Uncaged Zac Brown Band

• 1 Jump Right In 03:02
• 2 Uncaged 03:30
• 3 Goodbye In Her Eyes 05:25
• 4 The Wind 02:57
• 5 Island Song 03:43
• 6 Sweet Annie 04:40
• 7 Natural Disaster 03:03
• 8 Overnight 04:44
• 9 Lance's Song 04:35
• 10 Day That I Die 04:54
• 11 Last But Not Least 03:43
• Total Runtime 44:16

Info for Uncaged

Fourth studio album from the American country rock band fronted by Brown. Uncaged features a new addition to the band's line-up in the form of percussionist Daniel de los Reyes, and includes guest vocals from Amos Lee.

On paper, ‘Uncaged’ should not work as an album, let alone a country music album. The new release from Zac Brown Band redefines “something for everybody.” Country, reggae, bedroom R&B… Brown and his ever-growing motley crew stretch the Nashville sound further than any other artist. If they weren’t so talented, this project would fall apart long before the title-track.

Yet somehow, it doesn’t. In fact after a few listens, songs like ‘Overnight’ begin to not only work, but work convincingly. “First I’m gonna search your body over / I gotta make sure you ain’t hidin’ nothin’ nowhere,” Brown sings on a song that makes no effort to pretend it’s a country song.

“Ain’t no time for talking / Show me what you got / We gonna get this bed a rockin’ / It ain’t gonna stop,” he adds. Yeah… this probably won’t be a single, but it’s a nice little secret to keep when slipping in the innocent new ZBB album after a nice night out with someone special.

Brown isn’t quite as convincing as a reggae artist as he is as a late-night Romeo. ‘Island Song’ is uncomfortable, but it provides some context for the songs around it. The group continues to challenge themselves and their fans with new styles and sounds. Nothing on ‘Uncaged’ sounds mainstream. Each song leaves you wondering how to feel after one listen before convincing you to like it after the second, and maybe love it after the third.

Instrumental breaks on nearly every track give the album the live feel fans appreciate, yet at a tidy 43 minutes in length, the project never gets repetitive. There’s always a signature riff, memorable story or standout lyric. On the title-track, it’s the opening guitars and Hammond organ. On ‘Natural Disaster,’ it’s the Gospel intro and stormy bluegrass stylings. There’s almost always a reason to return.

The best lyrics come on ‘Goodbye in Her Eyes’ (“Sometimes I feel like a clown that can’t wash off his makeup“) and the tribute to Atlanta drummer Lance Tilton, called ‘Lance’s Song.’ This song has provided a poignant moment during live shows, and here it delivers the best message on the album.

The last three songs on ‘Uncaged’ are surprisingly soft in comparison to those early on. The tempo dips after ‘The Wind’ (track No. 4), but the energy stays level, allowing sweet love songs like ‘Last But Not Least’ to captivate. (Billy Dukes, www.tasteofcountry.com)

Note: Only track 4 originated in 44.1kHz, 24bit. The album was mixed and mastered in 96kHz, 24bit.

About the album "Uncaged":
Zac Brown Band may have nine hit singles, two platinum-selling records and countless dedicated fans, but to hear its members talk they're just getting warmed up. That's right—after numerous nights in front of packed arenas and amphitheaters, things are just beginning to come together for this accomplished band of brothers, led by one of the most charismatic individuals ever to don a beanie and dominate radio.

The band's latest album 'Uncaged' (Atlantic/Southern Ground) which debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 is proof positive. The result of a highly collaborative process, it's the sound of a group of versatile musicians gelling into a formidable unit and realizing they're capable of anything their fearless leader happens to dream up, from traditional country ("The Wind") to Caribbean rhythms ("Jump Right In") and even slinky bedroom R&B ("Overnight"). Running roughshod over genre boundaries, and bringing its audience along for the ride, its title is absolutely accurate—this is truly the sound of a band 'Uncaged'.

"I think that we've grown so much over the past few years as individual musicians and as a cohesive unit," observes drummer Chris Fryar. "As a band we have really grown together. And we play really, really well together. That increasing level of maturity really shows up on 'Uncaged.'"

"We're always trying to push the barrier of our musicianship and I'm proud to say that there is a little bit of something for everyone," adds Brown. "It's your basic country-Southern rock-bluegrass-reggae-jam record."

The addition of percussionist Daniel de los Reyes has helped the band move the groove along. His new bandmates describe de los Reyes—known for performing and recording with Stevie Nicks, Sting, Peter Frampton and Earth, Wind & Fire, among others—as a consummate professional. "It was really great to have him along," says guitarist/keyboardist Coy Bowles. "Danny's not going to be playing timbales over a bluegrass song. So if he needs to play a shaker all the way through a song, that's what he'll do. He knows when to be aggressive and when to lay back. I think the album has a real cool dynamic because of his sensitivity to all that."

