Funds raised by a yet-to-be released song from Zach Bryan's recently-completed album will benefit his fellow veterans.
"Every cent of profit made from the song 'El Dorado' on the new album will be going to McCaffrey's 22 and Troops foundation," Bryan Tweeted on Sunday (Aug. 6). "Thank you for your service to every woman and man who struggles every single day, you're seen and cared for and respected."
Per its website, 22 and Troops was founded by San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and "focuses on helping our U.S. active-duty military, veterans and frontline workers overcome trauma and PTSD. Many veterans have returned home from war, but they've never truly come back."
On Oct. 14, 2021, Bryan shared personal news on social media. He'd been honorably discharged from the Navy so he could embrace his inevitable future as a music megastar.
"If it was my decision, I would never get out of the world's greatest Navy, but here I am and they kindly honorably discharged me to go play some music," he wrote in Instagram. "Can't tell if I'm a coward or if I'm chasing a dream but regardless, the best eight years of my life were spent serving the best country in the whole damn world. Thank you guys and I'll see you on tour."
Details are scarce for the album, beyond two social media clues: Bryan finished it in Toronto back in July and teased an August release.
It'll be the follow-up to 2022's American Heartbreak, which set the first-day streaming mark among country albums released in 2022 on both Spotify and Apple Music. Even though its length — 34 songs that total right over two hours — did inflate the numbers some, those are still jaw-dropping figures for a major label debut album that sounds far from mainstream.
Of course, it takes memorable songs to achieve such numbers. American Heartbreak doesn't sacrifice quality for quantity, with "Heavy Eyes," "Highway Boys," "Sun to Me" and "Late July" among the well-crafted stories that are still winning over repeat listeners.
