30 Unknown Facts We Bet You Never Knew About Zac Brown Band

4 February 2019, 11:35 am EST By Ruby Karnick

Zac Brown Band, one of the most famous country bands, currently consists of Zachary Alexander "Zac" Brown, Jimmy De Martini, John Driskell Hopkins, Coy Bowles, Chris Fryar, Clay Cook, Matt Mangano and Daniel de los Reyes. Previous members also include Markus Petruska, Tim Ussery and Joel Williams. Here are some really interesting facts about the American country band:

The band's one of the biggest hits "Chicken Fried" was actually released twice, once in 2003 and again in 2008. The song failed to reach popularity with the first release, so it was recorded once again and released after years.
The fourth single "Sweet Annie," of their third major-label album "Uncaged," is a mid-tempo ballad about a singer tired of life on the road. The music video for the song is said to feature footages from band member Bowles’ wedding.
Thirteen singles of Zac Brown Band have reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay Chart.
The band has a total of nine Grammy Awards nominations to their name, out of which they have won three awards - 2010 Best New Artist Award, 2011 Best Country Collaborations with Vocals Award, and 2013 Best Country Album Award.
Clay and Cook are said to have attended and graduated from the same high school - Lumpkin County High School, but have never been acquainted with each other during that time period.
The band performed a three-night, headlining stint at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, Thursday, May 9, 2013, and Friday, May 10, 2013, and all of the three performances were sold out.
Brown first started playing guitar at the young age of 8, when he was given his mother's guitar while being enrolled to learn classical guitar from one of his stepfather's patients.
The debut single "Chicken Fried," was also recorded by The Lost Trailers," whose recording was releases as a single in the year 2006, but later withdrawn due to Brown's decision to release it him.
The inspiration for their most popular hit "Free," is reportedly the magnificent display of nature from the peak of Mt Warning, the first place that the sun touches in the morning as it rises over the Australian Mainland. The band, during their trip to Byron bay NSW Australia, decided to climb Mt Warning and it was there that they wrote the song in the year 2006.
He played solo gigs in local venues during his time at Lumpkin County High School, where he performed country and pop cover songs, with James Taylor as his inspiration.

The band members have been supporting Little Kids Rock, a national nonprofit that focuses on restoring and revitalizing music education programs in disadvantaged U.S. public schools, by donating items for auction to raise money for the organization.
Zac Brown Band performed the National Anthem at the 2013 BCS National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, on January 7, 2013.
While at University of West Georgia, he was a member of the Zeta Kappa chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity.
Zac Brown Band re-recorded the song "From Now On" from "The Greatest Showman," as part of a compilation album, "The Greatest Showman: Remimagined," released on November 16, 2018.
The band led the nominees for the 46th annual Academy of Country Music Awards 2011, with a total of nine nominations including: Vocal Group of the Year, Album of the Year, Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year.
He actually began touring the Southeast of the U.S, when he was only 19 years old, along with a drummer and his dog Pete. This is basically the foundation of what formed Zac Brown Band around nine years later.
It was during a drive along the Interstate 20 between Atlanta, Georgia and the Georgia/South Carolina state line in Augusta, Georgia, that Durette was inspired to write "Highway 20 Ride" when he began to think about how his son would perceive him as a father. Later, with the help of Brown, Durette finished the song.
Initially, with Brown on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, backed by bass guitarist Jacab Lawson and drummer Marcus Petruska, the Zac Brown Band had a heavy tour schedule of around 200 dates just in the year 2002.
The band once again performed the National Anthem during the NFC Championship Game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers at the CenturyLink Field in Seattle on January 20, 2013.
The famous single "Knee Deep," about laying back and having no worries, was one actually a kind of a dream for Durrette who had wanted to write a beach-themed song being a Jimmy Buffett fan. However, even with the help of Brown, the duo was not able to complete the song and sought Jeffrey Steele's help.

Brown is the founder of Camp Southern Ground, a 501c3 non-profit camp in Fayetteville, Georgia, as he believes that camp experience can transform a child's life.
Brown along with his father opened "Zac's Place," a music club and restaurant in the Lake Oconee area of Georgia in the year 2004. But sold it to a developer and invested the amount in a tour bus in order to start touring full time.
The sixth single "As She's Walking Away," was written after Durrette and Brown went to a bar to watch a UFC fight, when a guy and a girl walked in and the girl stared at Durrette all night. It was Brown's idea to introduce a wise man, who became the older man at the bar giving advice.
The song "Chicken Fried," is a kind of reminder to everyone to not take everything for granted. For the making of this song, Brown and co-writer Wyatt Durette are said to have listed down all the things that mattered the most to them, along with other things that are prominent in southern living.
For the third single "Toes" from their debut album "The Foundation," it was reported that Durette phoned Brown at six o'clock in the morning of his 30th birthday vacation in Key West, and provided him with the idea for the song.
He was also a camp counselor at Camp Mikell in Toccoa, Georgia, and Camp Glisson, a United Methodist summer camp and retreat center located in Dahlonega, Georgia.
The group performed the National Anthem during the NHL's Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings & Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the Michigan Wolverines football team on January 1, 2014.
The lyric of the seventh single "Colder Weather," is kind of based on Durrette and his relationship with a girl he was seeing in Kansas City. Their relationship was not working out due to different location and timing.
Brown, Cook and David Ryan Harris along with John Meyer, played a benefit on January 16, 2013, for the firefighters and the residents of Pine Creek in Park County, Montana, who fought a fire that swept through the area, and destroyed five homes.
The lead single "My Old Man," to their fifth album "Welcome Home," is about Brown's own father and the lifestyle examples set by him. The band also released a lyric video to YouTube which includes pictures of the band members with their fathers.