Zac Brown Band Says More Grohl Collaborations Possible
Photo: Cole Cassell
The Zac Brown Band is toying with the idea of creating another project with Dave Grohl, following the success of The Grohl Sessions, Vol. 1, which was recorded at Brown’s Southern Ground studio in Nashville, according to Billboard.
“Vol. 1 is literally everything we recorded, but we liked the idea of adding to this at some point,” Zac Brown Band member Clay Cook said. “We don’t know what the future holds, but we like the idea, and Dave loves the idea of making more music, too. It’s as open-ended to us as it is to you, but Dave was cool with calling it Vol. 1. So maybe Vol. 2 comes in 30 years; we don’t know. But we love the idea of the intention to do more, that’s for sure.”
Cook says the band is also considering re-releasing some of its pre-Atlantic Records projects. The band will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its self-released debut, Far From Einstyne, in 2014, and is discussing ideas on how to commemorate the project, as well as ideas to get that and other material to fans.
“We’ve always been talking about putting out the old (pre-Atlantic Records) stuff, like Einstyne and (2005’s) Home Grown,” Cook said. “We’re still discussing what format to put it out. Do you re-release it? Do you try to go back in and make it better? Do you put out a double album? There’s been all sorts of discussions about what we want to do with that stuff, and we may just even put it out there, kind of like what Beyonce did, with no promotion beforehand. But there’s really no definite plans yet.”
The band will ring in the New Year in Detroit and perform the National Anthem at the NHL’s Winter Classic game in Ann Arbor. They join Grohl for a show with the Foo Fighters for Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 1 in New York.
The Country Music Hall of Fame has some fun, informative events on tap throughout the month of January. Kim Richey, the members of American Young, and Marcus Hummon will all be on site at various times throughout the month to hold songwriting sessions, while a fingerstyle guitar demonstration with Carco Clave’ is slated for Sunday, Jan. 5.
With Christmas behind us and New Year’s Eve around the corner, albums are enjoying a boost from holiday sales. Last week’s overall album sales are up 22 percent from the prior week, while last week’s Country album sales are up 29 percent from the prior week.
Beyonce’s self-titled album was the top overall album for the second consecutive week, selling another 234k units (851k RTD). YTD overall album sales were down 8.5 percent, while Country album sales were down 10.7 percent. With two weeks left in this year’s sales calendar, it doesn’t look like 2013 will match up to 2012.
The Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame‘s Board of Directors has chosen Country station WIVK in Knoxville, Tenn., as the “Station Of The Year” for its inductee class of 2014. WIVK has been the top ranking station in the Arbitron radio ratings for the Knoxville market since the market was first surveyed in 1970, with the exception of the ratings period for April/May 1971, when 990/WNOX-A (a Top 40 station at the time) ranked as first in the market.
If you won’t be in Las Vegas for New Years weekend for Garth Brooks’ two full-band shows at The Wynn, have tickets to Celine Dion’s Caesars Coliseum or the new Britney Spears A Piece of Me at Planet Hollywood hotel down the strip, you’re in luck because Nashville is bringing a party to you!
Let’s face it: We’re back to being a singles business. All year long, MusicRow’s “DisClaimer” column praises and pans Nashville single releases. The vast majority of these are country-music records. So what were my true favorite country tracks of 2013? Here’s the countdown of greatness, at least according to me as of today.