| The Great American Bar Scene | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Zach Bryan |
| Cover: | Zach Bryan - The Great American Bar Scene.png |
| Alt: | Several old photographs of people in bars centered against a red background. |
| Length: | 62:59 |
| Label: |
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| Prev Title: | Boys of Faith |
| Prev Year: | 2023 |
The Great American Bar Scene is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Zach Bryan, released on July 4, 2024, through Belting Bronco and Warner. The album follows just over 10 months after his self-titled 2023 album, and was preceded by the single "Pink Skies". It features guest appearances from Noeline Hofmann, John Moreland, John Mayer, and Bruce Springsteen.[1]
On April 1, 2024, the website Whiskey Riff announced the release of the album for June and features from Mayer, Springsteen and the Avett Brothers as an April Fool's joke. Bryan officially announced the record the following month, with features from Mayer and Springsteen.[2]
The Great American Bar Scene received a score of 73 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on six critics' reviews, which the website categorized as "generally favorable" reception.
Billboards Melinda Newman felt that "the album feels less overstuffed than American Heartbreak, but could have still used a trim or two given the relative sameness in the sound of the tracks", although the songs "continue to deliver an emotional wallop thanks to his economical, but cinematic, trenchant lyrics".[3] Chris Willman of Variety wrote that The Great American Bar Scene "actually feels a lot less stark than last year's self-titled record did" and there is "no mistaking how much the spirit of Springsteen looms over the album, as much as it has over much of Bryan's short, meteoric career to date".[4]
Claire Shaffer of Pitchfork felt that the album "adds to the Zach Bryan formula by taking on a wider lens, weaving his personal struggles and triumphs into the greater legacy of lost souls and camaraderie found in America's watering holes". Jonathan Bernstein of Rolling Stone acclaimed Bryan's "writing that blends endearing Kerouac cosplay, Instagram poetry, and Proustian profundity, sometimes from one line to the next" on tracks that "feel like a batch of old friends largely because of Bryan's other magical gift: his knack for absorbing and transforming his many influences into something that feels uniquely his own". Country Chords Brennen Kelly wrote that "this record is not about the titular great, American bar scene but instead is about all of the stories swapped, memories made and people met there", noting that Bryan crafted narratives that would be brought up in quiet conversations at a bar.[5]
Reviewing the album for Paste, Tom Williams wrote that it "feels like a retread of Bryan's self-titled LP from last year—so much so that you wouldn't be surprised if the Oklahoman hitmaker were to announce that these songs were all B-sides from the Zach Bryan sessions". A Sputnikmusic staff review also stated that it "settle[s] into something of a familiar groove. He tries throwing John Mayer and Bruce Springsteen features into the mix, but the results are ultimately the same: more slow-to-mid tempo country crooners with results-may-vary emotional resonance". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic stated that the songs on the album "are poetic, plump with purple imagery and plaintive rhymes" and praised the collaborations with Bruce Springsteen and John Mayer. Erlewine wrote that the tracks "Sandpaper" and "Better Days" helps to pull "Bryan's aspirations into focus: where the rest of the record seems caught in its own head, these tunes have a forward motion that makes the rest of The Great American Bar Scene seem relatively bereft of musical imagination".
| Peak position | ||
| Australian Country Albums (ARIA)[6] | 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[7] | 26 | |
| US Top Rock & Alternative Albums (Billboard)[8] | 1 |