Brown has built a virtual southern Brill Building of songwriting talent, while doing his best to reincarnate the '70s heyday of Capricorn Records through his Southern Ground Artists label, home to The Wood Brothers, Levy Lowrey, Nic Cowan, Sonia Leigh, Blackberry Smoke and The Wheeler Boys. But that's only part of the story. His Southern Ground banner flies over everything from metalworking to leather goods. In addition to housing offices and rehearsal space, the former industrial warehouse in Atlanta that serves as the company's headquarters also features a full kitchen for "Chef Rusty" Hamlin and his crew, the better to power those much-talked-about "eat and greets" that Brown, a former restaurant owner, hosts for lucky fans.

The most farsighted plans reach beyond the warehouse, to a plot of land south of Atlanta where plans proceed for a nonprofit camp aimed to help kids overcoming behavioral and learning disabilities and disadvantaged backgrounds. Simultaneously, Southern Ground has secured a studio in Nashville for future recording needs. At this point it's safe to say that the Zac Brown Band is more than an act—it's quickly becoming a way of life.

So given all of the creative energy around it, new material has never been a problem for Zac Brown Band. The band was originally built on the songwriting partnership of Zac Brown and Wyatt Durette. Since then the brain trust has expanded to encompass the artists on the label as well as members of the band. No matter how heavily the band is touring, something is always percolating.

So while there are ten credited songwriters on the 11 tracks composing 'Uncaged,' all are individuals within the band's social circle—no "guns for hire" here.

Unlike the band's prior outing, 'You Get What You Give' (Atlantic/Southern Ground), which grew out of songs that had already been in the band's live set before it entered the studio, 'Uncaged' was put together from brand new material. After booking some downtime, they all retreated to the Appalachian foothills near Dahlonega. "It had a very cleansing vibe to it," Fryar recalls. "You get really bad cell service there, which was great. There weren't any distractions. We were able to cut off the outside world and dig into what we wanted to say on this record."

They carried with them some 40 songs, none of which had been fleshed out or arranged for the band, and some of which weren't completely done. The goal of the retreat was to pull out and arrange the right 11 songs.

"It was an intensive workshop," notes bassist John Driskell Hopkins. "We hit the record button any time we had an idea worth keeping. Then we'd change things as we went. And we did that in a great place to build a campfire, cook some food, hang out and have some fellowship too. I'm amazed that we got so much done in just four or five days. "

Then, with producer Keith Stegall (Alan Jackson, George Jones) in tow, the band settled in at Echo Mountain Recording Studio in Asheville, N.C. to lay down basic tracks, then took a "working vacation" to Key West, to record vocals at Jimmy Buffett's Shrimpboat Sound. Additional overdubs took place in Atlanta and Nashville.

The result is the most expansive album Zac Brown Band has ever delivered, where the group's trademark vocal harmonies meet jaw-dropping musicianship in a musical world where genre boundaries are increasingly slippery.

But if you think that's going to mean reduced radio exposure and a shrinking audience, you don't know this band very well—or its audience. "A lot of other artists may choose to sit back and do the same record they did last time, because they don't want to lose those fans," Fryar observes. " But from our perspective, we think those fans deserve the best music we can make. If it's different from the past record that's OK, because it's the best we can do. And they deserve the best. They're paying our bills and feeding our families."

Asked whether the band still feels at home on country radio, Hopkins notes that country radio has grown and evolved just as the band has. "It's southern radio to me, and I don't think we're doing anything southern people wouldn't like."

"I love country radio because of the dedication they have given us," De Martini affirms. "When I talk to program directors they tell me they're happy to play it, but they really have no choice because the fans are crazy about calling in and requesting our music all the time."

The album's two featured guests, Amos Lee and Trombone Shorty, aren't Music Row signifiers in the same way Alan Jackson was on 'You Get What You Give,' but Brown says this doesn't mean the band is leaving country music behind. Far from it—lead single "The Wind" is "the most country thing we've ever done," he notes. There is no "master plan," he adds. "We were just getting our buddies to sing with us."

In many ways Zac Brown Band is an unlikely success story. Bands who cover so much territory tend to become critics' darlings, but not platinum sellers.

"The two things I think that make this band different from anybody else, and the reason why we're here today, is that everybody has an insane work ethic," Bowles observes. "Nobody complains. Everybody plays their asses off, everybody gets on the plane or bus even if they're not feeling well, and tries to do everything to the best of their ability, always. And Zac has this ability to make you believe what he's singing no matter what. So if we do an R&B tune or a reggae tune, he's totally believable. You believe he's lived 'Highway 20 Ride,' for example. His conviction comes through all those songs."

"One cool thing about Zac is that he loves to include everybody," De Martini adds. "He doesn't really have to have the Zac Brown Band. I think he would be successful just as Zac Brown. But the band adds a lot and takes it to another level. It's one big family with him."

Booklet for Uncaged