Is Zac Brown Music’s Most Ambitious Artist?

Zac Brown is sitting in Billboard’s podcast studio in Los Angeles, overflowing with ambition. The Georgia-born musician who broke into the big time in 2008 with “Chicken Fried,” a catchy country ditty about the foods and culture of the South, wants the Zac Brown Band to be mentioned in the same breath as the greatest bands of all time.

“When I think about the Grateful Dead, or think about the Rolling Stones, you think about The Eagles, you think about iconic bands,” he says in an interview with Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast, donning a flat-brimmed hat and a short-sleeved, black button-up shirt that contrasts with the tattoos filled with reds, oranges and blues that run down his arms and past his wrists. “We want to be one of those bands.”

That sort of talk can get an artist on the wrong side of a never-ending stream of internet critics — let alone a music industry known for bloodsport. But Brown has a plan to take his band, music and live performance into music’s upper echelon. On Dec. 5, Brown will release a new album, Love & Fear, the same day the band begins a residency at Sphere, the cutting-edge Las Vegas venue that has hosted some of the icons that give him inspiration. To say he’s thinking big about both projects is an understatement. 

“The last three or four years, I’ve been wanting to create a spectacle, you know, a show,” says Brown. He recalls Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour, a concert production that was unlike anything before it, and when The Eagles defied expectations and reunited for the Hell Freezes Over tour. Those weren’t just concerts — they were events by bands with incredible legacies. When Brown toured Sphere during its construction, he was sure the venue — primarily its 160,000 square-foot video screen — would give him the “wow” factor he desired. 

Love & Fear and the Sphere residency are unique in that they are companion pieces. “Every song that I’m writing, I’m thinking visually,” he explains. Brown says he has been writing songs for Love & Fear for three years and has been working on the Sphere visuals for the last 14 months — a long lead-up time that allows him to pour himself into both endeavors. Brown has become a student of the Las Vegas venue since it opened in 2023, seeing most of the artists, taking notes on what works and what loses the audience’s attention. “I think we’ll have one of the most memorable shows that’s happened there, if not the most [memorable].” 

Fans intend to show up. After the residency’s original four dates (Dec. 5-6 and Dec. 12-13) sold out, Sphere added shows for Jan. 9-10. After spending two decades cultivating a community and proving his band on stage, Brown expects his fans to make the trek to Las Vegas: “I think the people that have had great experiences at our shows will definitely want to come and see this.”

He seems to relish the challenge of pulling off two massive projects. Despite having platinum albums and the ability to draw crowds to arenas and amphitheaters, he has the mentality of an underdog. Zac Brown, a three-time Grammy winner, still has something to prove. Perhaps there are people in the industry that wonder if a genre-bending country musician in his mid-40s has what it takes to follow U2, The Eagles, Dead & Company, The Eagles and Kenny Chesney on the Sphere stage. Or perhaps Brown is like an ultra-competitive athlete, looking for motivation wherever he can find it. Whatever is driving him, Brown is swinging for the fences. 

“I look at it as a test of like, ‘Do we deserve to be amongst the names of people that get to play there?’,” he says. “And our goal is to prove that this year.”

Listen to the entire interview with Brown to hear about what he learned from Jimmy Buffett, his impressions of Dolly Parton’s contributions to the new song “Butterfly” and much more. Listen using the embedded Spotify player, or go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, Podbean or Everand.