Zac Brown Meets His Idol

Zac Brown has met and worked with several of his musical influences, including James Taylor and Jimmy Buffett.  But just last month, he met the man who he says got him interested in country music 20 years ago: Garth Brooks.  He talked about the meeting with Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton: “I just saw his Vegas show last month, and here’s a show where it’s just Garth and a guitar, and it’s all he needed.  I’ll tell you a funny thing about that show: Every single song he played at that show, I have covered and I have played and known the words to, including his own, but all the cover songs he talked about, all the James Taylor songs, I’ve played in bars, so it was a weird thing.  It’s presumptuous of me to compare myself to Garth in any way, but if there was an entertainer that if I could go into the pages of history on that level of being, it would be Garth.  There’s an incredible charisma to him, his voice, his playing, and his dedication.  It was a late night driving to the beach, and I heard The Thunder Rolls on the radio when I was younger, and it gave me chills.  My entrance into listening to country music, as far as the lyric and the song, it was Garth, that was the song that did it.”

LISTEN: 12-21 Zac3

So did you meet Garth?  “I did, I’ve got a knife company, and I took him a knife backstage, after I got to meet him in Vegas.  It’s funny, Trisha said, ‘That’s a great Garth gift,” but then we got a note through management that Trisha wanted one too.  So we sent one out to her.  I’m hoping if we get near where they are, they would come out and see what we do.  It would mean the world for Garth made it to one of my shows.  I’d love the Zac Brown Band to back him up on a show.  That would be a dream.”

12-21 Zac4

Tags: garth, Zac

Category: Audio