Zac Brown Band: Back to Business—”We Just Want to Put on the Greatest Show That We Can”

When a band gets big—when the group earns No. 1 records, Grammy Awards, and a string of sold-out tour dates in stadiums (including a spot opening up for The Rolling Stones)—it’s easy to forget where they’ve come from. It may not even be intended. But sometimes the roots can be lost for the sake of the fruit. Thankfully, for the fans of the popular Zac Brown Band, this isn’t the case for the group and its frontman. Brown remembers the grind. Remembers the decade it took for the industry to really pay attention. He remembers inventing a business model early on: playing sports bars midweek and eventually bringing in hundreds of people. Remembers camping on porches, and staying in friends’ garages. He remembers borrowing money from one of his 11 siblings for a PA system and microphones. Now, though, Brown and his band have grown, earned accolades, and are continuing their path upward. But it’s not for any lack of keeping in mind those initial good ol’ days.