Zac Brown Band - Greatest Hits So Far... (2014)

Greatest Hits So Far has a simple title and a simple execution: it rounds up the 14 singles the Zac Brown Band released between 2008 and 2013, presenting them in chronological order and containing no bonus material. There are a lot of hits here -- "Chicken Fried," "Toes," "Highway 20 Ride," "Free," "As She's Walking Away," "Colder Weather," "Knee Deep," and "Keep Me in Mind" all hit number one on Billboard's country charts, and most of the rest made it into the Top 10 -- and when they're combined in a collection, the overall effect is to push ZBB away from their (deserved) jam band associations and into the realm of sturdy craftsmen. Brown and his chief co-writer Wyatt Durette have a knack for full-blooded yet sensitive melodies reminiscent of the golden age of singer/songwriters, with many of the best songs ("Colder Weather," "As She's Walking Away") bearing an uncanny (and possibly unintended) similarity to the terrific and obscure songsmith B.W. Stevenson, along with James Taylor. This means Greatest Hits So Far underscores the band's timeless qualities: in addition to being a great live band, they're a hell of a singles band, too, creating songs that withstand hundreds of plays.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo