Live For Better Days
“Better Days” is featured on Zach Bryan’s 2024 album The Great American Bar Scene, appearing as a collaboration with John Mayer.
It’s the second track on the record that earned Bryan a nod at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards, where “Better Days” was nominated for Crossover Song of the Year.
The song debuted live during Bryan’s Quittin’ Time Tour in June 2024, when he surprised fans in Los Angeles by bringing John Mayer on stage to perform the then-unreleased track.
A video clip of their duet went viral, with fans celebrating Mayer’s presence and guitar work. This marked the first official confirmation of their studio collaboration.
Lyrical Themes & Emotional Core
At its heart, “Better Days” is a balm for the weary—a message of resilience and hope. The opening verse captures this: “Don’t get angry, listen to the sounds / Them good times will find a way back around…”
Bryan encourages stillness and patience as antidotes to life’s frustrations.
The metaphor of waves and a boat recurs throughout, reminding listeners that hardship is cyclical, and better times will return—“life’s a boat, boy, it all comes in waves”.
Unique to Bryan’s storytelling is his grounding in personal history. He reflects on an emotionally turbulent childhood—“I wasn’t loved well as a younger child”—contrasting it with an appreciation for his present unstable yet cherished days, sprinkled with imagery like back‑fires or a backyard bonfire “burnin’ in the back forty”.
The line “She always told me there’d be times like this / With a blue guitar, a city bar and a streetlight kiss” nods to love, dreams, and an almost cinematic youthful promise of what life would hold.
Yet, Bryan does not shy away from vulnerabilities: “You try so hard and wind up gettin’ burned.” It’s a fine balance between aspiration and pragmatism.
Musical Landscape & Mayer’s Contribution
Musically, the track marries Bryan’s raw, folksy style with Mayer’s nuanced, blues‑tinged guitar voice. Reviews describe Mayer’s electric guitar as almost a secondary vocal—tentative at first, building into emotional resonance that mirrors the protagonist’s rising confidence and optimism.
From studio reports, the song was tracked in New York City. In a poetic behind‑the‑scenes post, Bryan recalled walking through Washington Square Park in a state of fear and longing, later returning to record “Better Days” in what he now called a moment of gratitude—with Mayer, friends, and even a puppy present on that rooftop session.
John Mayer has been quoted saying he felt honored to be part of the song—calling the way Bryan “dream‑coming‑true” process was powerful and beautiful.
Collaboration Dynamics
Their collaboration is less clash of styles and more blending of spirits. Both artists bring authenticity—Zach Bryan’s deeply personal, Americana‑rooted songwriting meets Mayer’s refined musicianship and melodic sensibility. The result is not forced but feels organic and complementary. As Whiskey Riff noted, it arguably became the best track on the album thanks to Mayer’s blues licks and vocals alongside Bryan’s grit and lyricism.
Reception & Fan Response
Critical reaction has been mostly positive. AllMusic praised how “Better Days” and “Sandpaper” drive forward motion amid an album that otherwise can feel introspective and occasionally repetitive, elevating the record’s musical ambition
Fan communities also chimed in: on Reddit, one user called it “one of his best songs” and attributed that in part to the guitar work—some wished for a longer Mayer solo with “Grateful Dead vibes” Reddit. Another described it as a top‑three collaboration off the album, comparing it favorably to Bryan’s other celebrated tracks like “I Remember Everything” and “Jamie”.
Context Within the Album & Bryan’s Career
The Great American Bar Scene is a sprawling, deeply autobiographical album that leans heavily into American bar culture as metaphor and backdrop. Critics point out that while some tracks feel like retreads of earlier efforts, collaborations like “Better Days” and “Sandpaper” bring fresh forward momentum, pulling Bryan’s aspirations into clearer focus.
Bryan’s trajectory—from Navy seminarian to self-produced singer-songwriter to stadium headliner—has been meteoric. He won his first Grammy in 2024 for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“I Remember Everything” with Kacey Musgraves). His crossover appeal continues to grow, with “Better Days” earning industry accolades like the People’s Choice nomination and expanding his listener base via a partnership with a mainstream icon like Mayer.
Final Thoughts
“Better Days” showcases the emotional honesty and poetic restraint that made Zach Bryan a breakthrough artist, now elevated through John Mayer’s craftsmanship. The song doesn’t try to dazzle with bombast; instead, it builds slowly, layering lyrical reassurance with melodic empathy, culminating in a space that feels warm, hopeful, and unpretentious.
Listeners feeling anxious, lost, or burnt out might find comfort in Bryan’s insistence that “better days always come back again.” That message, wrapped in mellow guitar tones and lived‑in vocals, makes this song stand out—not just on the album but within the broader landscape of modern Americana meeting contemporary blues-rock.
In short: “Better Days” is an authentically beautiful collision of two storytelling musicians at the height of their humanity—quietly powerful, deeply personal, and subtly uplifting.
