Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer At the time that he had begun recording tracks that would make his sprawling 2022 third album “American Heartbreak,” Zach Bryan had already become a groundswell musician.
The Oklahoman struck a chord with his true blue American songs, uploading YouTube videos of himself performing and collecting a fan base — largely devoted to his exposed nerve, underdog aesthetic — along the way.
A former Army brat, the 27-year-old chased a stint in the Navy with online virality, stripping away the highly polished beer-and-whiskey veneer that’s popular in the Nashville music scene.
For Ryan Hadlock, a veteran producer with credits on projects from the Lumineers and the Gossip, collaborating with Bryan for “Heartbreak” and its breakthrough single “Something in the Orange” made sense.
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