A best-selling author who can shred on the weekend.
After a fairly tumultuous past year, 2026 has been pretty great for Zach Bryan. Shortly after marrying Samantha Sebastian on New Year’s Eve, he’d drop his long-awaited sixth studio album, With Heaven On Top, along with a full-length acoustic version of the record. Delivering another stellar effort, it would debut #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, selling 130,00 units in its first week and charting 18/25 songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
Since then, he’s been hitting the road hard on his current international run of shows, With Heaven On Tour. Kicking off back in March, the “Something in the Orange” singer has already played sold-out shows at Bank of America Stadium, Raymond James Stadium, Memorial Stadium and more here in the U.S. He’s also hit the likes of the U.K., Spain, Germany, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands across the pond, selling out there as well.
Additionally, he’s also gearing up for the release of his new EP, Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs, in October, which will contain tracks that he’s been debuting live on tour, such as “Lodi When,” “You’ll Get By,” “Backwards” and “Robot Killed The Working Man.”
Continuing his streak of massive shows across the country, over the weekend, the Oklahoma native played back-to-back nights at The Woodlands in Dover, Delaware. On night two, fans were treated to a 25-song setlist including the likes of “Something in the Orange,” “Oklahoma Smokeshow,” “I Remember Everything,” “Burn, Burn, Burn,” his Kings of Leon collaboration, “Bowery” as well as the aforementioned new tracks, “Lodi When,” “You’ll Get By” and “Robot Killed The Working Man.”
The most special moment of the night, however, came quite early in the set when Bryan called upon his professor, Darin Strauss, to perform one of the standouts from With Heaven On Top, “Say Why.”
Strauss, who taught Bryan at New York University, is a Clinical Professor at the NYU Creative Writing Program. Beyond that, Strauss is an incredibly accomplished author, receiving best-selling honors for novels such as Chang and Eng, The Real McCoy, More Than it Hurts You and The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story. Additionally, he’s won multiple awards in literature.
Introducing the American Library Association Award-winner, the “Plastic Cigarette” would explain that Strauss revealed during a random conversation that he can “rip” on guitar. In typical Bryan fashion, this prompted him to invite him up on stage with the band whenever he was available.
“I was attending this Master’s program with NYU, and I met this professor whose name is Darin Strauss. And we had this conversation; he said, ‘Yeah, I can rip on guitar.’ So I looked at him; I was like, ‘Do you want to come play with us?’ And he’s here with us tonight.”
Though I’d never question Bryan’s judgement (musically speaking, at least), I was a bit skeptical of how well an author could handle performing a guitar solo in front of tens of thousands of people on stage at The Woodlands. To my surprise, however, he absolutely nailed “Say Why’s” solos and fills, naturally hitting all the bends present in the riff.
Watch here:
Zach Bryan Tour Dates
September 21 – Toronto, Ontario – Rogers Center – Trampled By Turtles & Gabriella Rose
September 22 – Toronto, Ontario – Rogers Center – Trampled By Turtles & Gabriella Rose
October 2 – Foxborough, Massachusetts – Gillette Stadium – Gregory Alan Isakov & Gabriella Rose
October 3 – Foxborough, Massachusetts – Gillette Stadium – Gregory Alan Isakov & Gabriella Rose
October 10 – Auburn, Alabama – Jordan-Hare Stadium – Gregory Alan Iskov & Gabriella Rose
