artists that Brown has worked with. The “Chicken Fried” singer has never shied away from collaborating with artists outside of his own genre (whatever that is), and Zac’s group has taken chances and changed things up multiple times throughout the past 10-plus years.
Just recently, they announced that a “new chapter” was on the way. After the Zac Brown Band briefly wiped everything off their social media accounts, they announced a new album coming out later this year titled Love & Fear, which features collaborations with Snoop Dogg and the legendary Dolly Parton:
Both collaborations with Snoop Dogg and Dolly Parton have been released as singles ahead of the Love & Fear album release on December 5 (which just so happens to coincide with the first night of Zac Brown Band’s Las Vegas Sphere residency).
And while he was on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Brown was asked how some of the collaborations in his career have come to be. Zac answered by saying that, as an artist, you kind of just have to foster relationships and make them happen if you really want them to:
“You seek them out. It’s a dream. It’s like, ‘I want to have Jimmy Buffett on a song.’ I ended up meeting him at a campsite. He was sitting there eating a pie and me and my bass player were walking by and I sat down and started talking to him.
We ended up being friends from that, and then I sent him a song like, ‘Hey, we got a song.’ We had traction. We had already five or seven No. 1’s at that time. I think our success and us being real, genuine fans of him (made it easier to) talk him into doing it.”
Brown went on to say that Adele is one collaboration that he still wants to do, but doesn’t feel close enough to ask her to jump on a song.
Someone that he did feel comfortable asking to join him for a collaboration on Love & Fear was Dolly Parton, and he was very grateful to have shared in a song with the “Queen of Country Music:”
“Same way with Dolly. We released the song with Dolly Parton. It just came out a couple of weeks ago. It’s called ‘Butterfly.’ She is such an incredible (person). There will never be another Dolly. The most published, most brilliant female writer ever. That was a dream.”
Brown added that “Butterfly” is the song that he’s most proud of out of all of his songs. That could be some recency bias, but you can tell that he’s really appreciative of Dolly Parton joining him for the single that will be a part of Zac Brown Band’s newest album.
You can hear more from Zac Brown in the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast below:
And also feel free to listen to Zac’s recent collab with Dolly Parton for his band’s upcoming Love & Fear album:
“Butterfly”
