Bringin’ It Backwards: Interview with Zac Brown Band // John Driskell Hopkins

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Together with American Songwriter, we had the pleasure of interviewing John Driskell Hopkins over Zoom video! 

John Driskell Hopkins today announces new album Lonesome High and shares the single

“Missing You All, All The Time.” The track is a reflective ballad that takes stock of Hopkins’

years spent on the road as a member of the Zac Brown Band.

Written with songwriter and good friend D. Vincent Williams (“I’m Movin‘ On” by Rascal Flatts, Ty Herndon’s “Hands of a Working Man”) the track is honest and tender as it acknowledges the burden that the life of a professional musician can place on those close to them.

Hopkins explains “ Over the years, the touring regimen has continued to improve professionally, but we find ourselves away from home more and more frequently. It is very common for all of us to miss our family, and this tune is all about that. It starts with a piano driven music box dancer feel in the beginning and progresses through a very harmony rich vocal stack throughout the choruses. This is the one that my girls sing to me the most.”

It might be a mistake to conflate Hopkins’ pedigree as a founding member of the Zac Brown Band and Grammy-winning producer of their albums into expecting the Lonesome High album to be a country record. Even though it is a country record. But, it’s as much a country record as it is a folk album, or a southern rock album. Ultimately, Lonesome High is a collection of uniquely American music.

Hopkins’ musical palette is, in some ways, a reaction to the shifting sands of the country charts. As compressed commercial pop production and elements of electronic music begin to stake a permanent claim amongst the records of some of the scenes most beloved names, Hopkins is drawn more than ever to the grit of acoustic recording and songs that draw from personal experience..

Lonesome High is set for a January 2021 release. The collection presents an opportunity to hear Hopkins speak with his own voice about the subjects closest to his heart, delivered through the sounds of his southern home.

We want to hear from you! Please email Tera@BringinitBackwards.com.

www.BringinitBackwards.com

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