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LAST UPDATE | 20 Jun
ZACH BRYAN IS not necessarily a household name – but he’s getting there.
The musician released his first album in 2019, coming to global success in 2022, and already he’s managed to snag three nights at the Phoenix Park – that’s a combined 180,000 people (although at the time of writing, he has not managed to sell it out).
Bryan has ascended to the spot of being the second-most listened to artist in Ireland, surpassed only by Taylor Swift. However, there seems to be a generational divide in the 29-year-old’s reach in Ireland: half of The Journal‘s newsroom had never heard of him.
So, who is he? And why has he amassed such success in Ireland?
Bryan was born in 1996 in Japan and raised in Oologah, Oklahoma in the United States. In 2013, at the age of 17, he enlisted in the US Navy, becoming an Aviation Ordnanceman – described as “enlisted sailors that serve as aircraft armament specialists charged with handling weapons”.
In 2016, his mother passed away. The following year, in 2017, he began uploading self-produced music to YouTube, and in 2019, he released his first album, DeAnn, which was dedicated to his late mother. He had his first concert that October.
In 2020, he released his second album, which was also self-produced. He married Rose Madden, who also served in the Navy, that same year.
Eight years after joining the Navy, he signed a deal with Warner Records and subsequently was formally discharged to pursue his music career full-time in 2021. He also got divorced from Rose Madden.
The song most people will be familiar with from Bryan is ‘Something in the Orange’. This was released in 2022 and propelled him into the mainstream music scene. To this day, the song has over 1.25 billion streams on Spotify. If that’s not ringing a bell, ‘I Remember Everything’ with Kacey Musgraves has over 1.1 billion streams on the same platform.
The latter song also took Bryan and his collaborator home a Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group performance in 2024.
In the end of 2023, he was arrested for refusing to comply with a police officer after he and his security guard were pulled over for alleged speeding.
Bryan gained more – negative – traction online with the end of his relationship with influencer Brianna LaPaglia (also known as Brianna Chickenfry) in late 2024. LaPaglia has millions of followers across a number of TikTok accounts and Instagram, and is the host of a popular podcast. The two parted ways on bad terms and LaPaglia later alleged emotional abuse had resulted in the end of the relationship.
As of now, he has released five studio albums, and is embarking on his tour ‘Quittin’ Time’. His Spotify claims that this is “his last tour ever”, although no other formal announcement appears to have been made.
Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions, which is tasked with promoting Byran’s Irish shows, told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday that Bryan has “come from nowhere”.
“His songs are about heartbreak and loss and all the things that people don’t like talking about any more,” he said.
“Maybe [those] in Dublin aren’t aware of him, but people outside Dublin are very well aware of him,” Aiken added, describing him as the “real deal” and “not country per se, but very Springsteen.”
Bryan’s last performance in Dublin was in 2023, when he played the comparatively humble Helix.
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“However, there seems to be a generational divide in the 29-year-old’s reach in Ireland: half of The Journal‘s newsroom had never heard of him.”
Well, that’s not surprising. Alot of the media are totally out of touch with the ordinary Irish man and woman.
@Laois Weather: 3 nights in the Park, they must be expecting a lot of people from the UK and elsewhere to travel.
@Gary Kearney: I doubt there would be many traveling to Dublin from outside the island of Ireland owing to the ripp-off cost of hotel rooms, eating out and drinks.
Cheapest hotel room tonight is €549 for one night. https://ie.hotels.com/Hotel-Search?destination=Dublin%2C%20Ireland®ionId=1069&latLong=53.349804%2C-6.26031&flexibility=0_DAY&d1=2025-06-20&startDate=2025-06-20&d2=2025-06-21&endDate=2025-06-21&adults=2&rooms=1&sort=PRICE_LOW_TO_HIGH&useRewards=false&categorySearch=&upsellingDiscountTypeAdded=&semdtl=&userIntent=&theme=&upsellingNumNightsAdded=&isInvalidatedDate=false
@Laois Weather: hotels were full capacity between the concert and the Lions game so of course the price on the day for a room would be astronomical
@Laois Weather: Yet they do, millions of them each month!
another culchie invasion.
Rural Ireland has poxy taste in music.
@Alan OConnor: Not all of it.
@Brendan O’Brien: I sooner have a culchie invasion of Dublin,than what’s actually walking around the streets of Dublin at the moment.
@Niall English: not enough white people for your liking?
@Niall English: Well if you live in some town without even a set of traffic lights Dublin would look very strange to you!
@Alan OConnor: True, but can not be all Aslan fans (actually they are very popular in culchie towns )
@Niall English: Why would you ever walk Moore Street or Parnell? Perfectly possible to get to Henry Street and O’Connell Street by avoiding those kips. They were always kips . Poor people? Good god no. Plenty of native skangers still lurk about
@John finn: They took er jerbs!
@Niall English: predominantly white, when you discount tourists
@Alan OConnor: Excellent stuff. We might make some parts of Dublin less dangerous for a weekend.
