Zach Bryan

by Zach Bryan

Overview

Zach Bryan begins his eponymous album -- the one he delivered a little over a year after American Heartbreak, his sprawling major-label debut -- by reciting a poem, a move that suggests that despite his elevation to the upper ranks of country stars, he's still the same old Zach Bryan: a singer/songwriter who prizes the cadence of the words more than the sway of melody. Filled with hushed, weary meditations about the ways of this world, Zach Bryan generally proves this assertion true. Bryan does demand that his audience lean into the songs to discern their meaning; he gives a hint of a hook, enough to coax a second listen to unpack all the sorrows racing around in his head. Over the course of a triple album, this approach gets monochromatic, but Zach Bryan is tighter than American Heartbreak not only holistically but in its individual parts. The midnight ramblings are sharpened lyrically and melodically to the point that each guest -- the War and Treaty, Sierra Ferrell, and Kacey Musgraves, who helped "I Remember Everything" race to number one -- feels welcome. Bryan is indeed getting outside of his head here. That said, Zach Bryan retains a certain sameness: he's working variations of a grey scale, not painting with a full palette, and the variations on a theme can get a little dull by the end of the proceedings. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	10/13/2023
Label:	Warner Music / Warner Records
UPC:	0093624849780
Rank:	9784

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Zach Bryan   Primary Artist,Bass,Vocals,Harmonica,Percussion,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Hudson Pollack   Drums
Steve Clark   Drums,Guitar (Acoustic)
The War and Treaty   Piano,Vocals,Featured Artist
Sierra Ferrell   Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Noah Le Gros   Dobro,Percussion,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Graham Bright   Guitar (Electric)
Lucas Ruge-Jones   Fiddle,Trumpet,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
Kacey Musgraves   Vocals,Featured Artist
Jacob Weinberg   Bass,Drums,Organ,Piano,Wurlitzer,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
Daniel Chae   Cello,Viola,Violin
The Lumineers   Piano,Vocals,Featured Artist
Read Connolly   Banjo,Dobro,Guitar,Percussion,Guitar (Steel),Guitar (Acoustic),Vocals (Background)
Zephyr Avalon   Bass,Bass (Acoustic)
Scott Zhang   Bass

Technical Credits

Daniel Bacigalupi   Assistant Mastering Engineer
Scott Zhang   Mixing Engineer,Engineer
Zach Bryan   Composer,Producer
Justin Miller   Assistant Engineer
Kacey Musgraves   Composer
Jacob Weinberg   Engineer
Wesley Schultz   Composer
Jeremiah Fraites   Composer
Jamie Hamburg   Engineer
Dawson March   Mixing Engineer
Pete Lyman   Mastering Engineer
Jacquire King   Mixing Engineer