Zach Bryan’s time as an active-duty member of the U.S. Navy is officially over.
He made the announcement in a post on Instagram, saying that he was honorably discharged after eight years of service and some of the best years of his life “to go play some music”:
“I joined the Navy as a 17 year old kid. It’s all I lived, slept and ate for eight years, it’s been all I knew since I was basically a snot-nosed child. It made a man out of me, truly.
I ran with some big dogs, saw a few fights, out drank the best of them, but more importantly, got to serve along side some of the best men and women I was ever blessed enough to meet.
If it was my decision, I would never get out of the worlds greatest Navy, but here I am and they kindly honorably discharged me to go play some music.
Can’t tell if I’m a coward or if I’m chasing a dream but regardless, the best eight years of my life were spent serving the best country in the whole damn world. Thank you guys and I’ll see you on tour. -Z.”
I think it’s safe to say he’s far from a coward after almost a decade of serving in the military. And giving up something you love to chase a dream, actually making that leap that so many talk about few ever do?
That’s not cowardly, it takes guts…
Zach comes from a family of Navy veterans, too, as his late mother DeAnn, father Dewayne, and grandpa were all in the Navy.
This announcement comes on the heels of his first official headlining tour, Ain’t For Tamin’, that’s set to kickoff next week in St. Louis and run through November, though it’s likely more dates will be added in the near future.
He recently made his Grand Ole Opry debut, played at the Born & Raised Festival, and even teamed up for a charity show with Christian McCaffrey, but now that he can dedicate all of his time to his music career, I have a feeling this is going to be a huge move for him in the long run.
Up until now, he hasn’t really been able to get to a whole lot of live shows, simply for the fact that he had another, pretty demanding, full time job. It’s crazy to think back to some of those early, viral videos of him playing acoustic, original songs are what got him to this point, but I promise you, this is just the beginning.
Zach is a superstar in the making, and now that he’s gonna be able to go on tour and completely invest in his music, I think we’re gonna be able to drop the “in the making” part sooner rather than later.
And, we all know he’s been working on a new album that will hopefully be out in the next few months, and he gave fans another (sort-of) update on the progress yesterday:
On behalf of all of us here at Whiskey Riff, thank you a million times for your selfless service to this great country, Zach.
