The Zac Brown Band is enjoying the success of “Whatever It Is,” the second single from its platinum major label debut album, “The Foundation.” But Brown and company are chomping at the bit to release their next track.
Brown tells Billboard.com that the group has already shot a video for “Toes,” which will likely be released as a single in late June or July. “It’s epic,” Brown says with a laugh. “It’ll definitely be memorable — land, air and sea vehicles of all kinds, and the introduction of a character named Floaty Boatwood. He’s kind of a lovable, dirty Georgia kind of guy. He’s the main character in the video, but there’s some great cameos, too. But I won’t say who.”
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Brown co-wrote the song with bassist John Driskell Hopkins, Wyatt Durette and Shawn Mullins. “(Durette) called me about six in the morning on my home phone,” Brown recalls, “which either meant that something was wrong or that somebody was up late partying. He said, ‘I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand and we gotta write a song about it.’ That’s kind of how that one started.”
Brown anticipates releasing one more single after “Toes” but has also gotten a head start on his next album. He says there’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 songs in the works, 20 of which he considers “in the can” while eight others are covers of songs by Lucinda Williams (“I Lost It”), Bob Dylan (“I Shall Be Released”), Dire Straits (“Romeo and Juliet”) and Rage Against the Machine (“Killing in the Name Of”) that will most likely be used for future B-sides. He also recorded a song called “Colder Weather” with Kid Rock after the two jammed together May 17 at Detroit’s annual Downtown Hoedown.
“We put out enough music to make two records a year, no problem,” Brown says. “We’ve just got to get on that pace and figure out how that’s going to work with radio promotion and everything. We’re just so proud to be out here and proud to set up camp and let everybody know we’ve got a lot of music coming to them, one way or another.”