"As She's Walking Away" is a song by American country music group Zac Brown Band. Written by lead singer

Zac Brown Zachry Alexander Brown (born July 31, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and co-founder and lead singer of the country–rock Zac Brown Band, as well as electronic dance music group Sir Rosevelt. In 2019, Brown released a pop su ...

, along with

Wyatt Durrette Wyatt Beazley Durrette Jr. (born February 21, 1938) is an American attorney and former politician. He served three terms in the Virginia House of Delegates as a Republican, from 1972 to 1978, and was the party's unsuccessful nominee for governor ...

, it features guest vocals from veteran country singer Alan Jackson. The song is the sixth single release by the band, and the first from the album '' You Get What You Give''. It won the Grammy Award for

Best Country Collaboration with Vocals Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

at the

53rd Grammy Awards The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights pri ...

, and is the second Grammy for both the band and Jackson overall.

Release history

The song is the first release from the band's album ''You Get What You Give,'' which was released on September 21. John Driskell Hopkins, who plays bass guitar in the band, suggested that Jackson be included as a duet partner on it, because he thought that "it would get a great, different kind of fan base for us." Both Zac Brown Band and Jackson are produced by

Keith Stegall Robert Keith Stegall (born November 1, 1955) is an American country music recording artist and record producer. Active since 1980, Stegall has recorded two major-label studio albums: 1985's ''Keith Stegall'' and 1996's ''Passages'', although he ...

. On August 24, 2010, an exclusive CD single was released at Target featuring "As She's Walking Away" along with the studio version of "Colder Weather" for the first time.

Background and writing

Co-writer

told The Boot that the idea came when he and Brown went to a bar in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

to watch a UFC fight. Durrette said that while they were watching the fight a guy and a girl walked in and all night she stared at him. Durrette said that she was "a beautiful girl, but she had her boyfriend with her, so I obviously wasn't going to say or do anything. We kind of spoke all night from across the room, but didn't say anything to each other." Durrette said that Brown had the idea of bringing the wise man into it and turning it into the older man at the bar who's a much wiser man, giving you advice.

Critical reception

The song received critical acclaim. C.M. Wilcox of The 9513 gave the song a thumbs-up, praising the song's "driving, organic arrangement" as well as the interplay between Brown and Jackson. On the AOL Radio Blog, Amar Toor also described Brown's and Jackson's vocals favorably. A positive review also came from Michael Menachem of ''

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'', who said that the song had a "heartwarming" sound.

Music video

Darren Doane directed the song's music video. The inside scenes of the bar were filmed in Dixie Tavern in Marietta, Georgia. The outside scenes of the bar were filmed at The Trap located at 2822 East Avenue I, Lancaster, California.

Chart performance

In the week of its release, "As She's Walking Away" debuted at number 32 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, as well as number 77 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It later debuted at 81 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

chart for the week of October 9, 2010. On the country chart dated November 20, 2010, "As She's Walking Away" reached Number One, becoming the Zac Brown Band's fourth consecutive Number One single (and their fifth overall), and Jackson's twenty-sixth and final number one hit to date.

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2010 singles 2010 songs Zac Brown Band songs Alan Jackson songs Vocal collaborations Songs written by Zac Brown Songs written by Wyatt Durrette (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Keith Stegall Bigger Picture Music Group singles Country ballads Atlantic Records singles