Zach Bryan Doesn't Want To Be Called “A Country Musician”

In a new interview with Bruce Springsteen for Rolling Stone, Zach Bryan expressed hesitancy at being pigeonholed into any genre, telling the music superstar that he doesn’t want to be described as “a country musician.”

Zach Bryan being recognised as a country artist has brought him considerable success in his career.

The singer won his first Grammy Award this year for I Remember Everything with Kacey Musgraves (they won in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category), and his latest album, The Great American Bar Scene, charted at #1 on the US and Australian Country Albums charts. But Bryan wants to be known simply as a songwriter rather than a country artist.

“Everyone calls me it,” Bryan said, telling Springsteen his thoughts on the matter for Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians series.

“I want to be a songwriter, and you’re quintessentially a songwriter. No one calls Bruce Springsteen — I hate to use your name in front of you — but no one calls Bruce Springsteen a freaking rock musician, which you are one, but you’re also an indie musician, you’re also a country musician. You’re all these things encapsulated in one man. And that’s what songwriting is.”

Springsteen replied by stating that Bryan’s music is “connected to the country genre,” but he doesn’t necessarily view him as strictly country – especially after seeing him live. Springsteen said he saw “so much — and I don’t want to call it rock — just energy in your performance. You bust all those different genre boundaries down.”

Bryan responded, “That’s why you’re a hero to me, because no one’s ever come up to you and said you were in any sort of lane.

“When I first started making music, I told Stefan and Danny, my managers, I was like, ‘I want to be in a lane where, when people look back, they can listen to my music, and it’s supremely whatever you were doing.’ You were the only person in my head that has ever done that.”

You can read the interview here.

Zach Bryan made news earlier this month when he declined to submit his music for consideration in any category for the 2025 Grammy Awards. Sources told Variety that Bryan didn’t submit his music because “he does not feel comfortable with awards shows making music competitive.”

Bryan released his latest album, The Great American Bar Scene, in July. You can find fan reactions to the album here.