RodeoHouston 2018

Zac Brown Band showcases superb sing-along set list at RodeoHouston

Zac Brown Band Zac Brown mid-song singing

Brown channeled country icons such as Alabama.

Photo by Jacob Power

The Zac Brown Band saves their fans the trouble of playing that old “spot the influences” parlor game — they just throw ’em into the set list. On March 12, that meant we got Van Halen, Van Morrison, Eagles, Kings of Leon, and one huge tease when the opening bars of “Homegrown” sideswiped ZZ Top’s “Got Me Under Pressure.” Missed it by that much.

Meanwhile, the singalongs were loudest on originals like “Sweet Annie” and “Toes.” That’s how you know a band is really special.

March 12 was ZBB’s seventh RodeoHouston appearance in eight years, skipping only 2016, and the announced attendance of 70,319 was ready for it. These guys pick the hell out of their instruments. They harmonize. Brown says things like “We love you, Texas” and sounds like he means it.

On the first day of spring break, their opening run of “Keep Me In Mind,” “Homegrown,” and “Toes” couldn’t have sounded more appropriate if Brown and his mates had been standing on Galveston’s East Beach. This band was made for one of those plastic coolers with a built-in boombox; a good bit of their repertoire sounds like it should come served in a coconut.

But they’re also smart enough to understand there is more than just one season. In fact, one of their most poignant songs — and probably one of the decade’s best absentee-musician ballads — is called “Colder Weather.” They may have ushered in the chills with Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” but they kept them going by by threading their own “Free” into Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” and Eagles’ “Take It to the Limit” around “Colder Weather.”

Much credit is due to Brown for underplaying the James Taylor angle, but he has such a terrific tenor it’s hard to ignore the similarity. Those harmonies really clicked, too.

It might be easy to forget when you’re grooving on the lava-lamp visuals of “Keep Me In Mind,” but this band is loaded for bear with fantastic musicians. They belong on on the same timeline as Alabama, the ’80s pop-country juggernaut disguised as suave ’70s soft-rockers; and The Band, ’60s roots-rockers with the chops of seasoned jazz players. ZBB takes all that stuff and delivers it with the genre-melting glee of your average Spotify playlist.

That’s how you get moments like the totally badass “Panama” cover — talk about kicking off spring break in style — and songs like “Beautiful Drug,” a sort of bluegrass/EDM romp that shouldn’t work on paper but in concert comes off as a remix-friendly endorphin engine that, were this any other band, could probably close their show.

But as it should, that honor remains with “Chicken Fried,” still pure happiness formatted into song. The climactic hoedown sounded enough like Alabama’s “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas” that it purged the memory of last week’s godawful “if you’re gonna run in Texas, you can’t be a liberal man” Ted Cruz ad. Handily, and not a moment too soon.

Zac Brown Band set list

Keep Me In Mind
Homegrown
Toes
Use Somebody (Kings of Leon)
Sweet Annie
As She’s Walking Away
Free
Into the Mystic (Van Morrison)
Colder Weather/Take It to the Limit (Eagles)
Knee Deep
Panama (Van Halen)
Beautiful Drug
Chicken Fried

Brown thrilled the packed stadium with his favorites, plus a range of covers.

Photo by Jacob Power

Brown thrilled the packed stadium with his favorites, plus a range of covers.

rodeo concerts

Music feature

Texas country star Cody Johnson's new album goes to 'Banks of Trinity'

Photo by Cameron Powell

Cody Johnson.

There's a moment at every Cody Johnson show where the Texas-born-and-bred country star asks the crowd, “How many of you tonight are watching me and this band live for the very first time?” he told The Associated Press. “And every night, I would say at least 80% of the crowd raises their hands.”

It's not the kind of reaction most veteran artists receive. “And I’m thinking, you know, 20 years is a long time to work for something. But when you see that … What’s the next 20 years look like?” he asks.

The rancher, rodeo competitor, and onetime prison guard started his two-decade career playing honky tonks and dive bars. That led to slow and steady growth for the country traditionalist, but in the last few years, something has shifted. He landed his fifth career No. 1 song with “The Fall.” He was named Entertainer of the Year at the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards, the show's highest honor. That was a month after he headlined Stagecoach Music Festival. For an artist with legions of fans, it looked like he was accessing new heights.

“I feel like I’m closing a book and I’m opening another one and it’s all blank pages,” he says of this period. “Let's get to the next chapter." On June 26, that new era began with the release of his latest album, Banks of the Trinity.

Traveling to the Banks of the Trinity
It hasn't been an easy road. Last fall, Johnson had to cancel a bunch of tour dates after upper respiratory and sinus infections caused a burst eardrum that required surgery — an intimidating medical procedure for anyone, but especially nerve-wracking for a musician. “I was scared,” he said simply. But “in a roundabout way, it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

It forced him to take three months off, which allowed him to be home during the birth of his son. It also rejuvenated his approach in the studio. Before the incident, he thought the album was complete. It was not. The additional time resulted in the inclusion of a few songs that now feel inextricable from the record: “Thank Somebody Country,” “Take Me Back (Leave Me There),” “Cricket on a Hook,” and the resilient “I Have” among them.

“What a blessing to have that kind of song fall in your lap when you’re kind of up against the ropes,” he says of the latter. “I mean, we thought we had the record done. It wasn’t done.”

A title track with real resonance
At the heart of Banks of the Trinity is its title track, which recalls Eagles' cover of “Seven Bridges Road” meets bluegrass and Southern gospel.

Lyrically, it's an ode to Johnson's childhood. “I grew up on the banks of the Trinity [River.] Fishing for catfish, not so much out of pleasure or sport but for necessity to put food in the freezer. Deer season for me was not a trophy thing,” he said.

And while that track inspires a feeling of nostalgia within the listener, he doesn't consider this album a throwback collection. He says it's about showcasing his evolving sonic diversity.

"The rest of the album for me is a musical journey from track one to track 16,” he said. “There’s a little bit of a flavor for everybody. It does kind of hit Motown. It does kind of hit bluegrass. It does hit progressive country. It does it old country. It does a little rock here and there.”

It's the result of a new kind of freedom, one that is at least partially due to his recent accomplishments, including taking home the top prize at the ACM Awards.

“I just did the thing that I’ve aspired to do in my career my entire life,” he says. “A really good place is a really good way to describe where I am.”

And now that the album is out, he's ready to take a breather.

“I will be shirtless with no shoes on a beach at an undisclosed location,” he jokes about the days after record release. “'Cause I have already done all the prep work. I've been working on this album for two years. I’ve done all of the interviews. I’ve shook all the hands. Me and my wife and kids are gonna disappear for 10 days and I’m gonna become, I guess, every Kenny Chesney song ever.”

texas country artist cody johnson interview music