In the 1978 movie “The Buddy Holly Story” there’s a scene where Buddy Holly and the Crickets are accidentally booked at the Apollo Theater in Harlem becoming the first white act to ever play there. The reason was because a booking agent heard one of their records and mistakenly thought they were a black band. Buddy took this as a major compliment as well he should have. Needless to say they won the all black audience over with a great performance. This show actually took place on August 16th, 1957.

If Zach Deputy had been around in the late fifties this same mistake could have easily happened to him. Sometimes he has such a soulful sound that he actually can sound a little bit like Ray Charles! Zach, a multi instrumentalist singer/songwriter who is rapidly becoming a rising star in the jam band community, describes his music as “island infused, drums ‘n’ bass, gospel-ninja soul.” In other words he’s equally adept playing reggae, rhythm and blues, hip-hop, and soul music. In concert he’s a one man band (and a big man at that!) who uses multiple instruments for looping purposes to layer sound atop sound until it sounds like a full band. This is something that the talented and charismatic Keller Williams has been doing for a number of years as well. However, the difference is that Keller’s music is firmly rooted in bluegrass. In other words, Keller definitely would not have ever been mistakenly booked at the Apollo!

It was in 2008 with the release of “Out of the Water” that Zach Deputy started to really get noticed. Although this disc featured a number of excellent studio musicians, there were still some tracks where Zach played every instrument. He also sang all the vocals, wrote all the lyrics and music, and co-produced the disc on his own Deputy Records. The record was a showcase for Zach’s many musical influences but it also captured his sunny, feel-good vibe as well.

Zach’s next recording, release in 2010, was another full set of original material called “Sunshine.” On this disc Zach bounced around from funk to gospel to calypso to rhythm and blues. And although it may be difficult to classify Zach, he has a style and sound that is uniquely his own. This uplifting and inspiring record came close to capturing Zach’s energetic live performance. In fact much of “Sunshine” was recorded like he performs in real time with layered loops. The results are exhilarating!

Last year Zach changed things up a bit with the release of “Another Day.” This was more of a singer/songwriter recording where Zach mellowed things out a bit and showed off his beautiful four octave vocals. This is another record of original material that featured mostly ballads and mid tempo songs as Zach hopes to attract more listeners, especially those outside of the jam band universe. Zach put together a backing band for “Another Day” that included Graham Hawthorne on drums, Al Carty on bass, and Will Buthod on keyboards. The disc featured a hidden track at the end called “Into the Morning.” This hip-hop number is nothing like the rest of the music on “Another Day” but it’s still lots of fun to listen to.

I spoke with Zach by phone on June 7th. He was just leaving his South Carolina home where he had celebrated his birthday the day before. At the time of this call Zach had just recently played the Mountain Jam Festival. On July 19th he’ll be in Bridgeport, Connecticut at the awesome Gathering of the Vibes Festival.

I understand that you’re just getting back from the Mountain Jam Festival. How did that work out for you?

ZD – “Oh my god that was a blast. We had a great time. In my daytime set the sun came out right when I started and it was just gorgeous and then it started to rain as my last song was finishing up."

I see that you’ll be at the Gathering of the Vibes Festival, have you played there before?

ZD - "I've been to the Vibes the year before last and had such a great time. I like the grounds a lot and I'm excited to be back. I'm playing on Thursday."

So why is it that a singer/songwriter and one man band like you is so popular in the jam band community?

ZD - "I don't know. That's a question for God. You know, I try to do my thing and I try to promote the joy that I've seen in life and people seem to tag on to it. I can't pinpoint what exactly I do that really attracts people but I think it's pretty awesome."

I’m sure it’s that positive vibe that you’re known for has something to with it.

ZD - “Yeah, that’s a huge part of the music is the character that you’re putting through and the spirit that is shown through the music. It can affect people. Music is a very powerful tool and I try to help as much as I can. I like to highlight the good things.”

Let’s talk about your CD’s. With the “Out of the Water” disc were you trying to showcase all of the different genres of music that you can play?

