In recent years, country artist Zach Bryan has become a well-established name in the music industry. His music, including his most recent album, “With Heaven on Top,” takes a unique approach to the country music genre and offers songs with descriptive and meaningful lyrics.
Born in 1996, Bryan was raised in Yokosuka, Japan, where his parents, both Naval veterans, were stationed. In eighth grade, he moved to Oklahoma, and it was around this time that Bryan began writing songs.
Bryan didn’t immediately pursue a musical career. He enlisted in the Navy at seventeen, and during this time he gained traction by uploading songs to media platforms. A day after one of his songs went viral on Twitter, Bryan and his friends from the Navy turned the Airbnb they were staying at into a studio and recorded his music on an iPhone. 48 hours later he released his first album, “DeAnn,” a commemoration of his recently deceased mother, Annete DeAnn.
In 2021 Bryan left the Navy to pursue a career in music and quickly rose to fame through the hit single “Something in the Orange.” He also released a second album, “Elisabeth.”
Since then Bryan has released four more full-length albums: “American Heartbreak,” “Zach Bryan,” “The Great American Bar Scene,” and “With Heaven on Top.” He has also released numerous extended plays, including “Summertime Blues” and “Boys of Faith,” and more than a couple of outstanding singles, such as “Heading South,” “Burn, Burn, Burn,” and “Pink Skies.” In 2023, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology, honoring a promise he made to his late mother.
Bryan’s music has significantly evolved over the years. His first couple albums emanate a simple, acoustic sound, with most songs featuring no more than his voice and a guitar. More recent albums, however, tend to be more upbeat and heavily produced, incorporating a variation of musical instruments. Bryan especially presents this new style in “With Heaven on Top,” as nearly all the tracks on the album utilize a band in the background.
While Bryan’s style has changed remarkably in the past five years, some things remain signature to his music. He emphasizes similar themes, focusing on nostalgia for a simpler life, faith, family relations, love, and heartbreak. Moreover, all of his albums embody a country flair.
Bryan does not consider himself just a country musician. In an interview with Rolling Stone featuring Bruce Springsteen, Bryan announced, “I don’t want to be a country musician. Everyone calls me that. I want to be a songwriter.” Using Springsteen as an example, he went on to say, “No one calls Bruce Springsteen a fricken rock musician. You are one, but you’re also an indie musician, you’re also a country musician. You’re all these things encapsulated in one man, and that’s what songwriting is.”
His music, while leaning toward the country music genre, has a calm feel to it. This emphasizes his excellent lyrics, showcasing his talent as a songwriter and poet. As Bruce Springsteen said when complimenting Bryan, “‘Oklahoma Son’: I love that song. ‘With nightcrawler blood on your castin’ thumb.’ That’s good. ‘You can fight and fiend and sell your guns. But you’ll always be an Oklahoma son. The level of detail and the maturity in your writing is amazing.”
Bryan’s music undoubtedly stands out in the country genre, allowing him to be appreciated by a wide variety of people.
