Who Is Zach John King? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

Full name – Zach John King
Birthdate – 03/25/1997
Hometown – Fayetteville, Georgia
Current city – Nashville, Tennessee
Musical influences – George Jones, Otis Redding, The Police, Third Eye Blind, Switchfoot, Biz Markie
Label – Sony Music Nashville
Current Project – Slow Down EP (out 5/23) (as of date of article: 5/19/2025)

Today’s spotlight shines on an artist that is making waves in country music. Zach John King is a name you are going to want to remember! The singer-songwriter has the talent of a seasoned veteran. As he embarks on the release of his EP, Slow Down, out this Friday, we chatted with the singer about where’s he’s been and where he’s going!

“I grew up in a town called Fayetteville, Georgia. My grandparents, my first memory of music in general was my Nana had a little radio in her kitchen cabinet and every time she cooked, she turned on anything basically from 1980s down in country music,” shared the singer, reminiscing about his childhood.

Those early movements introduced him to artists like Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, and even later on, Travis Tritt. “Being from Georgia, if you’re growing up there, that’s all you listen to kind of non-stop, and I think for me, growing up on it, it was a beautiful thing,”

Instinctively country music memorized the singer, who gravitated towards the storytelling aspect of the genre at an early age. “My family has some poets. […] My grandma instead of journaling would write some super simple poetry about their travels like rhymed poetry, so I had that in my family DNA already. A family of writers. […] I would read their poems, and I would figure out how to read rhyme, so that was really cool, and then I think in school, I was terrible at math, I was terrible at most subjects, but the literature, English side of thing always came easy to me, and then when you move to Nashville, a town of the best of the best, you really have to learn the discipline of it. It’s a job, and it’s still very inspiring, but you also have to show up everyday and get better at it. It’s one of the most fun parts of it.”

The Turning Point:

Despite loving country music, like many kids, King wanted to to forge his own path, separate from his roots in country. “By the time I got to high-school, it was sort of what I had always known, so there was a part of me that wanted d to do something different, so I fell in love with indie-rock. I was trying to get away from the hometown and my grandparents music, and I kind of abandoned it in this weird identity-crisis mode in high-school, which I think everybody goes through.”

While in high-school, the singer-songwriter formed an indie-rock band, gravitating towards the likes of artists like Kings of Leon, The Strokes, and Radiohead. “I started a band in high-school like everybody does. It was an Indie Rock band with my buddies from back home. We started playing graduation parties, and then we all went to separate colleges in separate states, but I couldn’t get away from writing music, so I would write a bunch of music, and then during our Christmas break, we’d learn it all and recorded it, and put it out on an EP.”

This led King to move to Athens, Georgia to take the band more seriously. “We cut our teeth for basically three years playing the clubs and indie route circuits,” began the singer, “And then COVID hit, and at that point, I had really fallen back in love with country music, and where I came from. It was kind of a perfect storm because I realized if I’m going to make this thing a career then I have to move and actually do it, and that meant Nashville.”

King got a job on Broadway waiting tables, and started to make connections in Music City, ready to pursue his dream. “I quit my job, and I got a job waiting tables on Broadway. Didn’t know anybody, and it just kind of started from there. And I tell everybody that if you feel like you can’t get a way from that calling, if you feel like you can’t quit daydreaming about it, your probably need to try it and really go for it. For me that’s what it was. I just couldn’t get away from music. I tried four different careers, jobs, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

Today:

Flash forward to today, King is a Sony Music Nashville recording artist with a bright future in country music. He has seamlessly blended his love for traditional country with the sounds of indie rock, creating a true sound that is all his own. “The beauty of country music among all the beautiful things about it. The best thing is the storytelling. We focus on the best storytelling lyrics we can build, but musically speaking, maybe we throw in some non-traditional instruments there or maybe the cadence of the song isn’t a typical country song. […] I feel like I’m carving my own lane, and it’s taken some time, but I feel really strongly that we’re landing on some stuff that really feels like me and no-one else.”

As he grows his catalog, the singer is releasing his EP Slow Down this Friday, featuring songs like, “I Deserve A Heartbreak” and “Cold Shoulder.” While the EP features six songs, the process for choosing the songs took a lot of thought and honesty. “At the point of picking the EP, we had thirty songs to pick from and we had to little wittle them down to six,” shared King.

“It was about how do we pick the ones that tell a complete story about who I am because if you listen top to bottom of this project, we wanted to treat this thing like an album, where if you listen through, you get a full picture and a full story of who I am. […] We wanted to put my mistakes in there, what I’ve done wrong in relationships, my healthy relationships, who I love, where I’m from, and kind of color up the whole project, so when you listen you get this guy, you connect with this guy because there’s a lot of common ground out there.”

The EP is sure to make fans new and old flock to the singer in droves; however, King is showing no signs of slowing down in 2025. “We’re putting more music out. It’s going to be a non-stop summer of music. […] The goal of this EP is for you to get to know me, and then the stuff coming after that is my favorite stuff that I’ve ever done. It feels very focused, and I’m really excited about it. We’re not slowing down,” he shared, adding, “We’re going to keep fueling the fire and building this thing.” Stay tuned!

Connect:

To keep up with Zach John King follow him on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Zach John King’s music is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.