In much the same way that Phish and Dave Matthews Band have organically grown their fanbases at a grassroots level without a lot of initial corporate interference, the Zac Brown Band achieved an impressive string of successes and a formidably loyal audience with a boots-on-the-ground approach.
Formed in 2002, Brown hit the road relentlessly. By the time Atlantic Records signed him in 2008, there was a built-in audience, and the Zac Brown Band eased into Country music stardom fairly easily. The band’s four major-label studio albums have generated mostly platinum sales figures, and from those albums, 21 singles have been pulled and 19 placed in the Top 20 on Billboard’s Country chart. Thirteen of those singles hit the No. 1 slot. Since 2008, the Zac Brown Band has also been nominated for a ton of major music awards. The Best New Artist Grammy-winner curse appears to have skipped the band; since winning that honor in 2010, the group has scored two more Grammys, including one for Best Country Album in 2013.
All of this success ties back into the band’s early work ethic and perseverance. But the group has also benefited from attracting fans outside of the Country realm. Just look at the artists that have collaborated and toured with Brown and Co. — you’d be hard pressed to find anyone other than the Zac Brown Band in the Venn diagram that includes Alan Jackson, Jimmy Buffett, Blackberry Smoke, Dave Grohl, Kacey Musgraves, Chris Cornell, Avicii, Sheryl Crow and the aforementioned Dave Matthews Band. Zac Brown has assembled a lineup of stellar musicians who work together in the kind of harmonic convergence that occurs a handful of times every generation and strikes a chord across genre boundaries.
