Texas singer/songwriter inspired by life’s moments
Zach Stone was in Nashville to play some dates at CMA Fest 2018. Zach is an emerging artist from Arlington, Texas. His influences range from George Strait to Jason Aldean, and his own music can move from hard-driving country rock to emotional ballads. He is currently self-releasing a series of singles and their accompanying music videos that are held together by a thematic thread running through them.
We sat down to talk just as CMA Fest was wrapping up.
This is one of a series of interviews that I conducted with rising singer/songwriters during CMA Fest to find out about their new music, their musical influences and their experience at CMA Fest.
Preshias Harris: What are some your favorite things to do with music, besides performing?
Zach Stone: Wow. Well, you really made it hard for me because my favorite thing is performing! Songwriting is a lot of fun. I really enjoy creating my own storylines, getting to tell stories and convey emotions that I’m feeling and thinking about going through. I really didn’t start doing that until I moved to Nashville about seven years ago. That’s been a new experience. The more I’ve done that, the better I’ve gotten. It’s just been super cool to keep moving forward with that. One of my other favorite things that I’m just recently discovering with our new video series that we’re doing is that music videos are so much fun.
PH: It sounds like you’re enjoying that aspect.
ZS: I love getting to shoot music videos! It’s fun to create these storylines and characters and act in them. It makes me think that one day, I’ll eventually want to do some movies. Right now I’m just focusing on each song and music video individually because each one has been ‘my baby.’
Playing for The Country Network
PH: What were some of the highlights of your first CMA Fest?
ZS: We’ve been before, but this was the first time we got so involved, doing all the interviews, and doing FanFair X. We got to do signings with Nashville Universe. That was a lot of fun. That made me want to do more signings! I would say the pinnacle moment for me was playing for The Country Network. We played a show at Nashville Underground. We just had a blast. There were tons of people there and everyone just responded well to the music. People were actually putting their phones down and jamming along and clapping along. So that just made me feel my music was special like something was just connecting with the audience.
PH: How did the song ‘Four Letter Word’ come about? And tell me about making the video.
ZS: The idea with the video was it had to be very cinematic because of the story that was being told. This was a song that I developed the concept before I had the storyline. The idea was thinking that ‘love’ is a four-letter word. My dad always joked that ‘golf’ is a four-letter word and I thought that was funny and so I just had this realization that ‘love’ is a four-letter word. I don’t swear a whole lot. It’s not in my nature. I just started thinking that there are some four-letter words out there that can hurt a lot and they’re not even the ‘bad’ ones. So I started writing those down.
PH: What were some of the words?
ZS: Words like ‘wait,’ ‘stop,’ and then I realized that even words like ‘like’ are four-letter words. So I thought ‘how many four-letter words can I put in this song?’ And so that became… ‘Baby, don’t, take, down, that, road, just, stay, here, know, that, need, your, hand, hold, said, real…’ All of a sudden, it just started falling into place. Once we had the song, I knew how I wanted the video to look and how I wanted it to work. You had to see the passage of time from the young me at the swing set on the playground with the little girl, then her mom comes and takes her away. And then when I grow up and I’m approaching her for the last time. That transition needed to be apparent and people needed to understand how all that pieces together.
‘Yet’ to happen
PH: You’re a songwriter as well as an artist. What is one of your favorite songs that you have written, and what’s the story behind it?
ZS: I have a song called ‘Yet’ that I wrote. I took a year off dating. I had just been reaching out and looking for affirmation in the relationships that I had with the girls that I was with, and that’s just not how a relationship should work. I just turned to the Lord and said I need to look to God and I need to get my strength from Him. I said I want it to be about my relationship with you, not with anybody else. It was really hard. I feel that I’m so much stronger in my faith. I feel confident doing things for myself and by myself. But He showed me my future wife. He opened my eyes to who she is and how perfect she is going to be and how absolutely in love with her I already am. I just can’t wait to meet her. I wrote a song for her and it’s called ‘Yet’ because I’m sure these things happen, I just haven’t got to them yet. All the hope is found in the word ‘Yet.’ The way the chorus ends is ‘You’re taking your sweet time and I’m hoping it’s all worth it in the end but I’d have to guess because I haven’t met you… yet.’
PH: What’s a personal happiness you get from your music?
ZS: I’m really just working towards a gold-plated swimming pool! [laughs] I feel that once I’m there, I’ll probably just move on! But seriously, my personal approach to my music is just getting to tell my story. It’s been a long road, and I feel like we all have long roads and long journeys that we go through, so I just want to tell people about mine.
Keep up with Zach at his Facebook page and watch the music video that Zach Stone created for his power balled, ‘Four Letter Word’ at YouTube here. Zach’s video for his song ‘Like I Need You’ is at YouTube here.
Note: I originally posted this story here on the European website for Country Music News International magazine and radio show.
Preshias Harrisis a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com