what is chicken fried by zac brown band about
Chicken Fried Brown began co-writing "Chicken Fried" with Wyatt Durrette several years before the song's release. The two met when Brown was playing at a tavern in Atlanta, Georgia. According to Country Weekly magazine, Brown had already started the song, when he and Durrette began listing off "things that are very southern or characteristic of the South to put into this song."[1] The song was completed gradually over several years. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Brown decided to add the third verse, which has a patriotic theme ("I thank God for my life / For the stars and stripesâ€¦").[1] Although he had already begun performing the song, he still considered it unfinished until he added a line to the second verse.[1] To the Zac Brown Band "Chicken Fried" was more than a song, it was a lifestyle. The patriotic theme and southern cuisine was the band's inspiration to record this song.[2]