CMT Blog: Archive

Zac Brown Band Gets Serious on "Highway 20 Ride"

Posted: December 22nd, 2009 at 5:30 pm  |  By: Chris Parton  

The Zac Brown Band's latest video follows the story of a divorced father watching his son grow up from afar. He worries about not being there, especially during the long drive to and from the visit, and we see the boy quickly come of age. Brown gets to show off his serious side in this reflective piece -- along with his vocal range -- and if you like the departure he exhibits in this CMT.com/iTunes exclusive world premiere, head over to iTunes and purchase a download of the "Highway 20 Ride" music video.

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Filed Under: News, Songs, Videos
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Reader Comments

  • Julie4726 says:

    Posted: December 23rd, 2009 at 10:17 am  

    Everytime I hear the song and see the video it makes me tear up. What a great story. Very talented bunch of guys, loved them in concert.

  • Robin says:

    Posted: December 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 am  

    Love this band. This is their best single yet. I love this album and it’s at the top of my constant playlist. These guys are truely the answer to the country hearts longing for the return of Alabama.

  • Susan says:

    Posted: December 23rd, 2009 at 11:36 am  

    I just adore this song. Love a good cry!

  • Austin says:

    Posted: December 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm  

    I’ve loved this song since i first heard it on the cd. I think it can go far.

  • tyler says:

    Posted: December 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm  

    i think that this song is very good it has lots s of meaning to me it is more than just a song it reminds me of my parents. I almost want to cry.

  • Edwad”chip”KEY says:

    Posted: December 24th, 2009 at 12:40 am  

    If i ever get to meet the zach brown band I will ring their neccks, I am living that song, and they are making me hurt in a way they don” even understand.Thank you for th e most important song of my life…..

  • Dot says:

    Posted: December 25th, 2009 at 4:58 pm  

    The very best yet!! It made me cry. I love it.

  • Wordpress says:

    Posted: December 30th, 2009 at 11:52 pm  

    Again a honesty a possessions post. Thank your also pen-friend

  • krystal says:

    Posted: January 7th, 2010 at 4:58 pm  

    When i 1st herd this song i cryed and cryed, my step son and my other half his father have this very problem. they dont get to see each other very often due to his mother but i just couldnt believe how it just fits them so well. we just keep praying we will be able to spend more time with him… thank you

  • painterx4 says:

    Posted: January 24th, 2010 at 11:00 am  

    This song is so heartwrenching! I loved ZBB from the very first time I heard them on the radio. They are so talented and this song is done beautifully but it breaks my heart for all the absent fathers and all the little boys who grow up without them…

  • Todd says:

    Posted: January 30th, 2010 at 10:19 pm  

    This is what separates country music. Kudos to the guys for this song. They’ve come a long way since Dixies Tavern.

  • Dawn says:

    Posted: February 2nd, 2010 at 7:14 am  

    The video is so well done. The first time I heard this song, live a year ago, I cried like a baby. These guys are awesome and the best new band in years!!

  • Sic em on a Chicken says:

    Posted: February 6th, 2010 at 1:16 pm  

    I had to stop and cry the first time I heard this song. I have to take I-20 to Augusta to my daughter and have the same fears, concerns and emotions each trip!

  • Mich says:

    Posted: February 6th, 2010 at 5:14 pm  

    I really hope my sons father listens to this song, and realizes that it is by HIS choice he is living this song. I have never nor will I ever keep his son from him, however he chooses to live at a distance. ZBB Your awesome, great song. Maybe this will bring him more in touch with his son. I see your song through the mothers eyes that has the blessing of being able to watch my son grow and move through life.

  • James Moore says:

    Posted: February 27th, 2010 at 11:34 pm  

    This song is my life with my recent divorce. I drive 4hrs every other Friday and Sunday to be with my son. I miss him everyday. Chance this is for you bud and hang in there.

  • Daniel Smith says:

    Posted: March 3rd, 2010 at 7:25 pm  

    This song breaks my heart. It has been my life in the early years of my divorce. I devoted my life to my children. It was the very hardest years of my entire 48 years on this earth but I am sure it does not compare with the heartache they were feeling. Life isnt always fair and especially not to children in this circumstance. The only thing one can do is to devote themselves to being a good father, anything short of that is unacceptable. Time has eased the pain and now my oldest lives with me and the other two share time with me. When I hear this I am singing directly to them from my heart. Thank You Zach Brown Band

  • Joni says:

    Posted: March 4th, 2010 at 11:50 pm  

    This song has really touched me in a way that is difficult to describe, so I won’t even try. Thank you Zac Brown Band.

  • Bridget says:

    Posted: March 13th, 2010 at 12:45 pm  

    I love this song it has so much meaning to it i believe it is about a couple who devoriced and the father cannot be in his son life the way he would like to be. He misses his family and if he could work it out for them to all be together again he would. It says in the song there was no other way to work it out meaning if he could change things back to the way they should be he would in order to avoid all the pain caused to him and his family. He is missing his son and family life in this song. It is so sad. Definatly brings tears to my eyes

  • Nikki says:

    Posted: March 13th, 2010 at 12:49 pm  

    In this song he is clearly missing his son and wishes that he could change things to make his family the way a family is supposed to be. He is singing about going through a devoice and must be very depressed about the whole situation his life without his son and wife. He says “if i had it my way a day would not be wasted on this drive”. He would give anything to take things back to the way they used to be and have his son and family back

  • Micha says:

    Posted: March 13th, 2010 at 12:50 pm  

    I love this song i am going through all of this and if i could have things my way i would love to have my son and wife back i totally can relate to this

  • Mike says:

    Posted: March 17th, 2010 at 5:42 pm  

    At first, I had only heard bits and pieces of this song, I absolutely despised it under the wrongful assumption that ZBB was actually glorifying what is considered to be a deadbeat dad. I WAS SO WRONG!!!!I have recently been served papers stating that my ex is planning on moving with my son 256 miles away, and after hearing the whole song for the first time, I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming custody hearing where maybe I can prevent living this song.If necessary, I will gladly live this song, he is my son after all, that’s what fathers have to do sometimes!

  • Monica says:

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 at 8:58 am  

    This song so reminds me of when i was growing up, my dad drove an hour every other friday and one night a week to see me. Dad everytime I hear this song I think of you and even though we have our differences right now I know one day things will be back to where they were, Im still your little girl and always will be!

  • Dafuzz40 says:

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 at 11:54 pm  

    I applaud the Zac Brown Band for tackling such a difficult and emotional topic. I really never compared my life to any song until this one. I am a father and every other Friday I also take a drive heading East to see my heroes, my 7 year old twin sons. For 4 1/2 years I have driven over 3 hours each way to see my kids and I commend all the other fathers out there that do the same. Stay strong not for yourself but for your children. I love you A & M!

  • Ricky Ty Willard says:

    Posted: March 28th, 2010 at 3:30 pm  

    Blew me away.My folks split when I was 8 and my dad was an unmatched country musician(Gods favorite guitar player)and I didn’t see him much growing up and sadly we lost him 3 years ago.I’m now 46 and play also and was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to play along side him when I got older and began playing.It really touched my heart and I openly wept.Probably one of the best songs ever written and having played in Honky-Tonks for the last 27 years I’ve played quite a few and none as moving as this one.Bravo ZBB, BRAVO!

  • Ileana says:

    Posted: March 31st, 2010 at 8:10 am  

    I hear this song every morning when I wake up every day. I cry every time I hear. It’s a beautiful, perfect, and sensitive song. It reminds me how far I am from my father who I love him every day. I love you.

  • Will4One says:

    Posted: May 2nd, 2010 at 1:10 pm  

    It sadens my heart to see so many families hurting from the pain of broken homes. As a child of 4 years old my mother and father divorced and when their separate ways. It was in 1960’s. When it happened my world seemed so small to the point that it felt like mine was the first family to have split. You’ll never know the feeling it caused me to have.(unwanted by those who were suppose to love you. Trash by the extended family. being looked down on by uncles and aunts from both sides. dirty by friends at school. not equal to my cousins. alone even though I had 2 sisters and 2 brothers. A pain that my mom and dad couldn’t understand. Today at 52 years old my heart still has a hole in it. Even though both my parents are dead to me. I’ve never been able to fill this hole in my heart. So, even if they seem fine. think about what you have done to your child when you listen to this song. They’ll never ever be able to understand the pain they feel. It stays with them their entire lives.

  • Shane says:

    Posted: May 10th, 2010 at 1:47 pm  

    I can relate to this song. I love it and thanks Zac for making this song!

  • Debs says:

    Posted: May 11th, 2010 at 5:04 pm  

    Great to finally hear something for all the dads out there living the nightmare of most custody systems. I know we drive 12 hrs every other weekend to have my husband’s son for 2 days. And it’s been wonderful for my husband to have something to connect to. I swear he listens to it the entire drive back and forth.

  • John says:

    Posted: August 7th, 2010 at 4:04 pm  

    This song doesn’t relate to me like it does to many others when speaking of divorce. I just graduated from college and started working. I’ve been dating a girl from the same college and she is going to nursing school next year. She lives in Georgia and I live in middle tennessee. Everytime I go to see her I drive on I-20. We both don’t know the next time we will see each other and shes about to get busy with nursing school but i cherish every time i get to see her.

    I want her to finish up nursing school already so I can marry her.

  • Lynn says:

    Posted: September 5th, 2010 at 12:36 am  

    This is a really good song. I just got done going through a divorce, and my husband always said this was his song to our son. It never made any sense to me. By listening to just the song, I thought it was about the mother keeping the child from his father. But then I watched the video and at the begining it shows where the mother wrote the father a letter telling him that his son needs his father around. So i’m confused of why he’d say it is his song for our son. I know that he was torn between us and his family. He kept wanting to come home to us, and they didn’t approve. So could that be why he says that it’s his song for him??? Cuz if he had it his way days would not be wasted on the drive, but his family don’t let him have it his way. Any suggestions from anyone???? Please.

  • Carrie says:

    Posted: September 27th, 2010 at 3:20 pm  

    This was my son’s favorite song. He has two sons that he loved with his heart & soul. He passed away Aug. 29th. This song tells the heartache and torment he went through not only on the drive back home but the time in between visits. You can only imagine how I feel listening to this song and watching the video. His sons were 14 and eleven. Now they are without him. I love this song and and the way it is performed. Thanks Jeff’s mom.

  • Makaila says:

    Posted: June 22nd, 2011 at 9:45 am  

    Ab fab my godloy man.

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