The hit song that got them there starts out: You know I like my chicken fried, Cold beer on a Friday night, A pair of jeans that fit just right And the radio up!
It hit the country music charts like a bullet. Just what the Band was hoping would happen. Jimmy DeMartini told me, "We hooked up with some people and we got 'Chicken Fried' on the radio and pretty much with Chicken Fried it pretty much blew up."
Just another one of those "overnight but took a decade" success stories.
Zac Brown's solo act morphed into the 'Zac Brown Band' and the rest is, as the say, country music history. DeMartini was in from the start, "I sat in with him and we have been together every since and slowly we added the other members of the band."
DeMartini sings and plays the violin with the band and says the rapid rise of the huge hit 'Toes' led the way." A beach trip that sounds the call to, 'Toes in the water, a*s in the sand, not a care in the world a cold beer in my hand. Life is good today.'
This band has a following to rival the likes of Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett. both appear on the bands new album, You Get What You Give' that officially débuted this week. Dreams come true? Oh, yeah! Just ask this Georgia boy, Mr. Jimmy DeMartini, "We dream of this as kids. We wanna be on tour, we want to make a living doing it; Playing music and we're doing it. It's a dream come true."
The dream has kept the band on the road for the better part of two years while it earned awards at the Grammy's, the Academy of Country Music and CMT's Country Music Awards, "I look out at crowd every night and I can't believe the number of people who are coming to see us."
September 2010 is the band's first tour in the Golden State and they are ready for it, 'We love coming to California. Like you said: it's beautiful out there."
But when this tour rolls to a stop DeMartini and Zac Brown will both have good reasons to head straight for home, "Both Zac and I are expecting babies".
Meantime, if the band's Fresno concert is on your weekend list DeMartini advises not to miss the opening bands. As he put it, "They are awesome"!
For part of the last couple of years, The Zac Brown Band has taken trips to the Middle East to play for American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. You'll find that part of the story by going to the ABC30 home page and clicking on See It On TV, then my Red White and True blog. It's a multi-media experience and a kick in the pants, too! Enjoy ...
