Zach John King is making waves in country music with his unique sound, blending the introspective storytelling of roots music with the raw energy of alt-rock. Raised in a family of poets, King’s lyrical prowess stems from a deep appreciation for narrative artistry. Musically, his influences range from country legends like George Jones to soul icon Otis Redding, and even rock stalwarts The Police and Switchfoot. This eclectic inspiration has fueled his ability to craft songs that are both deeply authentic and sonically adventurous.
King’s journey to Nashville in 2021 marked a turning point in his career. Embracing his country roots, he began developing a sound that merges minimalistic, indie-inspired instrumentation with heartfelt storytelling. His breakout single ‘Wannabe Cowboy' proved to be a game-changer, amassing over 3.4 million streams globally and earning spots on coveted playlists like Spotify’s New Boots and Fresh Country.
Following that success, tracks like ‘Hole in the Wall' and new release ‘Slow Down' have solidified King's reputation as an artist unafraid to explore the emotional crossroads where country and rock collide. He recently signed with Sony Music Nashville and we were thrilled to catch up with him to talk all about it.
Thanks for talking to us today, Zach, we know what a busy guy you must be.
Thank you for taking the time too, I appreciate you.
Congratulations on the recent release of ‘Slow Down' and signing the deal with Sony. Tell me about the impact signing with a major label will have on your career and what you feel they can do for your music?
I think signing with Sony Nashville is such a cool opportunity for me to be part of the Nashville songwriting community. It's such a hometeam operation but with a global reach, right? The feel of the entire team is a bunch of Nashville folks, working together, and that makes me feel really at home.
Signing to any major just accelerates everything – the reach, the ability to get in front of people, you know? We were looking for somebody to throw some gasoline on the fire rather than change what vision we already had and that's what I think they will do.
Tell me about the inspiration behind your first release, ‘Slow Down,' with the label.
Anybody that has grown up in a town where you know everybody knows what it's like when a relationship ends and everything around you reminds you of that relationship. I wrote it really about my hometown back in Georgia. You can't escape a memory of somebody because the town is too small, you end up running into the same landmarks and people that remind you of what you've lost.
The video looked like it was a miserable day filming, right?
(laughing) The video was unbelievable, man, such fun to do. We filmed it on my cousins property in Monticello, Georgia. It was so cool because my family, who have been a great support to me, got to be a part of it. It was a blast!! (laughing)
Did you grow up in a musical family and when did the music thing really take hold of you?
My family loved music without them being necessarily musical, right? My dad could play one song, ‘Daytripper' by the Beatles on the guitar and my mom could play piano if you asked her too. I do come from a family of poets, which is interesting. I have relatives who were published poets and my grandma wrote free-form and rhyme poetry from all the travels she did so I did grow up in a lyric-heavy family.
The bug bit me when I was in middle school and I went to see Switchfoot at the Athens Theatre in Georgia. I went with my dad and sister and the first song they played….. it literally just grabbed me. I'd never felt anything like it in my life before and it sounds a little cliched but it was then that I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life!
You fronted an indie rock band in college. What was that scene like and who were the band's sonic influences?
Yeah! The whole culture of Athens, Georgia was wholly centered around indie rock that was artistically outside the box. Anybody is accepted, any style was accepted and so it was a fun place to cut our teeth. Our influences all boiled down to one band – Kings of Leon. They are still my favourite band of all time and we pulled a ton from them.
I suppose a band like REM would be the O.G. Georgia grandaddys of the scene?
They are! They are the legends who made it out and everybody else is just trying to live up to their shadows.
You left for Nashville in 2021. What was behind that decision and did have imposter syndrome when you first got there because everyone else in town is so talented?
Oh man, the short answer is yes, that's a great question! It was the pandemic that prompted me. I'd been in the band for four years at that point and it really hit the music industry and live shows in particular. The indie bands that had no formal structure or record deals were completely floored – we'd been shut down for months. I was sitting there looking at my life and decided it was time to take a chance on something bigger.
I went to Nashville sight unseen, got a job on Broadway waiting tables, right? One time I waited tables at the BMI awards and everyone was walking around with medallions on and you feel like the lowest of the low. It inspired me to put my head down and work as hard as I could to gain a foothold in the town.
