Zach John King is anything but a stranger to country music.
Being introduced to the genre by his grandmother on Saturday mornings as a child, the songsmith is surely setting his craft in motion with the release of his highly-awaited EP, Wannabe Cowboy.
Amassing over six million career streams over the course of a short time, the six-song assemblage is peppered with sincere lyricism, collaborations from esteemed Nashville songwriters, and all of the components of a quintessential introductory project.
“This project feels like a perfect collection of stories and moments from my life that can bring fans in to my world. I’m as vulnerable on these songs as I’ve ever been and all my musical influences came out in the unique sound of each one. We’ve worked so hard to make this first EP something to remember and I couldn’t be more excited for people to hear it,” he says of the extended play.
When speaking with Celeb Secrets Country writer Brianna Vacca about narrowing down the process of picking the right songs for his project, he revealed that it took “over a year” to get things right, as he had nearly 50 songs to choose from.
“It took probably a year to really get it right. We wanted to find the ones that we felt were most me, most honest, but also what’s the best introduction to who I am as an artist and a person,” he confesses. “So that process was just writing and trusting that the gut check was a thing. You know when you get a song back and you’re like, ‘I love this song?’ We got six that we felt were a great starting point.”
With new things comes lessons learned. The Fayetteville, GA native reflects on moving to Music City and the things he’s learned while making Wannabe Cowboy.
“Trust in my gut. You get to town and you have a bunch of people, a lot of them with good intentions start kind of telling you what you should or shouldn’t do. With music, that’s tenfold. You’ve got writers, you’ve got publishers and labels and everybody’s like, ‘I think this one’s good. I don’t think this one is good. I think I’m learning to trust my gut.’ Listen to people you need to, but trust in my gut. I’m still trying to get better at that. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t great at that,” he shares.
“It’s such a weird profession ’cause we’re sitting here making things for people. It’s subjective. You can hate it, you could love it. Vulnerability ultimately is what builds fans. They want to know you. But it’s hard to do, especially in country. ‘Cause country music has this rough exterior a lot of times. I think vulnerability a lot of times is a little bit like, oh, don’t. But I think the more vulnerable you can be with your stuff, the more people go, I care about that. Or I can relate. I know what that feels like. Let them into your world and they stick around.”
Aside from being out and about promoting Wannabe Cowboy, Zach was busy gearing up for his CMA Fest debut, where he performed on the Spotlight Stage on June 6th. Noting that he came last year as a fan, performing during country music’s biggest festival was a full circle moment in many ways, including “finally being able to put a name to faces.”
“I was telling somebody earlier, like you make music in this bubble. You record it, you throw it out there and you get numbers back. You don’t get faces. To have humans in front of you and to put a face to your fans is awesome,” he reveals.
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This Saturday, the singer/songwriter is making an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry’s Opry Plaza Summer Concert Series, and later this year, he is hopping on Conner Smith‘s Storyteller Tour, and King confesses that he isn’t slowing down.
“We’re not slowing down. We put the EP out, and then the day we put the EP out, I got two songs back that I had recorded. We’re just going and people don’t want to wait for music anymore. People that are growing the most and the most consistent are the people that are able to put as much music out as possible. So that’s our goal. We have more music coming out in the summer and fall.”
More about that new music?
“It’s more defined. These songs are going to be more true to me and maybe even more so than the EP. Organic. A little less produced. More honest. More raw.”
You can connect with Zach by giving him a follow on Instagram at @zachjohnking and on TikTok at @zachjohnking. Be sure to stream Wannabe Cowboy below, and let us know what you think of it by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a DM at @celebsecretscountry on Instagram.
For more coverage from CMA Fest 2024, click here. Country news, visit CelebSecretsCountry.com.
