Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Originally posted on May 7, 2015 on the Sustain & Resonance blog.

The doctor will now see you. Zac Brown might as well have told the world this as he and his band crank out their fourth major record “Jekyll & Hyde”. It is only appropriate (in a comical sense) to start out this Dr. Jekyll-esque record with Beautiful Drug. Now truth be told, when I first popped in the record a week ago and listened to the poppy synth starting track I instantly thought “Oh no, Taylor Swift’s 1988 album has inspired country artists to go pop, hip-hop, and electronica [edit from 2018: it has]. Now, before I go any further, let me say that 1. Taylor’s record is awesome, I wouldn’t call it my cup of tea, but it is a great record. 2. Pop, hip-hop, and electronic music is great as well. My point is that I love Zac Brown’s Georgia-twangy/hippie/southern rock/mix-of-Jimmy-Buffet, and I don’t want that style to go away. While they do change things up a bit, the album stays close to their Dahlonega home.

When I finally finished the double LP, I couldn’t believe the musical euphoria I had just heard. Zac Brown takes every musical genre from the heavy rock Chris Cornell duo titled Heavy Is The Head, to the big band-esque Mango Tree (which has the feel of the rock track of a Michael Buble record), to the loving father song I’ll Be Your Man to the Jimmy Buffet-themed Castaway. ZBB does everything and anything in between and the end product It rocks!!!

Now, Zac Brown has always been a cross-pollination between alternative country, pop country, southern rock with a flair for the jam band scene. Well, this record tackles the latter and shows the world that one genre should not define the music a band should play; the jam band mantra. Just look at other successful artists who are stepping out of their core genre. Steven Tyler is singing country now, the once country, Taylor Swift is now a pop star, and Darius Rucker has gone from rocker to country back to rock. Cross-pollination of music is great and Zac Brown Band has delivered.

For my country fans out there, be prepared for extended jams that will most likely blow your mind (just listen to ZBB’s Who Knows live off the “Pass The Jar” record) And to my jam band Deadhead Phriends… country can very much be an excellent vehicle for the extended jams and realm of music unknown and nightly uniqueness that we all love and Zac Brown Band proves it. 

Zac Brown Band does it again and blows the roof off of country (and even general) music standards. Go pick up your copy today!

Until next time, let the music play!