Jimmy De Martini, who is is a little bit country and a little bit jamband, has shared the stage with with Gregg Allman, Robert Randolph and Warren Haynes. The violinist is a member of the Zac Brown Band, the popular country group that also has strong ties to the jamband scene.
“I think everybody in the band grew up listening to jambands,” De Martini said, “and it helps us on stage and not get stuck playing song after song after song.”
The Zac Brown Band played roughly 80 shows in 2012 in support of its latest release Uncaged. Along with De Martini on violin and the group’ s namesake on guitar and lead vocals, the ZBB also features bassist John Driskell Hopkins, percussionist Daniel de los Reyes, guitarists Coy Bowles and Clay Cook and drummer Chris Fryar
Jambands.com reached De Martini by cell phone as he was riding on the tour bus.
Let’s begin by talking about your development on the violin.
I started off playing classical music. I learned that way through public school. And when I graduated from high school I moved to Athens. There was a little jam scene going on, so I would sit-in with bands and learn how try to improvise because I didn’t know how to at the time since I was just reading sheet music. I would just try to bring my violin and sit-in with different bands and learn from guitarists. I never learned how to play the violin from violinists from that point on. I kind of learned how to solo on it like a guitarist. I joined the band The Hill and we played from 1996 to 1999. We would travel around the Southeast and that’s where I fell in love with playing music, traveling and playing music every night.
Can you talk about the night in the sports bar when you played with Zac for the first time.
I had never seen anyone capture a crowd like that and certainly never played with anyone that had. It was kind of a gig where you’re playing a bunch of cover songs just to get by before you have a song on the radio or have a huge following. And Zac was doing it and he was great on his covers and once in awhile he would play an original song and the crowd would be up their feet and be more into it than his cover songs. He has an incredible voice. That was the first night he had met me and he let me do a 5-minute solo. He’s really generous with the spotlight and he’s still that way today.
How did you two leave things after that performance?
He was kind of like, “I have another gig in 2 days,” and, I was like “Cool.” And it kept going. At the time I was playing with Francisco Vidal Band . . . but eventually I had to go with Zac.
It’s a dream come true to be able to play for a lot of people every night that want to hear your music. It’s also great that Zac allows you as a musician to stand out. A lot of country music acts, the band has to wear black and they don’t put any lights on them. They just stand in the back of the stage and the star stands in the spotlight. Zac gives everyone a chance to shine.
How has the band evolved since the release of the 2008 debut album Foundation ?
We’ve gone through a couple members of the band. We had a different drummer and guitarist when we recorded Foundation. For the second and third albums, we had the band that we have right now and established the sound that we have now. The first album we were just trying to get our names out there. We were traveling around for four years but once we got a hit on the radio, a bunch of people started coming to watch us play from all over.
On the latest album, you co-wrote “Uncaged,” and “Last But Not Least.” Can you talk about those two songs.
The title track was kind of a verse that I wrote – an off-time (guitar) riff that I wrote in seven-eighths. It’s a cool rift and I was playing it for Zac one day and he started singing over it. The timing was all weird and off, but he was like, “I like that.” So I played it again and he sang right over it. It was pretty crazy and it became a verse in the song. With “Last But Not Least,” it wasn’t quite finished yet because we didn’t really have a bridge. I was sitting around with Coy and Wyatt Durrette, a good friend of ours, and wrote the bridge.
In terms of songwriting, how has your role changed over the years?
I don’t show my songs to people and Zac’s been really encouraging me to play my songs. I’m kind of shy about it and he’s really positive about it. When you show him a song, he’s like “That’s amazing, you should write more.” He’s been big on teaching me to write and encouraging me to write more with each new album.
How did Trombone Shorty and Amos Lee end up on the new record?
We’re big fans of Trombone Shorty and we asked them to open for us. That’s how we met them and we jammed with them on stage. We had a song that was kind of R&B-ish and we thought it would be really cool to get Trombone Shorty to do it. And Amos Lee, we’ve been huge fans of his forever. He sat in with us at Jazz Fest and a CMA Fest. It was a no-brainer to get him to sing on that song.
On the 2010 record, You Get What You Give, Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett each sang on a track.
We love to collaborate – it’s one of our favorite things. One of our biggest inspirations was The Band and play with as many musicians as you can. If you have the power to play with your favorite musicians you should do it.
The band is in a very unique position being popular in two music worlds: country and jamband.
I don’t know how that came about. I guess what it comes from is that we have songs that are written that go over well with the country audience and kind of tell a story but when we play live we’re more of a jam type band. We still play a lot of those songs, but we take the song and jam-it out for 20 minutes. It’s a balance. We want to enjoy ourselves on stage, have the crowd enjoy it and make ourselves happy and make everyone else happy. And we’re able to play Bonnaroo and do other jam-type stuff that some country bands can’t.
Drummer Chris Fryar is no stranger to the jamband scene, having played with Oteil and The Peacemakers from 2000-to-2005. What element has he brought to the band?
He’s the basis for the whole sound of the band. He’s got his own sound and he comes from the jam world. He was kind of a jazz guy by trade and then playing with Oteil makes you a jammy, improv, technical drummer. We changed drummers after our first album, and when we were trying out drummers, I guess the Peacemakers were on leave. He came over and we were like, “He’s amazing – that’s the guy.” He really sets up the band, especially when we’re jamming. You kind of feel where’s he going. He brings it up and he takes it down. He makes it dynamic and it makes our sound different than most country bands.
What has the newest member of the band, percussionist Daniel de los Reyes, added to the ZBB sound.
Talking about the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band with the two drummers and Widespread with the percussionists, we kind of wanted that open sound that you get from that. It’s loose and its full, it’s not tight. It opened up our sound up that much more. It gives you more wiggle room to do what you want on stage and play off of each other and it feels differently. We actually do a drum breakdown every once in a while where the rest of the band just stays on the side on the stage and watches.
Staying on the jamband subject, how did the cover of Widespread Panic’s “Ain’t Life Grand,” come about?
When you grow up in Georgia, Widespread is a big part of your influence if you’re a musician trying to come up. I lived in Athens for seven years or so, and it was pretty amazing what they were doing live. They were pulling in huge crowds, jamming out songs and they did all that without any radio play. You pull a following like that without having corporations involved – it’s pretty sweet to do that. We were big fans of their music had their albums growing up, covered their songs in different bands. When I met Zac I found out that he was a big WSP fan too. I asked him, ‘What song can we do?’ and he said “Ain’t Life Grand.” It’s kind of the anthem. It’s a tribute to a tribute to a band that continues to perform with a great sound.
Are you aware that Phil Lesh & Friends has covered your band’s “Quiet Your Mind,” and “Free?”
I didn’t know that. That’s cool. It’s just insane. I grew up listening to the Dead as well and when you hear that one of your heroes is playing your music – it’s surreal.
In 2010, the band had Robert Randolph as an opener and invited him out on stage.
He’s crazy. He’s an incredible entertainer, when he gets on that [pedal] steel. He can stand up on it and he can jam it. I got to trade with him on some songs – he raises the level of the audience.
Before meeting Zac, you played in a Dave Matthews cover band. What was it like during the 2010 summer tour, when you guys opened for DMB for three nights?
That was pretty surreal. When I found out we were opening for Dave Matthews – it was amazing because for 4 years or so, that’s all I played. They were a big influence on my music and the way I played. To be able to meet them and share the stage with them was a pretty amazing experience.
Did you get to meet fellow violinist Boyd Tinsley?
I didn’t. It was kind of hard to meet up with all the guys. I got to meet Dave and hang with him. I got to meet Jeff Coffin. But I didn’t want really want to push it. I just wanted to enjoy the experience.
How did the band’s very own festival – The Southern Ground Music and Food Festival – come to fruition ?
We wanted to create a festival with quality food and bands and Zac is big on, “Let’s do it ourselves.” It was a learning experience for us and we had a good turnout for the first time. And this year we repeated the one in Charleston and added one in Nashville and it also gives us a chance to collaborate with more musicians.
One of those was Warren Haynes, “The Master of Collaboration,” himself.
He played with earlier in the day with his own band and then joined us for our set. He just loves to jam. He’ll play all night. He’s a great guy and he loves to play music. He fit right in with us.
Gregg Allman also sat in with you. What was that like to have him perform with you at your festival?
It was crazy. We met him when we did a song together at one of the country award shows. We got to meet him and he was really cool and he wanted to keep in touch with us. He agreed to come out and do a couple of songs with us on the third night of our festival and we were like, “Holy cow this is going to make the festival.” It did make the festival, having him come on at the end and close the show like that. It’s just a blessing for him to do that at our own festival, especially since he doesn’t need to do it. He’s cool like that and wants to help us out.