@John finn:
Brilliant, comment of the week, the month in fact! Hopefully all those ‘culchies’ have a great time at the concert then get the hell out of the 3rd world dump ASAP!
@Brian Dunne:
Yeah, funnily enough! As a Western European capital you’d expect to see predominantly white Irish people around the streets but for some reason that’s not the case anymore! If you went to India wouldn’t you see predominantly Indian people,and wouldn’t that be considered perfectly normal? So what’s different about Ireland,pray tell?
@Gary Kearney:
Yeah,but it’s probably a town where you can find your own place to live, and aren’t still in your parents boxroom? But hey,I’m sure it’s worth it for all that wonderful ‘diversity ‘ up in the big smoke!
@Alan OConnor: He’s American!
@Alan OConnor: Dublin is an unmitigated s.h1thole!
@Lulu: Like your bedroom.
@Niall English:
@Niall English: we are all the better for you leaving too! Smell a $hite
@Jonn: stay out of it then mucksavage! Smell off ya
@Seamus Dunne:
The self-loathing is strong in this one! I’m guessing you’ve been to University, am I right?
@Brian Dunne: Dublin has been predominantly white for centuries and centuries and centuries. It will soon not be due to mass immigration. You seem to support that. The only extremist here is you. You Neo Marxists are a cancer on this planet.
@Alan OConnor: that’s completely untrue. Just as many tone deaf West Brits.
@Gary Kearney: Dublin has become an unbearable Kip.
I genuinely miss the way Dublin used to be.
@Val O’Connell: There is a half made plan to create a small Chinatown on Parnell Street down to Capel Street!
@Joe Willis: Neo Marxists, give it a rest!
No need to drag his personal life or politics into it ,he’s a musician.
Birthday pressie for my 10 year old. The whole family is heading to it. Don’t mind his music (even though I live in culchie-land), far prefer rock and metal but for our girl, we are doing this. His tunes are okay.
I’ve heard his name but can’t say I’ve ever heard one of his songs.
@Gearoid MacEachaidh: Ah right ok.
I’m going to the zoo that day.
@p gert: Dail Eireann is it? Lol
@p gert: Parnell st?
Well we know where all the president of peace gombeens will be. Dragging their knuckles on the long walk into phoenix park.
@FoxyBoiiYT: or maybe just country music fan ?
@FoxyBoiiYT: maybe they’re just going for the music, you know nor everything is about Trump. He’s living in your head rent free tho !!!
@Henry Gavin: I didn’t see any MAGA hats at the gig ??
This fella is a decent musician. Been listening to himself, Colter Wall and Tyler Childers the past couple of years. Childers and especially Colter Wall are on a different level. Nice to see good music making a comeback.
Bryan’s not bad, but the band anyone who’s going should check out are one if the support acts, Turnpike Troubadours. They are well worth a look and write some really good stuff. I can’t make it, but if I could , it’d be to see these guys. Lash on a playlist in the car on the way up, you won’t regret it. Enjoy everyone, safe travels.
@Ronan Hayes: I had heard some of their stuff in the past but they were excellent live. They got a great reaction from the crowd considering not many would have been familiar with them. Opening with The Bird Hunters was something else
He is the best thing to Willie Nelson in years, a real talent
@VMJ7Fa78: Not fit to light Willies joint
@VMJ7Fa78: BUSTER the troll strikes again talking sh!te
@Kieran Fitzgerald: come on now I suggest you listen! Will be a great festival of music in the park with this glorious weather
He’s no Jimmy Buckley!
@Alan Kennedy: Definitely no Declan Nerney or Mick Flavin either . Even that light weight Nathan Carter would wipe the floor with him
What’s the script with this country’s obsession with Country Music?
@Tezmond McVicar: agreed. It’s stomach churning rubbish about pick up trucks and the long dusty road west.
@Brian Keville: enjoy your modern pop like Dua Lipa and Lizzo
Delighted to see that a horrible knaquer had his case for ‘discrimination’ against a shop throw out. Dirty scourge is all they are.
@Henry Gavin: Now that would be illegal.
There are rules on how much can be paid in loose coin. if it bagged coin in set amounts it can be weighed as the weights are known. Regular way people pay their bills in the post office!
Knew nowt about him until I heard Andrea Woods harping on about him skimmed through this article so still no nowt about him. I’m happy out.
CraZy stuff, a musician sells out 3 nights in Dublin and the media do a little hatchet job on him as he’s not the woke type.
what is it with culchies and Yankee Wankee music?
@Mr Sparkle:
What is it with self-loathing libtards who despise everything about their own history and heritage?
@Mr Sparkle:
@Mr Sparkle: let me guess, urban multicultural community with high crime rate?
@Jonn: any form of goes against their neo Marxist ideology. ‘Culchie’ areas are 99% white. It’s like a nightmare for the left.
@Mr Sparkle: Country music originated with Irish and Scots settlers in the USA. People generally like the rhythm of it and the stories told by it.
Wouldn’t give leo the steam off my sh#t. He is a tra itor and I’m not allowed to say what I would do to him if we crossed paths.
I personally love some vaseleine and a few smacks on the buttocks
have your say