The Owl (album)

The Owl is the sixth studio album by American country music band Zac Brown Band. It was released on September 20, 2019, through Wheelhouse Records.

The Owl
Studio album by Zac Brown Band
Released	September 20, 2019
Genre	Pop[1][2] EDM[1] country[1] R&B[3]
Length	37:39
Label	BBR Wheelhouse BMG
Producer	Coy Bowles Zac Brown Johan Carlsson Andrew DeRoberts Matt Mangano Max Martin Happy Perez Poo Bear Skrillex Shawn Mendes Sasha Sirota Ryan Tedder Andrew Watt
Zac Brown Band chronology
Welcome Home (2017) The Owl (2019)
Singles from The Owl
"Someone I Used to Know" Released: November 9, 2018 "Leaving Love Behind" Released: January 13, 2020

Content

It is described as the band's "most personal album to date". For this album the band worked with pop and EDM writer and producers such as Poo Bear, Shawn Mendes, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, and Skrillex. One of the tracks features a collaboration with Brandi Carlile.[4][5]

Critical reception

Kelly Dearmore of the blog Sounds Like Nashville gave a largely negative review, criticizing the lack of country sound relative to the band's preceding albums and comparing many songs negatively to Brown's electronica side project Sir Rosevelt.[1] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album 2.5 out of 5 stars, also noting parallels to the Sir Rosevelt album. He concluded his review with "The fact that a good chunk of the numbers work does not erase how deeply strange this album is."[6] It also got a negative review from Pip Ellwood-Hughes of Entertainment Focus, who stated that "Zac Brown Band have shown what they can do in the past and this set of songs doesn't come close. If this were the debut album of a new pop band, it may be received kindlier but this is a misjudged project from a beloved Country band that attempts to push boundaries but will likely just turn their fans off."[3]

Commercial performance

The Owl debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 106,000 album-equivalent units, including 99,000 pure album sales. It is Zac Brown Band's sixth US top 10 album.[7] The album has sold 137,100 copies in the United States as of March 2020.[8]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer[9]	Length
1.	"The Woods"	Zac Brown Corey Crowder Sasha Sirota	Brown Sasha Sirota	3:14
2.	"Need This"	Brown Jason Boyd Caroline Jones Andrew DeRoberts Ryan Tedder	Brown DeRoberts Poo Bear Tedder	2:41
3.	"OMW"	Brown Boyd Sirota Sonny Moore	Brown Skrillex Poo Bear Sirota	3:20
4.	"Someone I Used to Know"	Brown Shawn Mendes Niko Moon Andrew Watt Ben Simonetti	Watt Happy Perez	3:29
5.	"Me and the Boys in the Band"	Brown Clay Cook Luke Laird	Brown Bowles Poo Bear	4:40
6.	"Finished What We Started" (featuring Brandi Carlile)	Brown Johan Carlsson Savan Kotecha Max Martin Peter Svensson	Poo Bear Martin	3:35
7.	"God Given"	Brown Carlsson Kotecha Svensson	Brown Carlsson Martin	2:51
8.	"Warrior"	Brown DeRoberts Alexander Oliver	Brown DeRoberts	3:21
9.	"Shoofly Pie"	Tyler Greenwell Chris Wood Oliver Wood	Brown DeRoberts	3:37
10.	"Already on Fire"	Brown Carlsson Kotecha Svensson	Brown Carlsson	2:57
11.	"Leaving Love Behind"	Brown Bowles Cook Phil Hanseroth Tim Hanseroth Jimmy de Martini	Brown Matt Mangano	3:54
Total length:				37:39

Personnel

[10] Zac Brown Band

• Zac Brown – lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
• Coy Bowles – electric guitar, electric slide guitar, Hammond organ
• Clay Cook – background vocals, clavinet, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric slide guitar, Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ, Mellotron, pedal steel guitar, piano, tambourine, Wurlitzer
• Daniel de los Reyes – percussion
• Jimmy De Martini – acoustic guitar, background vocals, banjo, cello, electric guitar, violin
• Chris Fryar – drums
• John Driskell Hopkins – background vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo
• Matt Mangano – acoustic and electric bass guitars, Moog bass, acoustic guitar

