Zach Bryan – The Great American Bar Scene (Album Review)

The Great American Bar Scene is the fifth studio album from country artist Zach Bryan. This comes just shy of a year since his self-titled album was released, which was well-acclaimed. I reviewed the last album and thought it was quite good, favoring the raw production and Bryan’s unapologetic attitude.

However, I thought there were still a few misses, but it was still much better than what we’re getting out of the country scene in the 21st Century. Needless to say, I was looking forward to what the Oklahoman was going to offer us not even a year after dropping an album and a EP.

Let’s get into it!

Like the last album, we start off with the spoken-word track “Lucky Enough (Poem)”. A criticism I’ve had towards Bryan’s fan base is that they make him out to be some sort of deep lyrical genius who has so much to say, quite similar to J. Cole’s fan base. While I don’t think he’s a bad lyricist (more on that later), I was never bought into it as many others seem to be. The same will apply to this track, which I think is far weaker than the first track of the self-titled, which I liked very much. Sure, the music and the meaning are nice, but I found it the lyricism and rhymes schemes to be very weak.

The next track, “Mechanical Bull”, can be paired with the title-track that comes right after it. I find both of these songs to be a slower burn than the first, which already sets this album at a very slow pace. The two tracks just sounds like B-sides off the last album, which does have that raw production, but it definitely felt wanting by the end of it. At this point, I was starting to get concerned, speculating that The Great American Bar Scene was going to be a repeat of what we already heard, and a more boring one at that.

However, the next track helped me start to throw those worries away.

“28” is a really nice and heartful track, which is a pattern on this album. Did it sound familiar (and a tad bit generic)? Yes, but the song has a really nice chorus and melody to it. It was short, catchy, and straight to the point. “American Nights” is similar, but in the way that both songs represent different types of sounds that Bryan is experimenting with. However, “American Nights” is a bit more of a rocker, a contrast in energy to what we have been listening to thus far.

“Oak Island” has Bryan going on a roll, with this being one of the best of this album (and possibly my personal favorite). I really love the addition of the trumpet, adding to the intensity of the song in a Zach Bryan kind of way (don’t bother asking for an explanation). “Purple Gas”, featuring nice vocals from Noeline Hoffman, is a sweet and soothing track, with not much else to ask for.

The first half of the album closes out well, even though “Boons” was a snoozefest with an irritating chorus. However, it’s hard to ignore songs like “The Way Back” and especially “Memphis; The Blues”, which features fantastic guitar work and John Moreland, who I thought outshined Zach with his performance.

The second half starts off stronger than the first with a track that has become one of my favorites, “Like Ida”. This song has a nice old-fashioned melody and good story telling, along with slide guitar done right (take note, Morgan). It’s followed by “Bass Boat”, which has an interesting piano section and an intriguing melody. It was also during this song where I started to wonder if I should take back all the things I’ve said regarding Bryan’s lyrical talent.

Needless to say, I did.

The next two tracks continue the pattern of Zach Bryan diversifying his sound, starting with “Better Days”. This might be the grooviest song we’ll ever hear from Bryan, and it caught me by surprise to say the least. Overall, the guitar work was pretty good and did the job well. “Towers” is a track with obvious gospel influences on it, which I believe to be a nod to the religious themes that Zach usually calls back to. I’ll admit that the track started off a little slow, but really picked towards the middle all the way to the end.

“Sandpaper”, featuring the legendary Bruce Springsteen, was a track I was looking forward to, but not for any good reason. I really wanted to see what this old boomer had to add, and why Bryan would even want to invite him in the first place. Unfortunately, my foresight was accurate once more. Don’t get me wrong, from a musical perspective, this song was far from being bad, actually featuring one of the more colorful instrumentals. However, Springsteen did not shine whatsoever, with his voice and Bryan’s style mixing together like oil and water.

I’ll have to admit that the last four tracks off this record were not the strongest, with it sounding as if Zach Bryan was running out of breath. “Northern Thunder” is the best song out of this whole section, though it has a bit of slow start. “Funny Man” is a song I want to love, with its wonderful and heartful meaning behind it, but the chorus might be the worst thing on this album, feeling like a rip-off of “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone. “Pink Skies”, the hit single off the album, is honestly my least favorite track off the album. Don’t get it twisted, it’s not a bad song and I really appreciate the story-telling behind it, but I found the melody and the instrumentation to be very lackluster. The final track, “Bathwater”, was admittedly generic, but it’s very nostalgic and short enough to where I can let it slide.

SCORE/Excellent: I will say that while I prefer the raw production of Zach Bryan’s self-titled album, I like The Great American Bar Scene a little more. Sure, it didn’t have what attracted me to Bryan’s music in the first place, but it did offer me a lot more to enjoy. Most of the criticisms I have about the last album were essentially wiped away with this one. Bryan’s vocals has drastically improved here, along with his lyricism and story telling. Not to mention that the features on this album were all good (except Springsteen’s), which was a big part of what I disliked about the last record. I really look forward to see where Zach Bryan’s career goes from here, though it looks like it’s not going to stop rising any time soon. The country music genre is admittedly in a weird place right now, with several key figures wanting to take the genre in different directions. I feel like Zach Bryan offers a level of stability, with his music offering no eccentricities, just speaking the unadulterated thoughts of a man’s heart. Sure, this Oklahoman didn’t have a lot going on in his life, but he sure does have a story or two to tell.

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