Zac Brown Band Reveals ‘Musical Firsts,’ Performs on ‘Today’

Country group Zac Brown Band set their sights on Rockefeller Plaza with a Citi Concert Series performance on the Today show on Tuesday morning. Bringing a taste of Nashville to the crowded streets of the Big Apple, the band rocked out to old favorites like “Homegrown” and even played a couple new tracks off their latest record, Welcome Home.

Returning back to their roots for this recent project, ZBB took time to remember the basics in their vocals and instrumentation to hone in on the roots of their sound. As a part of stripping it back down to the core sound they once grooved on, they played a game in their green room backstage before their performance where they admitted some of the musical moments that first got them into their creative dream.

From the first album each of the members bought growing up to their first concert, the memories flooded through with some laughter to boot and showed truly how far they’ve come. For lead singer Zac Brown specifically, he reminisced on a Pink Floyd concert gone by in which it wasn’t the music he was really focused on, but rather a girl instead.

“I remember it was like in high school days, like I remember, I think I was just making out with my girlfriend for, like, half the show,” he admitted, with a cheeky grin on his face.

Brown also shed some light on the first time he ever heard “Chicken Fried,” but the only problem was that it wasn’t Zac Brown Band singing.

“First time that I heard ‘Chicken Fried’ on the radio, it was actually a nightmare because another band had tried to swoop in and record it first,” he explained. “We had to have a cease and desist for them to actually do anything. So the first time I actually heard it, it was someone else.”

Zac Brown Band’s latest record, Welcome Home, is available now.