You’ve got to hand it to the guys in the Zac Brown Band — they’re nothing if not ambitious. Their latest album, Jekyll + Hyde, finds the Atlanta-based group expanding into territories far outside its country-music tag, with explorations into EDM, bluegrass, big band, and metal. And let’s face it: Few bands of any genre could integrate contributions from both Sara Bareilles and Chris Cornell on the same album and make it work.
Reviews for the album have been mostly positive, and it’s certainly resonated with fans too. Jekyll + Hyde debuted atop theBillboard charts — the band’s third consecutive release to achieve this — and has scored number-one hits on both the country and mainstream rock charts with singles “Homegrown,” “Heavy Is the Head,” and “Loving You Easy.”
“Zac’s vision on this one was a bit different than the others,” says John Driskell Hopkins, a founding member of the group. “He wants to reach a broader audience.” Hopkins says it’s a natural evolution for the band, which views itself as a rock act from the South, more than a country act. “While we do listen to and love a lot of different styles of music — country among them — we’ve never been comfortable in one particular category.”
Just as ambitious as the album is the Jekyll + Hyde tour, which wraps in West Palm Beach, though the band is on the road so often, it can be difficult figuring out when one tour ends and another begins. Nine of this tour’s dates were at Major League Baseball stadiums, including one at Coors Field in Denver, the first concert ever at that venue.
“The night before we played Fenway,” Hopkins says, “we were already in town, and I went to see James Taylor. What a great place to see a show. All the stadiums are like that — they’re all beautiful places. I think we’ll continue to keep doing them, and I think more baseball stadiums will catch on and get into it.”
Zac Brown Band With Drake White. 7 p.m. Sunday, November 15, at Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansbury’s Way, West Palm Beach. Tickets cost $27.50 to $75.50 plus fees. Call 561-795-8883, or visit ticketmaster.com.
