It’s no stretch to say that Zach Bryan is one of the most prolific artists of this generation of country music. Though he wasn’t the first independent artist to experience success on a larger scale, he undoubtedly brought the indie scene to the mainstream.
I want to preface this ranking by saying that I don’t believe that Zach Bryan has released a bad song to date. While there are some that are stronger than others, there has not been a track that I thought was truly awful. With that being said, this ranking felt like a nearly monumental task simply due to the fact that he has so many quality tracks record after record.
Without further ado, here is my ranking of all 105 officially released Zach Bryan songs. (Both This Road I Know and Fear and Friday’s (Poem) are excluded from the list since they are poems.)
105. High Beams
104. Smaller Acts
103. You Are My Sunshine
102. Hell or Highwater
101. Hopefully
100. Doing Fine
99. Spotless (feat. The Lumineers)
98. Pain, Sweet, Pain
97. Old Man
96. Let You Down
95. Matt and Audie
94. Doing Fine
93. The Greatest Day of My Life
92. A Boy Like You
91. Messed up Kid
90. Hope Again
89. Whiskey Fever
88. Us Then
87. Tradesman
86. No Cure
85. Younger Years
84. Sober Side of Sorry
83. Come as You Are
82. Oklahoman Son
81. Driving
80. If She Wants a Cowboy
79. Ninth Cloud
78. All The Time
77. Sarah’s Place (feat. Noah Kahan)
76. Fear and Friday’s
75. Birmingham
74. Holy Roller (feat. Sierra Ferrell)
73. Moon in Oklahoma
72. Tourniquet
71. Poems and Closing Time
70. Open the Gate
69. Quittin’ Time
68. Late July
67. Man Thats Never Known You
66. Oklahoma City
65. The Outskirts
64. Corinthians (Proctor’s)
63. From a Lover’s Point of View
62. Shivers Down Spines
61. Cold Blooded
60. Me and Mine
59. Elisabeth
58. From Austin
57. Highway Boys
56. Don’t Give Up on Me
55. Codeine Pills, Pt. 1
54. Anita, Pt. 2
53. Mine Again
52. Cold Damn Vampires
51. Oklahoma Smokeshow
50. Blue
49. Nine Ball
48. Traveling Man
47. Leaving
46. Flying or Crying
45. Mine
44. Washington Lilacs
43. Right Now the Best
42. Tishomingo
41. Deep Satin
40. Motorcycle Drive By
39. Heavy Eyes
38. Darling
37. Boys of Faith (feat. Bon Iver)
36. Hey Driver (feat. The War and Treaty)
35. Revival
34. Heading South
33. Overtime
32. Snow
31. Crooked Teeth
30. Summertime Blues
29. Someday (Maggie’s)
28. Fifth of May
27. I Remember Everything (feat. Kacey Musgraves)
26. Jake’s Piano – Long Island
25. Twenty So
24. Starved
23. Burn, Burn, Burn
22. El Dorado
21. Happy Instead
20. She’s Alright
19. Ticking
18. Dawns (feat. Maggie Rogers)
17. Something in the Orange
16. The Good I’ll Do
15. Loom
14. Sun to Me
13. East Side of Sorrow
12. Summertime’s Close
11. Condemned
10. Morning Time
Morning Time is the ultimate example of Zach Bryan balancing the two distinct characteristics of his writing into one, beautiful song. The way he balances the weight of being a passionate lover while still being weighed down by self-doubt and past trauma comes out in such a raw way that you can’t help but revel in song’s construction.
9. Jamie (feat. Charles Wesley Godwin)
Jamie is the first (and hopefully not last) collaboration between Bryan and Godwin, and it did not disappoint. Penned only by Bryan, the track depicts Jamie grappling with the loss of his wife, eventually committing suicide by cop in the second verse. The song is a perfect demonstration of both Godwin and Bryan’s darker sides as artists.
You get classic lines from Bryan such as “Now Jamie is dancing and spinnin’ around his baby in the stars” that are elevated by Godwin’s distinct vocal delivery and tone. Given how prolific the two are in the indie/alt country scene, Jamie feels like one of those once-in-a-lifetime collaborations.
