BREAKING THE CYCLE

Country Superstar Reveals Dark Secret Behind Every Hit

The Grammy winner had a “severe” issue.

Country star Zach Bryan has opened up about his dependence on alcohol, saying he was drunk while writing nearly every song of his career.

The 30-year-old Grammy-winning artist sat down with actor Matthew McConaughey for a candid conversation to mark his new EP, Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs, where he shared more about his journey to sobriety.

Bryan said he would drink 15 or more beers a day before and after performances, and during the writing process.

“Every hit I ever had, I was pretty much drunk when I made it. And so I had the issue of thinking I was never gonna have a good song if I wasn’t under the influence,” he said. “This is the first project I’ve ever done that I didn’t drink a lick. I wrote every word sober, and I sang every word sober. And I’ll say it took that to prove to me that I could do it. And I think the EP is pretty great.”

He said that he drank to ease his “panic” and “stage fright,” describing, “I used to think it was the perfect routine. No show could ever go bad if I did this: work out, shower, play my guitar, listen to Bon Iver, drink four beers. It eased my pain. All the stage fright I had was gone after I drank three or four beers, and I was like, ‘I can do it.’”

He continued, “Then I’d drink after the show, too. I’d wake up the next day with another show and think, ‘Well, how do I get rid of this panic, this stage fright? It’s a one-choice deal. Let’s do what we’ve always done.’ I’d drink two or three more beers.”

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Bryan told McConaughey that his drinking concerned him to the point where he had to see a doctor. “When I got in the throes of drinking f---ing 15 beers in a day, and I kept going with that cycle, I started getting these really, really severe panic attacks where my whole body went numb, and I thought I was going to have a stroke and die,” he said. The doctor he visited told him he had “a really severe thing going on.”

“I thought I was never going to get out of that. I thought that cycle was forever,” Bryan shared candidly.

He said writing his first EP sober has been a revelatory experience. “I’ve always drunk before I wrote because I thought it had some kind of magic Kerouac thing to it, putting a baseline in the thought. I thought it always bred more creativity,” said Bryan.

Bryan said he’s now “nine months into” sobriety and doesn’t think about alcohol. Ultimately, the award-winning singer said, “Quitting drinking has been really great.”

“I’ve had a lot of fun, and I don’t know, I enjoy riding again. Man, I feel this innocence like I haven’t felt since I was 17. I feel like a kid again, because I wake up and I’m ready to go,” he said. “I want to jump in the pond. I want to play with the dogs. I want to do everything.”

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Meera NavlakhaEntertainment Reporter

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