Nearly a year after the release of "Uncaged" by the Zac Brown Band, those songs continue to inspire a yearning to make the best of each day that we are given. For July 7, the title track was the perfect way to put the pedal down while returning from a week-long road trip to the Midwest. From the first lick of Coy Bowles' guitar, the title track revs up like a child's toy, with exciting possibilities of vacation adventures that lay ahead and is possibly the best road trip song since Willie put pen to paper in 1980. It was the most appropriate tune to be listening to after spontaneously meeting a Zamily member (Cathy Dillhoff Sarky) over breakfast. We shared our concert experiences over the last few years, made possible out of a shared interest in the band and a recent fashion faux pas on her part. She posted a "what's wrong with this photo" on the fan club's Facebook page and Sheila was the quickest to identify that her skirt was on backwards. She sent off a surprise gift as we departed on our vacation to the Midwest. Ironically, we were able to meet her before receiving the gift. She lives in Cincinnati, which was our overnight pit stop on our return home.
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| Our gift from Cathy: a rugged leather coozie |
She shared a tale from the Red Rocks concert while eating breakfast at the Echo Restaurant, while I worked on my eggs benedict. Her story has put a new goal on the proverbial bucket list for us. Making a new friend out of a shared interest in this band, is one of many great experiences that coincide with an underlying philosophy that is woven into their music.
My favorite outing from this year was a last minute trip to the Senoia Social in May. An amazing experience for a great cause. There were a few obstacles that ordinarily would have led us to just stay at home on the couch, but in keeping with album's mantra, we just went for it since the event was for Camp Southern Ground, and autism is an important cause to both of us. It was another great opportunity to meet other fans and further immerse into Zamily values. We enjoyed buying some new merchandise and entered a few raffles, one of which we won a night stay at The Veranda, a bed and breakfast in Senoia.
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| Main Street in Senoia, GA |
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| John Driskell Hopkins |
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| Rev. Jeff Mosier |
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| Coy Bowles |
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| Zamily member Marty McCord |
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| Item for Christmas list....I Wish |
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| The event benefits a camp for children of all abilities, possibly including zombies from the Walking Dead, which is also filmed in Senoia. |
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| 'Zac hops on stage with ZBB bassist "Hop" and Balsam Range |
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| Daphne investigates why the town's population tripled for an afternoon. |
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| Sheila with Coy Bowles |
Sheila checked out Coy Bowles... I mean the book that Coy Bowles wrote titled: "Amy Giggle: Laugh Out Loud" a clever childhood tale of a girl that experiences bullying and finds a way to cope while learning self acceptance. He graciously autographed it for her future kindergarten students and she plans to work the book into one of her lessons later this fall.
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| Munchin' on a meaty bone from chef Rusty Hamlin - kind of like those darn zombies |
Even before the "Uncaged" album released, when the band would demo a few of the new songs during shows, it was glaringly obvious that this album was going to set the bar even higher. Upon listening to it completely, I knew/hoped it had serious potential for a Grammy. The diversity and range of genres make it stand far above anything else that was released this year and is another fine chapter for the expanding legacy of this band, which seized eleven ambitious opportunities to take fans in an number of fun and emotional directions. During our 2012 voyage to The Land of Cheese, we were able to make it to Milwaukee in time for the first concert after the new album release. The concert was awesome even if our seats were pretty far back. I guess we have been spoiled having been in the GA pit on other occasions and being able to sit 5th row the first time we ever saw the band in Chastain Park during May 2009.
The Milwaukee show was also our first opportunity to meet Zamily members at a pre-show gathering nearby. The concept is that the die-hard fans have become a family, thus the name, that share the common interest of the band's music during arranged events that are in conjunction with the concert. The group also stays in touch with online postings in forums. Experiencing it blew away any preconceived notion that this was similar to being a Parrothead, which I have been for a number of years. One similarity would be the good charitable deeds that both groups perform throughout the year. However, the Zamily group is much more interactive, proven by the story of my new leather coozie. It operates much like a support group for similarly afflicted fans that can't get enough. The most intriguing part to me is that the fans for the most part focus on the common bonds among us, instead of the societal differences that often keep a diverse group of people at odds. How refreshing!
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| Sheila and I with John Driskell Hopkins at Milwaukee gathering |
As far as the tracks on the album, "Jump Right In" and 'Island Song" have a carefree vibe that follow the "trop-rock' mentality and were perfect for our spring break trip to Florida this year. This CD has spent the majority of the past year caged within my dashboard for several consecutive months. The mantra behind the music is best summed up by verses in "Make This Day", in developing a way to embrace each day with a yearning to make the most of any situation. That anthem is continued in songs like "Day That I Die" and 'Uncaged" which have encouraged my wife and I to be a bit more spontaneous and seek out opportunities. The first song released from the album "The Wind" has quite a different meaning to me than the story portrayed by the lyrics. When I hear that tune, I reflect back to the nearly 20 years of road trips and random journeys that I have made with my soulmate. It may sound fatalistic, but if I were to receive my "silver invitation' prematurely, I think this song would serve as a memory of the many great road trips and a remind of me for my wife. Fortunately I have no life experiences similar to the lyrics of "Goodbye in Her Eyes" or "Last But Not Least", both well written introspective songs. The synchronized harmonies and rich metaphors in "Natural Disaster" make it an amazing song for "Car-aoke', as I like to call it.
The song that I sincerely wish had never been written would be "Lance's
Song", it is a touching tribute to a fellow musician and friend of the band, that
passed far too soon. The song reveals that Zac has not forgotten the trials and tribulations of playing bar gigs to yuppies that are more concerned about their Rolling Rock than the unfamiliar rock-n-roll artistry performed before them. Living near Chattanooga, I can vaguely recall the
reports of that 2010 tragedy. While this certainly had to be the most difficult
song to write and eventually perform, it fits a core philosophy of charting your own path, that has been intertwined into the
music since "Foundation." A few of my life experiences through the years have also been tough lessons that each person should embrace life with both hands as if it will be taken away without warning, as is too often the case. I can appreciate the difficulty that Zac and the boys had in writing "Lance's Song". As a reporter I have far too frequently had to write about tragedy. It wasn't until I received an phone call from a friend one evening in Sept. 2009 , that I would understand the emotional drowning that occurs when a handful of words conveyed the unthinkable. Grief bewilders the mind and that moment of realization paralyzes the body, seemingly thrusting it into boiling water. I imagine that is a small fraction of the pain and anguish that the loved ones actually feel in those circumstances. Only after that call did I realize that I now had to write a very difficult story recapping another friend's inconceivable loss of her husband, her own brother and her 10-year-old daughter.
The variety of meaningful messages on "Uncaged" elicit a seize-the-day mentality that really hits home, or maybe this album is just aptly timed for my mid-life course correction. This album solidified ZBB as my all-time favorite band, which surpassed Buffet a few years back when 'You Get What You Give" was released. "Uncaged" is not only the album of the year, it is the music to inspire many uncaged moments when we needed to escape reality for a weekend rendezvous or even for just a few minutes during the monotonous morning commute. This band is very unique and hard to make a the traditional comparisons to predecessors, but I feel they are a cross between the jam band groove of the Dave Matthews Band and county music's most successful band. Hopefully they shall experience the longevity and an equal number of accolades as those boys from Fort Payne.
The events of the last month have even inspired me to make another attempt at this blog, seeing as I have been to busy (or preoccupied on Facebook) to post in the last few years. I shall hit the archives and try to fill the gap since I really began this page to reflect back on my fortunate experiences years from now when memories aren't as vivid.
