Image courtesy of Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band shows are unpredictable. You never know what covers the country-rock band will deliver. Nirvana's "All Apologies," New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" and James Taylor's "Carolina in my Mind" are examples of the diverse tracks the Atlanta-based band has rendered.
"It’s all about balance and having fun," guitarist Clay Cook said. "We love to play some covers when we can. We’re fortunate since we have autonomy. We’ve been successful so we can call our own shots."
However, there is one constant at Zac Brown Band shows. The group, which will perform Friday and Saturday at the Hard Rock, will always perform its breakthrough hit "Chicken Fried."
"We get it," Cook said. "We play 'Chicken Fried' every show. The casual fans would be horrified if we didn’t play 'Chicken Fried.'"
Brown, who wrote the catchy tune, is the band’s main songwriter and face of the group.
“We’re more than fine with that,” Cook said. “Every member of this band is more than willing to go down whatever rabbit hole Zac wants to go down. We totally trust him. He comes up with songs and we all add elements to what he does."
There's a great deal of stability in ZBB, which also includes fiddler Jimmy De Martini, multi-instrumentalist John Driskill Hopkins, guitarist-keyboardist Coy Bowles, bassist Matt Mangano, drummer Chris Fryar, and percussionist Daniel de los Reyes.
The last member to leave the group, which formed in 2002, was in 2008.
"We really enjoy what we're doing here," Cook said."There's no reason to leave. What we do is always interesting."
The band has collaborated with a disparate bunch of icons, including Dave Grohl, Alan Jackson, Kid Rock, Jimmy Buffett and the late Chris Cornell. Cook particularly enjoyed working with Grohl, who produced a ZBB EP, “The Grohl Sessions: Vol. 1."
“Zac ran into Dave Grohl at a store in Hollywood and went up to him and talked about what he wanted to do,” Cook said. “Dave signed on to produce us even though he never heard our music before. The sessions with Dave were awesome. He just completely gets it."
Cook said he met Grohl well before the colaboration.
"When I was 14, I completely embraced what came out of Seattle. Dave Grohl is like a 17-year old, and I mean that in the best possible way. Dave handed me a beer, and I was never so drunk. He’s so much fun. This has all been beyond my wildest dreams and the crazy thing is that I feel like we're just getting started. Being in this band is beyond awesome. We do whatever we want to do and we have an unbelievable fan base that supports us.”
The music world has become more and more predictable with many recording artists playing it safe.
"But Zac doesn’t operate like that," Cook said. "He won’t do it. Maybe we stretch out due to boredom, but I think it’s more so us trying to make the best music we can make.”
R&B icons The Spinners will perform Saturday at Resorts. The act, which has been around since 1954, has had hits with such tracks as "I'll Be Around," "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" and "One of a Kind (Love Affair)," "Ghetto Child," and "The Rubberband Man."
Philadelphia's legendary The Stylistics will play Saturday at the Golden Nugget. "You Are Everything," "Betcha By Golly Wow" and "You Make Me Feel Brand New," are some of soulful group's setlist staples.
