“As She’s Walking Away” : Zac Brown Band Feat. Alan Jackson

In August of 2010, the Zac Brown Band gave fans the first taste of their second major-label studio album, You Get What You Give, by releasing “As She’s Walking Away” as the record’s first single. Songwriter Wyatt Durrette and Zac Brown co-wrote the tune. The track became the ZBB’s fourth consecutive and fifth overall No. 1 single in November of 2010; it also peaked just outside the Top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (No. 32).

Songs become more countrified with Alan Jackson

John Driskell Hopkins, who plays bass guitar in the band, suggested that Alan Jackson should be included as a duet partner on it because he thought that “it would get a great, different kind of fan base for us.” Both Zac Brown Band and Jackson are produced by Keith Stegall. On August 24, 2010, an exclusive CD single was released featuring “As She’s Walking Away” along with the studio version of “Colder Weather” for the first time.

Jackson explained how he ended up singing on the chart-topping duet.

“Zac, that’s his song, and he was just kind enough to ask me to come sing on it, a little bit. I’m from Georgia originally, and so is Zac. After he hit, we just kind of met a time or two. He actually played some shows with me on the road. He’s just a real guy, real musician and songwriter-singer. That’s why I like him, and I think he feels the same way about me. He was just nice enough to ask me to be on that song, because he was a fan, and [it was a] real treat to be on there. Cool song he wrote, and we shot a little video. He’s a nice fella.”

Jackson surprised Brown with the gift of a 1966 Cadillac El Dorado when the pair performed at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on December 2010. The present was a cool way for Jackson to say thanks to Brown for including him on the #1 hit.

The songwriting

Co-writer Wyatt Durrette revealed that the idea came when he and Zac went to a bar in Orlando, Florida to watch a UFC fight. Durrette said that while they were watching the fight a guy and a girl walked in and she stared at him all night. Durrette said that she was “a beautiful girl, but she had her boyfriend with her, so I obviously wasn’t going to say or do anything. We kind of spoke all night from across the room, but didn’t say anything to each other.” Durrette said that Zac had the idea of bringing the wise man into it and turning it into the older man at the bar who’s a much wiser man, giving you advice.

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