Zach Bryan, with Ryan Bingham and Fey Fili
Hollywood producers have yet to knock on Zach Bryan’s door — so far as I know — to propose a big-budget biopic about this 30-year-old U.S. Navy veteran turned exceedingly unlikely country-music superstar and Grammy Award-winner.
But that should be only matter of time. And when the time comes, Bryan’s real-life story won’t need any alterations or embellishments to be ready for feature film treatment.
Born in Okinawa, Japan, to parents who were both in the Navy, Bryan enlisted at 17 and served for eight years as an aviation ordinance man. He was stationed in Florida and Washington state and did tours of duty in Bahrain and Djibouti.
His musical breakthrough came in 2020 when Bryan — who was still on active duty at the time — made an iPhone recording of his song, “Heading South,” at a Florida hotel (not, as urban legend has it, at a Navy barracks). The song went viral on TikTok and YouTube, creating enough buzz for Bryan to be signed by Warner Bros. Records a year later.
“Heading South” has now passed the 900-million mark on Spotify. His first release for Warner, 2022’s “American Heartbreak,” is a three-album set with 34 songs. By the time Bryan made his San Diego debut with a sold-out show at Petco Park’s Gallagher Square in 2022, he was the biggest new country-music star to break through since Chris Stapleton in 2015.
Bryan is not a great singer or lead guitarist like Stapleton, or a genre-upending musical subversive like Tyler Childers. But his sturdy, well-crafted songs are concise, eloquent and exude his earnestness and rugged, affectation-free charm.
His frills-free singing and no-nonsense lyrics have a winning warmth and resonance. And when he and his band kick into high gear on songs like “Overtime,” “Motorcycle Drive By” and his concert-closing “Revival,” you can feel the musical and emotional propulsion.
Bryan is a homespun storyteller and, like Bruce Springsteen (whose music seems foundational to Bryan), a champion of the underdog whose second album is entitled “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.” Bryan’s 2023 ballad, “I Remember Everything” — an aching duet with Kacey Musgraves — has the distinction of having simultaneously topped the national Billboard pop, country and hot rock/alterative charts.
This interview-shunning troubadour also has the distinction of being the only chart-topping U.S. Navy veteran to be publicly slammed by the Department of Homeland Security. His alleged offense was daring to critique divisive, soul-sapping government policies in his poignant 2025 song, “Bad News.”
It includes such searing lines as: I heard the cops came / Cocky (expletives), ain’t they? / And ICE is gonna come bust down your door / Try to build a house no one builds no more / But I got a telephone/ Kids are all scared and all alone… The middle finger’s rising / And it won’t stop showing / Got some bad news / The fading of the red, white and blue.“
This weekend, Bryan will become the first artist to headline two back-to-back concerts at Snapdragon Stadium — and the first to perform there with an in-the-round stage setup. His recent concerts have averaged 23 songs each, including “Burn Burn Burn,” his 2022 ballad that was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s famed 1957 novel, “On The Road.”
Not coincidentally, in May Bryan bid more than $12 million at an auction to acquire the original manuscripts for Kerouac’s two most famous books, “On the Road” and “The Dharma Bums.” He donated both to the Massachusetts-based Jack Kerouac Center, which will be housed in a former church in Kerouac’s hometown of Lowell. Bryan bought the former church last year specifically for that purpose. His concerts may not be a religious experience, but they are uplifting and then some.
6:30 p.m. Friday, July 31, and Saturday. Snapdragon Stadium, 2101 Stadium Way, Mission Valley. $168.20-$465.20. ticketmaster.com
The recently reactivated Chicago-bred band Tortoise will perform at the Belly Up. (File photo)
Tortoise, with Coffin Prick
Formed in Chicago in 1991, Tortoise is a band whose albums and concerts have consistently and joyously defied categorization, despite being lumped in with the amorphous “post-rock” scene.
Equal parts experimental, dub reggae, jungle, jazz, musique concrète, funk, rock, classical minimalism and more, Tortoise’s all-embracing music delights with its constant shape-shifting and real-time recontextualizing.
The group last fall released “Touch,” its first new album in nine years. Lilting one moment, appealingly off-kilter and almost shell-shockingly abrasive the next, the album paints vivid soundscapes that never go where you expect and are all the more memorable as a result.
8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1. Belly Up, 143 South Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach. $44.30 (must be 21 or older to attend). ticketweb.com
Judy Collins is bringing her extended farewell tour to Humphreys Concerts by the Bay in San Diego. (Sam Hough)
Judy Collins “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: Farewell,” with Amanda Shires
Judy Collins isn’t exactly rushing into retirement at 87.
But this storied singer, songwriter and author has announced she will step back from extensive touring, at least after her current concert trek concludes in late 2027. Then comes “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes — Celebration Encore,” a series of special encore performances.
By the time she celebrates her 90th birthday in 2029, it won’t be too surprising if Collins decides to extend her tour.
Either way, the opportunity to hear her sing and share stories is always welcome. And when Collins digs deep into “Send In The Clowns,” one of her signature numbers, goosebumps may result. Be sure to arrive early for Amanda Shires’ opening set.
7:30 p.m. Aug. 6. Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. $79.15. humphreysconcerts.com