Zac Brown Band Songs

by Jenna Stern

When most people think of the south, they picture pristine beaches, good food, and some nice, Southern hospitality. Yet sometimes those qualities can be blown out of proportion in pop culture today. Sometimes people pick and choose how they portray this region. However, the few songs that I’ve heard from Zac Brown Band do a good job of portraying Southern Culture. They  tend to make the main focus of the song on the laid back aspects that are so quintessential to Southern Culture. They also highlight all the other stereotypical Southern things that make this region so interesting to some people. Some of these include things like sweet tea, sitting by the ocean, and being very patriotic among other aspects. Their songs also have story lines to them, which is something we discussed as being common in Country Music.

First off, the song “Knee Deep,” is all about sitting by the beach and just worrying about how far the ocean waves will go. This laid back attitude is something that the South is known for because their reputation is one with a slower pace of life and not worrying about lots of crazy influences. Oftentimes, this is the differentiation between the south and other regions in the country; to me, this is why retirees and other people move down South. They want their only “worry in the world” to be whether or not the “tide will reach their chair.” While this song doesn’t explicitly mention the South, the attitudes portrayed in the song are very much Southern. It really just emphasizes the reputation the South has for being such a happy place. In addition, their song, “Chicken Fried” ties in the food and laid back attitude. Much of this song is dedicated to them singing about how they want to eat some fried chicken, drink tea, and sit on their porches. All of this together is used to describe the way the lead singer grew up, which ties in the story aspect of southern music.

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