8. God Speed
In one of the most hopeful tracks on DeAnn, Bryan fantasizes about an ideal relationship. He dreams of “moving at God speed” where only God and his mother know what’s best for him. It’s this hopeful dreaming that resonated with many listeners and overall gave DeAnn some much-needed levity.
7. November Air
While many praise Bryan for his soul-crushing ballads about self-doubt and lost love, I’ve always found his ability to craft stories about familial relationships and the melancholy the most interesting. November Air is the perfect example of this.
The way he sets the scene of missing his mother by painting a picture of a seemingly mundane night with his mother is nothing short of poetic. Like many of his songs, November Air centers around the impact his late mother, DeAnn, had on him, and I’d argue this might be his best song from a pure imagery standpoint. You feel like you’re sitting in the same well-used chair that Bryan is while he recalls his mother breathing in that cold November air.
6. Billy Stay
Billy Stay showcases Bryan’s incredible ability to switch between points of view flawlessly. Arguably his saddest song to date, it tells the story of a husband battling Alzheimer’s from the point of view of his wife. The tear-jerking moment comes in the bridge when Bryan chokes out, ”Cause love turns to loss as the time goes by. You don’t know your own name but you know mine.” Those lyrics don’t really need an explanation for why they’re so powerful and gut-wrenching; Billy Stay is a masterfully crafted song through and through.
5. Sweet DeAnn
One of the most emotionally resonant songs throughout his deep discography, Sweet Deann is a gut-wrenching tribute to his late mother, DeAnn. The gut punch comes in the bridge when he sings, “But I don’t want the stage. I don’t want the girls. I want back the days you were breathin’ in this world.”
As I mentioned previously, I truly believe that Bryan is at his best while penning tracks about his family, more specifically his mother. Sweet DeAnn will always be the shining example of this.
4. ’68 Fastback
’68 Fastback is one of those songs that begs you to listen to it multiple times to fully digest the lyrics. The track, once again, shows his ability to write powerful, metaphorical tracks that cut deep. The entire song is built around the metaphor that Bryan, himself, is the ‘68 Fastback; a broken-down car ruined by his previous lover. Bryan’s ability to write with extended metaphors is what truly makes him stand out, and ’68 Fastback is the best example of this.
3. Letting Someone Go
Letting Someone Go is still one of the most impressive and depressing songs Bryan’s written to this day. From the reminiscing of the good times, to the pleading for a second try, to the eventual letting go, Bryan perfectly captures all of the emotions felt while going through a breakup. The final line of the chorus is the final blow in this sadboy country staple, “Nothing kills you slower than letting someone go.”
2. Quiet, Heavy Dreams
Quiet, Heavy Dreams remains one of the most severely underrated tracks in Bryan’s entire discography. While many of the songs like Letting Someone Go, Something in the Orange and Jamie often get put on Top 10 lists, I rarely ever see Quiet, Heavy Dreams get the attention it so desperately deserves.
This track does exactly what the title suggests; it depicts Bryan in a dream-like state simply expressing everything he dreams of. Whether it’s finally finding a woman who loves him, becoming the person he thought he’d be as a kid or finally getting some rest, he frames them through the lens of working out in the forest, chopping wood.
The use of this framing device results in a perfect song structure that ultimately makes you feel like you’re inside Bryan’s mind while he fantasizes about everything he wants in life.
1. Half Grown
Coming in at #1 is the severely underrated track from American Heartbreak, Half Grown. Here, Bryan takes aim at his upbringing and the sins of his family. The song is incredibly well-written and thought-provoking and it’s genuinely hard to pinpoint which lyric is the best one throughout the track.
“Sometimes a woman is the sum of all the things her father ain’t.”, “You can’t expect a harvest where the field’s half grown,” and “I’ll raise myself a family and right the wrong of some imperfect people who were only half grown” are all some of the most thought-provoking and beautiful pieces of writing in any country song, let alone the same one.