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When Zac Brown and his band launch into the Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” which is a highlight to their new double live From the Road, Vol. 1: Covers, you can hear the synapses firing into the audience. While violinist Jimmy De Martin plays the familiar riff against a sine-wave synth pattern, the crowd recognizes the song at the same time. A roar of applause greets the massive power chords. The moment brings the motivation behind the bear hug of a covers’ album. He stated, that it’s not about reinventing or rearranging these songs, it’s about reveling in the hits that bring everyone together.
Zac Brown recently stated, ” I love surprising people when we break out a new cover.” He is currently working from his home in Nashville on a new studio album of originals. He also stated, ” It has to be something that we all love that has been an influence on us but it’s also got to be something people will recognize and will be excited to hear.” For twenty years, the Georgia-based band has made covers a hallmark of their marathon concerts, which is what helped establish the Zac Brown Band as one of the biggest live draws. Zac said, “It gets harder every year because we have to pilfer through a lot more songs to figure out what we are going to play.”
Why Did He Want To Compile All These Performances?
Zac stated:
“For the last 15 years, they have recorded every live show they have ever done. You really can’t understand our band until you come and see us live, because, we put work into the arrangements and cover songs and the energy we share with our fans. I relate my music to Bruce Springsteen. I have listened to his songs on the radio, but, you don’t really understand him until you see him pouring sweat and grinding for three hours while he is holding the crowd in the palm of his hand. We are like that as well, it is so exciting to put out a live covers album because people who have only heard our songs on the radio, will get a glimpse of what we are capable of when we perform live. It’s a big deal to share what we love to do live, even with those who have never been to one of our shows.”
What’s The Criteria For Picking Which Songs To Cover?
They tried to pick a good variety of stylistically different songs that would take people on a journey. They were also picking songs that almost everyone in the crowd would recognize and know. We then try to reimagine the original songs and try to make them our own. While it does take some time, we have to break each song and figure it out. Once figure it out, we get it down in rehearsals, and we listen to the recorded tapes and figure out what else it might need and how exactly we want to adjust things. Freddie Mercury recorded 10 vocal tracks in the middle section of “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
He said, “It was our job to figure out how to do that live on stage, with only five singers and still covering the parts that needed to be covered. Not to mention, Queen never performed that part of the song live. We spent a year tinkering with the arrangement before we ever felt comfortable to play it. We had all dedicated our lives to what we love doing, so live shows are really when we are at our best.”
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Have They Ever Abandonded Covers?
Absolutely! During rehearsals, they will try them out and if they aren’t feeling it, they will move on to the next song. It has to resonate. He said the good thing is he can feel it when they are playing something and whether people will connect with it or not.
Some Of His Own Favorite Covers By Other People
“Burning Down the House,” by Dave Matthews Band did a version by Talking Heads, in which he Zac said, ” I absolutely loved it.” They also did a version of “All Along the Watchtower.” Ray Charles did the whole album of country songs when no one would have ever expected him to take that road, but, it created something new when he interprets those songs. One of his favorite songs lately is by an artist named Billianne. She did a cover of “Simply the Best,” the original by Tina Turner. Her version of the song was an acoustic cover which put the song in a completely different light for him. She also has another great cover, “Que Sera.”
Are you excited about the new album of covers by Zac Brown? Comment and let us know which song you hope to hear!