Zac Brown Band - Inclusion of Clay Cook

Inclusion of Clay Cook

In January 2009, two months after "Chicken Fried" went to No. 1, Atlanta native Clay Cook joined the Zac Brown Band as its multi-instrumentalist and high tenor vocalist. Cook had previously collaborated with John Mayer and Shawn Mullins, and was also a member of the Marshall Tucker Band for two years prior to joining the Zac Brown Band. According to Cook, he and Brown actually both attended and graduated from high school together, but were never acquainted with each other during that period. He explains how he first met Brown:

We ran into each other (in) 2003 in a club scene in Atlanta, where I think my band opened up for his band...ever since then, we've been friendly...and I think he just thought I was a singer-songwriter for a long time; and then we were on a (music) cruise ship together...and I was playing with the Marshall Tucker Band at the time, and (Brown)'s band (also participated in the cruise)...and he actually got to see me play the guitar...and then he realized, 'I need this guy in my band,' I guess.

Brown himself admitted his strong desire to add Cook to the lineup, for he believed Cook's musicianship would enhance the Zac Brown Band's overall musical style:

I’d been tryin’ to get him in the band for three years, and you know, it’s been a journey, but I always knew . I’m a harmony fanatic. I love big harmonies and things, and we didn’t have a high tenor, and Jimmy, my fiddle player, sings a lot of the high stuff now, but havin’ somebody that can actually sing on top of that, we’ve added a four-part harmony now that’s searing, and the guy’s a monster player, too."

With the new Zac Brown Band lineup completed, the band released its second single, "Whatever It Is," which went to No. 2. In October 2009, a third single, "Toes," became the band's second Number One. The album's fourth single, and third No. 1, was "Highway 20 Ride". "Free" was the album's fifth single and on the week of August 21, 2010, it also peaked at Number One.