Put him in a box and musician Zach Bryan will try to break out of it.
Despite accruing multiple country music awards over the past two years, the 28-year-old rising star is not interested in being called a "country musician."
In a candid conversation with Bruce Springsteen for Rolling Stone, Bryan explained why it bothers him to be confined to one genre of music.
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Prefacing his bold remarks, Bryan compared his perception of his music to the world's perception of Springsteen's.
"When I listen to your music, I’m like, ‘If you put different production to this, it’s a country song,’" Bryan told Springsteen, who agreed with the assessment.
"That’s why I don’t want to be a country musician," he continued.
"I don’t want to be a country musician. Everyone calls me it. I want to be a songwriter, and you’re quintessentially a songwriter," he told the 20-time Grammy Award winner.
"No one calls Bruce Springsteen – hate to use your name in front of you – but no one calls Bruce Springsteen a freaking rock musician, which you are one, but you’re also an indie musician, you’re also a country musician. You’re all these things encapsulated in one man. And that’s what songwriting is."
That's how Bryan wants to be received: a musician of all trades.
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"No one’s ever come up to you and said you were in any sort of lane," Bryan told Springsteen, calling him his "hero."
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In 2022, he shared similar sentiments with The New York Times, calling Springsteen one of several artists whose career he wanted to mirror. "I think people understand that I’m not that," Bryan said of being a country singer. "I want to be in that Springsteen, Kings of Leon, Ed Sheeran at-the-very-beginning space."
He also affirmed how imperative songwriting is to success in the industry.
"Songwriting is such a massive part of this.… If you’re missing out on it, what the hell are you doing? You’re just performing. You’re an actor."
Bryan has been nominated four times at the Grammy Awards, for Best Country Solo Performance, Best Country Album, Best Country Song, and Best Country Duo/Group Performance, which he won this year with Kacey Musgraves.
He's also been nominated for three Academy of Country Music Awards, winning New Male Artist of the Year in 2023. As for the Billboard Music Awards – he's been nominated 14 times – he's won three in the rock category.
Bryan is currently on his "Quittin Time Tour," with his next scheduled performance in Edmonton, Alberta, Thursday night.
