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A few weeks ago, Zach Bryan released his self-titled second major label album, which went to the top of the Billboard album chart — his first time doing so. It contained a duet with Kacey Musgraves that also topped the Hot 100. Then, not long after, he released a new EP, “Boys of Faith,” that includes collaborations with Bon Iver and Noah Kahan.
Bryan is working hard, and on his own terms — he releases music seemingly at will, and is finding a path to collaborators that hews tightly to his own taste profile. Even his recent arrest, for interfering with a traffic stop in Oklahoma, felt signature, with footage from the arrest showing him to be both stubborn and apologetic, following his own moral code more closely than the law.
On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about Bryan’s post-politics approach to stardom, his dogged work ethic, and how he’s partnering up with fellow dissidents to build a coalition of artists who are ordinarily resistant to coalitions.
Guests:
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Elamin Abdelmahmoud, host of the CBC’s “Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud”
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Tom Breihan, senior editor at Stereogum
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