Zach Bryan makes waves with his 34-song label debut 'American Heartbreak'
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Zach Bryan could be on his way to debuting the biggest country album of 2022 to-date.
The 26-year-old Oklahoma native released last week "American Heartbreak," a sprawling 34-song major label album that bowed last Friday as the most-streamed single-day country release of 2022 on Spotify and Apple Music, respectively.
Bryan's swelling popularity comes as he's risen from an unlikely DIY success story who once turned heads with one-take YouTube uploads and recorded songs with his buddies on Guitar Center gear in an Airbnb. Now, Bryan plays sold-out shows that draw fevered fans ready to sing along with each syllable of the singer's heart-on-his-sleeve songwriting brand.
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Ranging from demo-like ruminations to full-fledged heartland rock anthems, "American Heartbreak" captures an untamed restlessness and blurry-eyed angst that endears Bryan — a former Navy sailor — to a largely young, impassioned audience.
On his songwriting, Bryan told The Tennessean last year: "I feel like it's a songwriter's job to analyze everything in his head and put that out in the world how he interpreted it. And maybe somebody else can interpret it the same way. There's so much stuff ... going on around you all the time that's so hard to explain. By writing songs you can try your best and hope people relate."
And Bryan topped at least one Billboard entry prior to releasing "American Heartbreak." He landed earlier this month at No. 1 on Billboard's Country Songwriter chart, fueled by lead album songs "Something In The Orange" and "From Austin."
He celebrated the album release last weekend by opening for Luke Combs in Denver at Empower Field at Mile High.
“Mile High, I’ll be honest, this is the biggest crowd I’ve ever played for,” Bryan said Saturday as he cracked open a Budweiser tallboy from the towering stage. “It means the world.”
He returns to Middle Tennessee next month for a performance June 19 at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, roughly 60 miles southeast of Nashville.
'American Heartbreak' track list
Late July
Something In The Orange Z&E
Heavy Eyes
Mine Again
Happy Instead
Right Now The Best
The Outskirts
Younger Years
Cold Damn Vampires
Tishomingo
She’s Alright
You are My Sunshine
Darling
Ninth Cloud
Oklahoma City
Sun to Me
Highway Boys
Whiskey Fever
Billy Stay
Sober Side of Sorry
High Beams
The Good I’ll Do
Someday (Maggie’s)
Poems and Closing Time
From Austin
If She Wants a Cowboy
Corinthians (Proctor’s)
Open The Gate
Half Grown
No Cure
’68 Fastback
Blue
Morning Time
This Road I Know
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Zach Bryan is making waves with new album 'American Heartbreak'
