With zero money coming in, the cash tanks drying up and no gigs for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus pandemic, Zac Brown has been forced to make the heartwrenching move to let go of his crew.
Brown told of his tough decision in a personal video, shared from his Instagram account.
“It was a hard day today. For the last 15 years my crew who I carry with me out on the road to play my shows and do what we do, I’ve had to let go of about 90 percent,” says Brown, holding back tears.
Describing his entourage as “my family,” he praises them as “the people I travel with and do my business with and the people I high-five on the way out to the stage and the people who have done all their jobs, and done them well.”
But with the global health crisis reshaping everyone’s day-to-day life, and taking a particularly heavy toll on the live music industry, Brown made the call. “I can’t generate out there and I can’t tour,” he explained.
The decision was taken just days after Zac Brown Band postponed the spring 2020 leg of their The Owl tour “This was an extremely difficult decision, but the well-being of our fans is always our top priority,” they wrote in a post last week.
In the latest message, Brown warns his fellow Americans to take action. “The longer that America doesn’t take this seriously and doesn’t stay in and try to contain this, the longer that everyone will be without jobs. The longer will be pushing into this recession that we’re all about to enter into.”
The outbreak is “just starting to rear its head, you need to wake up, stay indoors and try to socially distance itself,” he insists.
Brown also calls out “leadership” and calls on his compatriots to do their bit to limit the effects of the health emergency.
“We’re late to the game. I’m pretty ashamed of the way that our leadership has handled all of this,” he continues. “I’m pretty ashamed of a lot of things. We can’t rely on our government to tell people what they need to do…we’re less protected than a lot of those countries (with mass infections).”
America “can heal from this,” he insists, but the hard work lies ahead. “If we’re going to get back to doing whatever we were doing before this hit, everyone’s got to take this seriously.”
