August 25, 2023.
Following the incredible success of his 2022 major label debut, American Heartbreak, there were high expectations for Zach Bryan with the release of his self-titled album. While it doesn’t quite capture the lighting-in-a-bottle nature of the aforementioned record, there’s no denying that Zach Bryan continued the unprecedented success that the Oklahoma native has experienced over the past few years with a plethora of fantastic tracks filling out the album’s nearly hour runtime.
The album’s rollout was a bit of a convoluted one. For those that don’t know, the record was first confirmed to have an August release date by Bryan himself on TikTok back in July of 2023. Flash forward to August 8th and Wesley Schultz, the lead vocalist of The Lumineers, posted a snippet of their collaboration, “Spotless,” with the caption, “His album drops August 19!” This, of course, sent the internet into a frenzy with many speculating why Zach wouldn’t announce the date himself.
Hearing the buzz all over the internet, Bryan took to Instagram the following day to clear the air and dropped the official release date of August 25.
Hours before the album dropped, Bryan took to Instagram once again to give some insight on how he felt about the album, citing that it’s completely his own and that it overall encapsulates everything that he has been feeling during his rapid climb to the top of the genre.
“All I pray is that someone out there relates enough to not feel alone. I wrote and produced an album that I would want to listen to. I self titled it because I hear every cell of my being in it. Some of it’s slow and low, some of it’s reckless, some of it’s loud, some of it’s quiet, but it’s all me at twenty-seven. I put everything I could in it and l am at a loss for words at what a blessing this life is.”
Zach Bryan would be the first album from the 28-year-old singer/songwriter to feature a star-studded features lineup with Grammy-nominees, Kacey Musgraves and The Lumineers, as well as Sierra Ferrell and The War and Treaty all making appearances. It would lay the groundwork for even more features on Bryan’s latest album, The Great American Bar Scene which employed the likes of Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer and more.
Commercially, it can be argued that the record is Bryan’s most successful to date. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, staying there for two weeks and scoring the “Pink Skies” singer his only all-genre #1 album so far. Zach Bryan also notched the #1 spot on a plethora of other album charts including Billboard’s Top Country, Folk and Rock album charts. The standout single, “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves, also earned Bryan his first all-genre #1 hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 on Sept. 9, 2023.
The album earned a hefty number of RIAA certifications as well with “I Remember Everything” and “Hey Driver” going double and single platinum respectively along with “Spotless,” “East Side of Sorrow” and “Tourniquet” receiving gold certifications.
Critically, it once again continued Bryan’s success, earning Grammy nominations for Best Country Album, Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“I Remember Everything”). Despite losing the first two nominations, Bryan would earn his first-ever Grammy for Best Duo/Group Performance. The album would also notch Top 10 entries on Rolling Stone and The New York Times’ Best Albums of 2023 list.
Listen to “East Side of Sorrow,” “Tourniquet” and “I Remember Everything” here: