"The Wind" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group

Zac Brown Band Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini ( fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukul ...

. It was released in June 2012 as the first single from the group's third major-label album, '' Uncaged'', which was released on July 10. The song was written by

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 s ...

, Wyatt Durrette and Levi Lowrey.

Critical reception

The song was acclaimed by country music critics. Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song four and a half stars out of five, writing that "if you slow down and listen to what the man in the beanie is saying, you’re rewarded with a detailed, heartbreaking story." Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' also gave the song four and a half stars out of five, saying that "there are great harmonies wrapped up in a melody that is both contemporary country and traditional country-leaning at the same time."

Music video

The music video was directed by ''

Beavis and Butthead ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, an ...

'' and ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

'' creator

Mike Judge Michael Craig Judge (born October 17, 1962) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director and musician. He is the creator of the animated television series ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' (1993–1997, 2011, 2022–present), and the co-cre ...

, animated by

Titmouse, Inc. Titmouse, Inc. is an American animation studio that develops and produces animated television programming, feature films, music videos, title sequences, commercials, and short films. The studio opened in 2000, and has offices in Los Angeles, New ...

, and premiered in July 2012. It features animated versions of the band, with Zac Brown transformed into "a beer chugging cyborg".

Chart performance

"The Wind" debuted at number 27 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

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 sa ...

chart for the week of June 23, 2012, the second-highest debut by a group of the

SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

era. It ultimately peaked at number 11 in August 2012, making it the group's first single to miss the top 10 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wind 2012 singles Zac Brown Band songs Atlantic Records singles Song recordings produced by Keith Stegall Songs written by Levi Lowrey 2012 songs Songs written by Zac Brown Songs written by Wyatt Durrette (songwriter) Animated music videos