Zac Brown and Sweet Baby James… I’m here for it.
Last Friday, the two legendary singer-songwriters came together to release the single: Love & Sunsets, a cut from Zac’s upcoming The Comeback Deluxe album. The song brings together classic staples from each musician, creating a laid-back, finger-picked ballad about how the best things in life are free.
Brown and Taylor’s guitar playing strike a similar chord.
Both singers generally finger-pick their songs, to create unique melody lines to carry their songs. Both Brown and Taylor’s guitar playing are as distinctive as their singing voice, and if you’re a JT fan, it is unmistakable as to who is playing what.
Brown’s guitar provides the foundation for Taylor’s steel-string picking to weave in and out of the space between notes.
The lyrics are classic Zac Brown, as he sings of how there are certain things money can buy, while other, simpler things are beyond the price tag of a dollar bill:
“It might cost you a little cash
A little time, a tank of gas
Drive right past your hometown
Find that house you first fell in love in
It might take you a couple weeks
To save for a trip down to the Keys
With all your friends from way back when
That’s a tab I don’t mind payin’…”
Taylor then chimes in to harmonize on the chorus:
“Underneath this burnin’ skyline
Waiting for the day to turn to stars
All the gold in California
Ain’t close to what I got in my arms
Lord knows land, luck and pickup trucks
And diamonds don’t come cheap
Thank God, love and sunsets are free…”
Classic Zac Brown, classic JT.
An irony to comment on here is how high-end the song production feels.
I agree y’all, the best things in life are free, but this song just sounds like some dollar bills were thrown at it, and I found myself longing for the less produced, fun-lovin’ production style of the band’s earlier years.
Though, perhaps Zac Brown Band’s magic was never in their recordings as much as in their live show.
I mean, talk about a kicking band.
After listening I couldn’t help but feel that the two were a natural pairing, so I dug into a little Zac Brown history to find that James Taylor had a notably large impact on the singer-songwriter, and this was not their first time collaborating.
In 2011 the two singers received a standing ovation at the ACM awards when they performed a medley of Brown’s Colder Weather into the JT classic Sweet Baby James.
As previously mentioned, “Love & Sunsets” is part of Zac Brown Band’s new album “The Comeback (Deluxe)” which features an array of exciting collaborations including Blake Shelton, Cody Johnson, Jamey Johnson, and Markus King.
The album will drop on September 30th with a portion of the proceeds to benefit ‘Hop On A Cure’ to help fund research toward ending amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
John Driskell Hopkins, the bassist, songwriter, and co-founder of Zac Brown band recently announced that he was diagnosed with ALS.
Two legends and a great cause. What could be better?
