Zac Brown Band to Begin Working on New Album Next Month
The Zac Brown Band are presently working a fourth song to radio from their 'You Get What You Give' album, which hit stores last September. The album's current single, 'Keep Me in Mind,' entering the Top 20 this week. With their hectic touring schedule getting ready to slow down some for the holidays, the band is already looking to switch gears and prepare for working on the next album.
"We're going to get into the studio pretty soon," ZBB's bassist, John Driskell Hopkins, reveals to Taste of Country. "Probably [in] November, at least, to start working out the new ideas and getting all the new songs down. [We will] start playing a few of them in our set [soon]. Some of them still have to be completed and some have to be arranged. We hope to be recording by December."
In the meantime, Hopkins, Brown and ZZB's Clay Cook have been in the studio producing side projects with artists signed to Brown's indie label, Southern Ground Artists. The latest release from the label is Sonia Leigh's new album, '1978 December,' which hit stores last month.
"I've known Sonia as long as I've know Zac, [which] I guess that's about 14 years," notes Hopkins. "I met them both at my open mic back in '97 or '98. They were both 20 then and just trying to get out there and do it. She is an outstanding talent and an outstanding songwriter. I got to produce her record just before this one, at my place, and I've known her very well for many years. I got to really dig into her as a songwriter then and this record, also being produced by Clay, Zac and Matt Mangano, is a whole different spin and one that was on a much bigger level I think. We put a lot more time and energy into it. I'm just really proud of it. I think it's outstanding."
The same foursome are also working with fellow Southern Ground artists, Levi Lowrey and Nic Cowan, on their forthcoming projects. "All four of us got involved in the production of all three of those records, just out of necessity in making them all," explains Hopkins. "In order to do them all efficiently, we started them all at roughly the same time, and they all were finished within close intervals of each other. So that was a good idea on Zac's part."
Before winding down the touring for 2011, the Zac Brown Band will headline their Southern Ground Music and Food Festival in Charleston, S.C. toward the end of the month. Click here for more information on the festival, including artists set to perform and ticket prices.
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