Additional musicians

Brandi Carlile – vocals on "Finish What We Started” Colette Carlson – background vocals Johan Carlsson – arranger, bass guitar, clapping, drum programming, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Hammond organ, percussion, piano, solina, synthesizer, tambourine, background vocals Andrew DeRoberts – acoustic guitar, drum programming, electric guitar, keyboards, synthesizer bass, background vocals, wurlitzer Michael Engstrom – upright bass Phil Hanseroth – acoustic guitar, background vocals Tim Hanseroth – acoustic guitar, background vocals Luke Laird – drum programming Tove Lo – background vocals

Max Martin – background vocals Shawn Mendes – background vocals Doris Sanberg – background vocals Don Satchmo – Roland TR-808 Sasha Sirota – background vocals, drum programming Skrillex – electric guitar, keyboards, drum programming Peter Svensson – nylon string guitar Ryan Tedder – background vocals Andrew Watt – drum programming

Production

Brandon Bell – engineer, mixing Cory Bice – engineer Michael H. Brauer – mixing Johan Carlsson – producer Alex Chapman – photography Clay Cook – engineer, producer Dan Davis – Assistant engineer, engineer Andrew DeRoberts – engineer, producer DJ Riggins – mixing assistant Serban Ghenea – mixing Chad Gibson – art direction John Hanes – mixing assistant Sam Holland – engineer John Driskell Hopkins – engineer Jaycen Joshua – mixing Shivani Kapoor – art direction, design Peter Karlsson – vocal producer Dave Kutch – mastering Paul Lamalfa – engineer Nicole Larson – vocal coach

Jeremy Lertola — engineer Victor Lopes – photography Matt Mangano – engineer, producer, production coordination Max Martin – producer Michael Mechling – mixing assistant Happy Perez – producer Diego Pernia – art direction, photography Poo Bear – producer Fernando Reyes – mixing assistant Jacob Richards – mixing assistant Andy Sapp – photography Mike Seaburg – mixing assistant F. Reid Shippen — mixing Sasha Sirota – engineer, producer Skrillex – engineer, producer Ryan Tedder – producer Matt Tinsley – art direction Andrew Watt – producer Preston Tate White – assistant engineer Evan Wilber – assistant engineer

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2019) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 29 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[12] 39 Scottish Albums (OCC)[13] 10 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] 69 UK Albums (OCC)[15] 78 UK Country Albums (OCC)[16] 2 US Billboard 200[7] 2 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[17] 1 US Independent Albums (Billboard)[18] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2019) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[19] 44

References

1. "Album Review: Zac Brown Band's 'The Owl'". Sounds Like Nashville. September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
2. "Zac Brown Band Gets Adventurous on New Album 'The Owl'". Radio.com. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
3. Pip Elwood Hughes. "Zac Brown Band – The Owl album review". Entertainment Focus. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
4. Whitaker, Sterling (July 26, 2019). "Zac Brown Band Reveal Details For Upcoming Sixth Album, 'The Owl'". Taste of Country. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
5. Hudak, Joseph (August 23, 2019). "Hear Zac Brown Band Rap, Roll on New Party Jam 'Need This'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
6. "The Owl". AllMusic. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
7. Caulfield, Keith (September 29, 2019). "Post Malone's 'Hollywood's Bleeding' Nets Third Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart; Zac Brown Band & Blink-182 Debut at Nos. 2 & 3". Billboard. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
8. Bjorke, Matt (March 10, 2020). "Top 10 Country Albums Pure Sales Chart: March 9, 2020". RoughStock. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
9. "The Owl credits". istandardproducers.com. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
10. "Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
11. "Australiancharts.com – Zac Brown Band – The Owl". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
12. "On The Charts: September 30, 2019". FYIMusicNews. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
13. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
14. "Swisscharts.com – Zac Brown Band – The Owl". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
15. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
16. "Official Country Artists Albums Chart Top 20". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
17. "Zac Brown Band Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
18. "Zac Brown Band Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
19. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2019". Billboard. Retrieved July 13, 2020.