Zac Brown Band is at it again. We have been in the studio in Atlanta for the last week recording our sophomore release.  The Foundation, our debut album, was a huge success. It’s hard to put into perspective how much has happened over the last 2 years since “The Foundation” was released. I think the band has grown a ton musically since it’s release. We’ve toured the entire country, been to award shows, on late night TV, and above all we’ve connected with our fans in a way that can’t even be put into words.

While touring we’ve grown as people, as a family, and as a band. In my opinion the new album is very reflective of that growth. I honestly don’t think we could make a better album. The second album always has an external pressure to be compared to the album before. The new album has so much depth and variety. It’s a lot like the Foundation in that it has a ton of great songs and a wide selection of styles and feels. The new album, which is yet to be named, has songs that are island/reggae in feel, classic southern rockin tunes, hook driven songs that are going to be perfect for the radio, love songs, funky songs, and heart felt indescribable songs that just sound like Zac Brown Band. If I had to sum it up I would say the album is a very musical mature step in the right direction for the band.

If you’ve been to see the band in the last year you would have heard songs like “Let It Go”, “Colder Weather” and “Who Knows”.  These songs will be featured on the new release along with many more top-secret new tunes. By the way the Bonnaroo music festival chose our performance of “Who Knows” to be the introduction song for the 2009 Bonnaroo DVD as well a featuring the entire performance of the song. The reason why I say that is I watched it last night and it is killer. Zac, Wyatt, Chef Rusty and I laughed our faces off at how cool it was. So back to studio and new album talk.  

The process for writing and recording this album goes something like this. We wrote a bunch of tunes since the release of “The Foundation”. Some of these songs have been hanging around well before that. We arranged some of these songs while on the road and started sticking them in the live set. After the first leg of The Breaking Southern Ground tour was over we came home rested up for a couple days then went down to Florida to finish writing and arranging the new songs. The retreat in Flordia was very very very productive and we came back with some really cool creative arrangements for the new songs. We took a week off took get our heads straight then we hit the studio. We recorded the band playing all at the same time in isolated rooms and our focus was get great drum takes. We would do about three versions or takes of each song. It is imperative that you have great drums sounds or the album sounds bad. So we focused on the drums, which is like the foundation or base of what you record on top. We got great sounding drums and the rest is the layering process. We took a couple days to let engineer John Kelton and Producer Keith Stegall edit the drums. These guys were both involved in “The Foundation”. They are super talented and some of the best in the business and a real pressure to create with. Next we add the other instruments on top. Hop is laying down his bass today along with Clay’s piano parts. Zac will record guitar tomorrow. Then Jimmy and I will come in and lay down fiddle and guitar parts. We will keep some of the original guitar and organ parts that were recorded while the drums were being tracked. You know the saying if it ain broke don’t fix it. Well that will apply to some of the guitar and organ parts between Zac, Clay and I. Then Zac and the rest of the band are heading down to a sunny location to record the final vocals for the album. And Wah La there you have it the next Zac Brown Band album.

I can’t wait for you guys to hear it. It is gonna be such a great album to follow up the “The Foundation” with. I’ll give you one little secret to add to the rumor mill. There are TALKS and only talks as of right now of getting a fellow friend and country music legend to sing on one of the tracks for the new album. Any guesses?

 -Coy