Zach Bryan

Indebted to the literary side of Red Dirt -- he wrote a song saluting Evan Felker of the Turnpike Troubadours, one of the genre's leading lights of the 2010s -- Zach Bryan is a plaintive country troubadour. He began carving out his career while still enlisted in the Navy, recording his 2019 debut album, DeAnn, during a break in his service. It, along with videos he posted online, helped him cultivate an audience that crested with the 2020 release of Elisabeth and its accompanying single "Heading South." Bryan capitalized on his burgeoning popularity with American Heartbreak, a...