Zach Stone Interview by Preshias Harris
for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show
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 thematic thread running through them.
We sat down to talk just as CMA Fest was
wrapping up.
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. 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.’
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. 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.
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.
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.
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Keep up with Zach at his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/zachstonecountry
Watch the music video that Zach Stone
created for his power balled, ‘Four Letter Word’ at YouTube here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPjHlJBCiPA
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