Zac Brown Finds Musical Soulmate

The Zac Brown Band is edging toward the Top 10 with their current single, 'Whatever It Is,' the follow-up to the No. 1 hit, 'Chicken Fried.' Bandleader Zac shares writing credits on both of the tunes with Wyatt Durrette, who, although he's not a member of the group, has played an important role in defining its sound. Think of Wyatt as the Bernie Taupin to Zac's Elton John.

Like that legendary lyricist who has collaborated with Elton on most of his hits, Durrette doesn't perform with Zac and company. Still, you'll often find him out on tour in co-writing sessions with Zac, with whom he shares a musical, fraternal, and almost otherworldly bond.

"We have exactly the same taste in music and what we like," Zac tells GAC. "We've known since the fist time, there are very weird little synergy things that start happening -- like we'll start singing something at the same time, the same place, same words, same thing, just out of the blue. The song isn't playing anywhere, just break out into it at the same time, look at each other like 'Where did that come from?' So we're brothers and we're supposed to be doing this. We know that. We don't' try to question that or talk about it, we just keep it going."

The Zac Brown Band scored two nominations (Group Video and Breakthrough Video) in the first round of voting for the upcoming CMT Music Awards. The final four nominees in those categories will be announced May 19, and the awards handed out June 17, live on CMT.