Zac Brown is aware of the many sacrifices made by service members and their families. It’s why he meets with veterans before his shows and honors them onstage.
“They’re such incredible people,” Brown told Fox News Digital. “Their stories are so inspiring, and getting to bring them up on stage and share just a moment of gratitude with them for that entire crowd, and everyone in the crowd cheering them on and just reminding them that all of their sacrifices are appreciated. I have lots of friends that are in the military. I’ve lived with a lot of them over the years, and they’re just really, truly incredible people. They have the ultimate servant’s heart.”
On Memorial Day, Brown will be honored at the American Music Awards by the Easy Day Foundation with the inaugural Veterans Voice Award for his “unwavering support to the veteran community.”
“This award means a lot to me because of the awareness that it’s going to create for our veterans programs,” Brown explained to Fox News Digital. “The more people that are aware of how deserving that these incredible people are, the more help that we can bring to them.
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“They’re such incredible, dynamic people that make a lot of sacrifices from their family, the quality of their family life when they return home, their mental wellness, all of those things so that we can be free and able to be here.”
Brown says many people don’t even think of the sacrifices made by service members “just so we can live in such an amazing country where we feel safe. It’s an honor and privilege to get to serve them back.”
The country star founded a camp in Georgia that serves veterans and children more than a decade ago.
“We do 34 weeks of veteran programs,” he told Fox News Digital. “We serve Bernie Marcus’ program Warrior Path at our camp. We were one of the first campuses to be chosen to serve their program. They help with transition to and from service and help serve those with PTSD and other challenges that they find when they come home. And they help them find community and purpose and what their new chapter is going to be like.”
The camp also has the Warrior Song program through which “we help them to tell their story, which they may not be comfortable telling a civilian. But they get to tell their story with some amazing talented songwriters so that they can sing their story or can play it back to someone and help to share that part of them and get it out of the shadows because a lot of them carry that weight around that they’re only willing to share with other fellow soldiers.”
Camp Southern Ground also hosts a family camp, which Brown says helps service members “see their family as their unit when they come back.”
“It helps them to have tools. It helps them to be with other veterans and their families as well, and they spend time learning how to see their family as their unit and have the tools to integrate together so that they can have a successful marriage and successful parenthood so that they themselves are well,” he explained.
“I’m really, really proud of all the things that we’re doing there.”
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The Veterans Voice Award was created to highlight artists like Brown, who are using their platforms to help veterans.
The “Chicken Fried” singer says it’s difficult to single out a personal story a service member has told him because he’s heard so many amazing anecdotes.
“My friend Ollie told me a story about how he thinks about things and how he doesn’t ever want his demons to be behind him. He wants them to be chained down in front of him so he can see them and know when they’re trying to pull up and get out of their chains, and he knows that he can be aware of that,” Brown said. “It’s an everyday choice to conquer those things.”
Other veterans have also told him how much his music meant to them while they were serving.
“I’ve been over several times to play for USO, to play in Iraq and Afghanistan and Kuwait and going out to some of those Ford operating bases where they have not seen anyone that reminds them of home for a really long amount of time,” he said.
“Some of them had just lost one of their members to an (improvised explosive device), and they were painting his name on a tank when we got there.”
The band ended up filming the music video for its song “Free” at that base.
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“As soon as we got our guitars out and the speakers out, and we started playing music, it was like a light came on in their eyes and reminded them of what they’re fighting for and what they’re doing,” he explains. “The things that we ask of them. We spent 10 days over there, and they give years and years of sacrifice for our country so that we can be free here and enjoy our lives. Those stories and remembering being around those incredible people, it moves me, and it’s important to give thanks and gratitude to the people that protect us.”
It’s especially significant that Brown will be honored on Memorial Day.
“It’s important that Americans pause on Memorial Day because a lot of people have fought and died and suffered for our freedom, and I’m grateful that the American Music Awards and Easy Day Foundation are making a point of recognizing this during Monday’s event,” he said.
“People can complain about America, complain about whatever, but they haven’t gone and lived in other countries,” he added. “Most of them haven’t gone to live and see what it’s like in some of the other places in the world. In America, there are challenges with anything that you’re going to do and accomplish, but you can do things here that you cannot do anywhere else.”
He says people in the United States can “live that American dream no matter what background you’re from, no matter what your history was, to create an amazing life for yourself,” adding that veterans provide security “so that we can live the American dream.
“Getting to make music for a living is one of the greatest things in my life,” he said. “It’s such a privilege to get to do what I love to do. And I wouldn’t be able to do that if we didn’t have the freedoms here that we have and that is due to our veterans and our service people.”
Brown says his personal connections to the military go “really deep,” adding “it’s an honor getting to sit down and hear their stories,” like Joe Maynard’s story about launching a knife company.
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“My buddy Joe Hartbank, who I lived with, to Joe Maynard, who is an incredible guy. He had to do a lot of things that he still kind of suffers from at times, but seeing him find purpose and being able to be a friend for him, getting to lead him into making knives and finding new purpose into things,” he explained.
“He does all kinds of things now, but such an incredible guy.”
Hartbank gave Brown a medal he won for saving troops who were under fire in an ambush because of what Brown’s music, especially the song “Natural Disaster,” meant to him.
“It’s a privilege to get to know these people,” Brown said. “I invite anybody that has a heart for veterans and heart for kids to learn more about Camp Southern Ground. If you don’t have a higher purpose other than yourself in your life that you’re contributing to, you need to find something like this. and if you want to join forces with us, we’d love to have you.”
“It’s so much more than a camp,” he said. “It’s on a university level of quality, the build and everything like that. We’ve got an incredible staff. We learn every single year about how to be better. It’s a privilege to be recognized, but it’s a privilege to share the awareness of these things so that we can all figure out how to help each other. God bless America. God bless the people that protect us there.”
The American Music Awards’ collaboration with the Easy Day Foundation, an organization that provides support to veterans transitioning back into military life, will also include two performances and inspirational stories from active-duty service members and veterans.
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Money raised for the Easy Day Foundation will also benefit other veterans organizations across the country, including the Bob Woodruff Foundation, Boot Campaign, Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Fisher House, The Folded Flag Foundation, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Team Rubicon and UNLV’s Military and Veteran Services Center.
A portion of ticket sales will benefit the Easy Day Foundation and its partners.
A portion of audience seating at the AMAs will also be reserved for veterans.