Did you have to learn to co-write when you got to Nashville? That's something artists who move there often tell me.
Luckily the co-writing thing was fairly easy because I had been in the band for four years and we really all just wrote together, chaotically in a practice room. I didn't have trouble with that at all but what I am learning right now is that there are different ways to do it and people have different specialisms and strengths.
Today, for example, I might be writing with someone who is really lyric heavy and I need to learn how to let that person lead and then there are days where I need to bring melodies over lyrics or vice-versa. It's all a dance and I'm having a blast with it right now! (laughing)
As you begin to put your debut album together are there any writers, in particular, that you'd love to get into a room with?
Man, that's another great question. I'd love to get into a room with any of the big dogs like HARDY or Ernest. They would be sick! They are at the top of their game right now. I've been lucky to have been in some incredible rooms right now, thanks to the incredible publishing team I have, I have no shortage of awesome writes everyday, you know, walking into a room with guys who have Grammy's on their walls!
Jay Joyce and Dan Huff pop into my mind as being producers who would fit well with your sound.
Yeah man, I love that. We actually used Jay as a touchstone and a reference for the production sound on my last songs – that was my big thing – trying to figure out how to do that minimalistic thing that he does so well and then add some weird stuff into the mix as well.
‘Wannabe Cowboy' was the song that blew up for you last year. Did you get a feeling when you wrote that song that it was going to be a special one for you?
We knew that it was a true song, it was true to me and 100% authentic to me, so when that is the case with a song, you know that you have something special, whether it blows up or not. Anyone that listens to music can sense whether the music is authentic or not and that song is right there for me. It was a cool moment because it proved to me that if you write something honest, it's going to work and reward you in some way.
If you try to chase the hit or the sound that's on the radio and aren't always honest to yourself or who you are…… people are going to hear that, right?
‘Wannabe Cowboy' was huge. Do you then get frustrated or anxious about the releases to come in terms of matching or bettering that success or do you just see your career as a journey and go with the flow a little more?
I wish I could say that I didn't worry about things like that but it would be lie! (laughing) I do worry about things like that but the great thing about the music industry today is the volume of songs you can put out there now. Artists can release songs every 6 to 8 weeks now and it's not considered to be a crazy thing to do. That's a great opportunity to move on if one release doesn't hit in the way that you hoped it would.
Just learning how to see your releases as a journey, as you mentioned, is healthy and can help with your creativity too, because you come to learn not to put too much pressure on yourself and become bogged down with writing songs for the sake of the streams and numbers. I'm trying to learn that balance between expectation and performance right now! (laughing) I want to write songs that I can play for years and years – which takes some guts to do and can be a slower path in the long term but one that is much more rewarding.
You're going out on tour with Vincent Mason soon. I interviewed him just before Christmas and can see how the two of you will compliment each other. Is there one artist that you've played with live that has role-modelled a way of how to treat the fans well, how to treat the backstage crew well also?
I will tell you that I've learned something from everyone that I have toured with in this last year. I learned how to treat crew well out on the road with Conner Smith. Seeing his intentionality with everyone on his crew and at the venues was really cool.
Rock bands like Switchfoot have shown me how to treat your fans with respect. Everyone that has worked with them that I know has said that there is no-one else in the industry that treats people as well as they do. I've also heard that about Dierks Bentley too. I got to meet him at the tail-end of last year. We were playing in his bar and he walked in and was so kind and gracious to us. That dude has no ego and that's my mission!
What's the plan for the rest of 2025 in terms of new music, bigger projects and getting these songs out to as wide an audience as possible?
The plan for the next 6 months is playing as many shows as we can and trying to make each show better than the last. We've got some new songs on the way: the next one will be out in February and then we are looking at building up towards an EP in late Spring. Singles, shows and then an EP – that's the plan right now! We've got some lofty goals we want to accomplish mid-year that we are focused on trying to achieve so we'll see if those come to pass but I think that the culture of consuming music right now has changed, meaning that the whole waiting-game thing is kinda done. Artists of my size survive by volume and so that's kinda my goal this year, for sure.
Check out Zach John King right here and listen to ‘Slow Down' in all the usual places right now.
