Zach Bryan is one of the most successful artists in country music today. All three of his full-length major label releases have topped the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The Oklahoma native has also launched multiple songs to the top of the publication’s Hot Country Songs chart. He even topped the all-genre Hot 100 with his Grammy-winning Kacey Musgraves collaboration “I Remember Everything.” He has also spent most of his short career selling out headlining tour stops across the United States.
Videos by American Songwriter
Long before Bryan was a household name and a rising country star, he was an active-duty member of the United States Navy. While deployed, he wrote and performed songs to entertain himself and his friends. He also self-released his first two albums—DeAnn and Elizabeth—while in the Navy. However, it was his Twitter profile and YouTube channel that attracted most of his fans early in his career.
[RELATED: The Meaning Behind Zach Bryan’s First Viral Hit “Heading South”]
Bryan released several songs on social media before “Heading South” went viral and introduced him to countless new fans. Today, the original upload—a phone-shot video of Bryan playing the song outside of his barracks—has more than 31 million views. While it isn’t the first song he released, it was his first track to go viral and arguably the beginning of his rise to prominence in the country and Americana world.
Zach Bryan on the Early Days of His Career
Zach Bryan broke down the early days of his career and his first taste of viral success on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “[I was] 22 when I started. I started putting videos on Twitter and it was crazy,” he recalled. “I get all these messages all the time from people who are like, ‘Hey man, I was around when you released Heading South. I’ve been here from the beginning.’ And I’m like ‘Really? From the beginning?’ I started putting videos on Twitter back in, like, 2017. Then, I just kept doing it because I was in the Navy and had a lot of sh-t going on,” he added.
“I’d get like five or six likes and I didn’t care. It was nice to go home and feel the way I did and write and put music on Twitter. It was nice. I don’t know, it was like my validation in the world. I can write a song at least,” he recalled.
About the life-changing “Heading South” video, he said, “When I recorded this I was about to go inside. I was like, ‘Whatever I’ll just throw this on the internet.’ And it was the No. 1 rated Reddit video in the entire world, I think. …It’s been crazy. I never in my life envisioned being a musician.”
Featured Image by Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images
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