Zac Brown Band photo courtesy of Atlantic Records.

With three hit singles off the current album The Foundation, the Zac Brown Band has certainly laid the groundwork for a healthy career.

And the album title is highly appropriate, since the band hopes it’s merely a foundation for future success.

“We want to make a long career of being very good at what we do,” drummer Chris Fryar told The Roanoke Times. “Hopefully in the long term we’ll be able to do that and keep fans around for a long time, knowing that they can come out and see good, quality musicianship and hear good, quality songs out of the band.”

The band — which also includes front man Zac, fiddler Jimmy De Martini, guitarist Coy Bowles, bass player John Driskell Hopkins and multi-instrumentalist Clay Cook — has actually expanded its role. They’ve signed three artists to their Southern Ground label, and they often feature those acts in their live shows and serve as their backing band. That fits in nicely with ZBB’s workaholic ways as they essentially play four different sets in the course of a night.

“For us to sit back and just rest on our laurels,” Chris said, “it would have to involve a certain level of apathy on our part, which none of us possess. We’re all just so driven.”

At the moment, that drive is paying off. The band is nominated three times in the 43rd annual Country Music Association Awards, for New Artist of the Year, Vocal Group and Single, in honor of “Chicken Fried.” Zac picked up an additional nomination as a songwriter on “Chicken,” which is a finalist for Song of the Year. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will host the CMAs Nov. 11 in Nashville.

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