Zach John King Shares How He Landed Brooks & Dunn on His Latest Single, Reveals What He’s Learned from the Duo (Exclusive)

Zach John King never doubted if he wanted Brooks & Dunn on his new single. He was unsure, however, if the legendary country duo would agree to lend their voices to “Way to Go.”

“We were trying to figure out how to elevate each song higher than it could have been just by me singing on it, and so y’all did that,” he told Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, minutes before each artist took the stage.

In a conversation with American Songwriter, King admitted “it was a huge ask” to nab the pair—”It’s Brooks & Dunn!” he said with barely contained awe–but the fact that they were label mates helped.

“We had coffee one morning in January. I just talked their ear off for an hour,” King said, before Dunn revealed that he gave the young star advice on how to make money, keep money, stay humble, and hang on for dear life through it all.

After that first meeting, King said “it really was just developing a relationship” with the men.

As soon as the duo heard the track, Dunn recalled, “We said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ Then away we went.”

Zach John King Praises Brooks & Dunn

Brooks & Dunn’s quick yes to the ask goes back to their own experience as a young act. At the time, artists like Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and Kris Kristofferson extended them the same courtesy.

“The thing that I found that was most enlightening was running down my heroes… people I was scared to death to even talk to,” Brooks said. “… Everybody treated me with a lot of respect, and I didn’t have anything going on… The old pros, if they recognize something in you, it makes you feel good.”

In addition to the song, King has spent time with the men while opening up for Morgan Wallen on tour. That experience only increased King’s awe over the duo.

“What stuck out being on tour with y’all was, not only the relevance that y’all have across ages, which is insane and rare, but the sustainability and how good your live show is,” he said. “It really blew me away. That to me was like, ‘OK, how do I want to model a 20, 30, 40 year career’… I think that was one of the better shows I’ve ever seen. It hooked me.”

Now, King is gearing up to release his debut album, I’m What You Get. The LP is due out Aug. 28, and will be followed by King’s first-ever headlining tour.

“I just wanted it to be a full picture of who I am,” King said. “I feel like a debut album from a new artist can be one of two things. It can be a really big swing and trying to make it a statement. It can also be just a collection of singles that the label wanted to put together and put out. I really wanted to avoid that.”

“For me, it’s a chance for people that maybe already listened to me to really get a clear picture on who I am—the good, the bad, and the ugly, all of it,” he continued. “For people that haven’t heard me, I think a lot of those songs will turn heads in a way where you’ll kind of like tilt back and go, ‘Oh, this is really sick.’”

Photo by Brenton Giesey