His new album, The Great American Bar Scene, 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. This can lead to exciting new lyrical territory for him, like on “Oak Island,” a tightly wound character song about a railroad worker whose brother’s gotten into trouble with some boys from New Jersey. His protagonist, Mickey, also appears on the title track—this time as a nod to malt liquor—in a story that starts off with getting played by a bookie from Philly, winds through a police chase in Cheyenne, and ends with swaying to Johnny Cash with some sweet young thing under neon lights. In the background, you can hear the ambient sound of balls clanking in a game of pool, timed to the strums of the guitar.