The Gobblers Knob

Zac Brown Band is up for an ACM Award for Best New Duo or Group...aren't they too good to win it?

Down by The Ol’ Mainstream has been a not-too occasional feature here on the Knob, but you’ll likely see it more.  My goal is to spotlight worthy releases that have a bit more polish to them than the normal music I blab about. Check the “categories” on the left of the page for others in this series.

As I have mentioned in past “mainstream segments”, there are currently several acts ascending the Top 40 Country chart that lack the cheese and schlock that many offenders have smothered all over that very chart in the past.  Jamey Johnson is the outlaw that has been missed, Joey + Rory are folksy traditionalists, Ashton Shepherd is the diva with a drawl and a baby on her hip.  Each of these acts have had some form of recent chart success by actually being…Country.

Even with the relative success of the acts I’ve just mentioned, Zac Brown Band has perhaps had the greatest chart impact of them all.  Their song (and my least favorite song on the disc, oddly enough), “Chicken Fried” was a surprise multi-week #1 hit and their follow-up single, “Whatever It Is“, has gathered a pretty good head of steam, in hopes of matching its predecessor.  Their album mixes Southern soul, fancy acoustic pickin’, laid back vocals and tales that just seem more real and homespun than most other slicker fare. ZBB’s cover of Ray Lamontagne’s ”Jolene” displays Brown’s interpretive skills aptly. The Foundation is unlike just about any album that I have heard from the so-called mainstream in a long long time.  The album was recorded before they were signed to a major label,and thankfully, nothing was changed or harmed enough to keep them from making a dent in the marketplace while retaining their soul. When I say that this album (and band for that matter) is Country, I mean the front porch/jug of whiskey/storyteller type of Country, not the line-dancing/mini-van mom/everything-is-fun-happy kind….