Meet the Artist Who Set An Attendance Record At T-Mobile Center

On Wednesday, August 30, 2023, the attendance record at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City was broken by Country artist Zach Bryan. According to KCTV 5, he packed 19,655 fans into the T-Mobile Center, breaking the record set by Metallica who performed in front of 19, 646 fans on March 6, 2019. So just who is Zach Bryan? Because he's certainly not someone that radio's embraced... Yet.

Zach Bryan is a singer-songwriter from the small town of Oologah, Oklahoma. He's 25 years old and served our country honorably for seven years as a member of the United States Navy. His website bio says his success is found in his raspy voice and music that mixes elements of folk, outlaw country, and a raw edge that cuts right to the bone.

Basically, he's incorporated every element in music that sends Nashville's movers and shakers into pearl-clutching mode because it's not smooth or hitting all the elements that Nashville's decision-makers think their audiences want to hear.

They've got to be freaking out right about now, that some relatively unknown artist, without the Nashville music machine behind him, has gotten big enough to leave the honkytonks and dive bars and compete with the likes of Luke Combs or Metallica, or dare I even say Taylor Swift? Okay, maybe Taylor Swift is a bit much.

According to his website bio, the song that put Zach Bryan on the map is "Heading South". Yet it wasn't just the song, it was his performance of the song captured on a cell phone outside his barracks in 95-degree heat right after he had written the song. It's an authentic real moment.

I don't know a lot more about Zach Bryan, but 19,000 fans at the T-Mobile Center can't be wrong. I liked a lot of what I heard too clicking around on YouTube. I'm sort of in this blues, singer-songwriter, outlaw country phase though, and I've always had a passing interest in this type of gritty, from the soul music so that makes sense.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a pop guy at heart, and I like a lot of what those Nashville movers and shakers send up the chart. Make no mistake about it, much of today's new Country is exactly that. Top 40 pop songs crafted in Nashville vs. LA. It's fun to listen to on the radio and it's fun to see in concert. Yet, it wouldn't hurt to occasionally throw some dirty gritty country on the Country charts either.

I'm going to go check out this guy's music, and I think you should too. Cause, I have a feeling we may be hearing from this guy for years to come. Who knows, artists like him could be the next thing that shapes the future of Country music.