Zac Brown breaks free on 'Uncaged'

'Uncaged' is the third studio album by Southern rockers the Zac Brown Band. Check out tracks 'The Wind,' 'Goodbye in Her Eyes,' 'Natural Disaster' and 'Day That I Die.' (Credit: Southern Ground/Atlantic)

• Album: Uncaged
• Artist: Zac Brown Band
• Release date: Jul. 11, 2012
• Download: The Wind, Goodbye in Her Eyes, Natural Disaster, Day That I Die (with Amos Lee)

Zac Brown Band, Uncaged
* * * * (out of four) COUNTRY

Depending on how you choose to look at it, the Zac Brown Band is the most creative act in country music right now or one of the best Southern-rock bands ever. Brown and his merry cohorts would probably be happy with either designation, and that's part of their appeal: They're comfortable in many musical worlds.

Most country acts find a successful formula, then stick pretty closely to it. Uncaged, Brown's third major-label studio set, is just all over the place, a big, happy, sprawling musical celebration that encompasses square-dance and samba rhythms, California country-rock and sultry Southern soul. In 2010, You Get What You Give had Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett as featured guests. This time, the band collaborates with go-to New Orleans brass man Trombone Shorty and folk-rock troubadour Amos Lee.

For folks who value musicianship as much as musical craft, there's nobody better, especially on fiddle-and-fingerpicking fests such as The Wind and Natural Disaster. And for a country band that draws so many fans who don't really like country, they stick to pretty traditional themes: songs about living, loving and dying, with the chops to back them up. "I believe that I was born with a song inside of me," Brown sings on Day That I Die. "Never questioned why; I just kept on chasing that melody."

>Download:The Wind, Goodbye in Her Eyes, Natural Disaster, Day That I Die (with Amos Lee)

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