ZD - “No those were the songs that I kind of chose, I never thought of it that way. I grew up listening to that kind of music so it’s just a big part of me regardless. When I look at an idea of a song the natural backbeat comes to me. I did write a song about my motor home getting beat up smashed and the way I envisioned it I was like this has got to be a bluegrass song! So I don’t really think of it like I want to show different genres of music. I feel like the different genres help me explain the song better or help me paint the picture better. It’s just an extra tool I have to slap paint on the canvas.”

How does a multi-instrumentalist like you write new music? Do you start on a piano or guitar? Do you write the words first?

ZD - “Sometimes it’s the melody first. Sometimes it’s chords first. Sometimes it’s lyrics first. I explain this to people in songwriting circles. I have no process. I just let it come the way it comes whether it’s an idea or a melody. Sometimes I’ve had melodies sitting in the can for years and then all of the sudden I have this miracle idea and it’s just like glue. So I just keep coming up with stuff and I try not to force it and when it starts to feel like ‘oh that’s it, that’s the reason this all happened’ then I put it together.”

I thought the “Sunshine” record was really funky and songs like “Doctor Doctor” and “Stay” really showed your R & B skills.

ZD - “I like those songs. That’s funny that recording of ‘Stay.’ I sat in with my buddies, we were doing a show together that was upstairs at this venue. And it was going to be such a pain to bring all my loop stuff upstairs. I was only playing for forty-five minutes and I said ‘you know what guys, it would be so much better if we could just jam out a set.’ So instead of doing my loop thing I just played with those guys and we made that song up word for word and everything from that recording. We made that up live and then we tried to recreate that spontaneous thing that we created live on the album. So that was a very fun thing.”

Let’s talk about “Another Day.” I thought it was more of an introspective recording from you.

ZD - “Yeah I think ‘Another Day’, more than any of my other albums, is a definite sound or continuity between front to back, besides the bonus material. I don’t feel the bonus material fits on the album but the ten tracks that are really the tracks on “Another Day, they really fit the same kind of timeline and the same kind of place where I was writing. I write songs in many places but most of those songs were all like written from home and from the same kind of mind set. That record was a record that was definitely for me. It doesn’t reflect what I do live much at all, but I think the songs on there are so great. There are a couple of songs that really work live but I think more than anything the songs that are the most powerful on that album would work for a sit down and listen storyteller audience. I try to warn my fans that this is more like an album I would put on when I’m sitting next to a fireplace. There are some dance songs on it but I just put the dance songs on there for people who might complain that all of the songs are ballads. If it was up to me it probably would have been all ballads.”

The Gathering of the Vibes celebrates the life of Jerry Garcia and he was always grateful that his audience gave him complete artist freedom. Maybe you’re fans will do the same for you?

ZD - “I think it takes a little bit of falling in love, falling out of love, and falling in love again to the point where like no matter what people will say ‘I love this guy because I’ve been there for times when I loved it and didn’t and loved it again.’ When you get there people really give you that slack and I do believe what Jerry said, when you get that slack and there’s no pressure, I think that is when the greatest stuff happens. I think that’s why so many artists take so many years to get to the point where they define themselves.”

We should talk about looping. Did you get into this because you’re able to play so many different instruments?

ZD - “It was such a natural move for me because before I was playing music for a living I was at home recording music and playing all the parts because I loved it. So when I figured out I can do the same thing live with the loop machine, it was a very natural transition because I was already pretty much doing the same thing.”

It’s sometime the audience really enjoys watching too.

ZD - “It’s really educational. The best analogy I can come up with is the Japanese Teppanyati, the guys that cook hibachi in front of you. Not only can you eat the food but you get to watch it being prepared. People can see all the ingredients that make up that groove or that song introduced layer by layer so they can kind of hear what makes this happen instead of hearing it all at once and not actually dissecting it and finding out what else goes on.”

One thing I notice with your CD’s is that there are different musicians on all of them. Why is that?

ZD - “I feel as though as a musician I’m still young and I’m just trying to figure out exactly what I’m doing as far as recording. In each recording session I learn a lot more and I get further along in the process. But I’m a live musician so when I go in the studio usually we have a very small budget for it so I have to rush through everything and do everything fast. So I pretty much have this window and I’ve got to find the best musicians that I like to fit this window to get things done in four days. I try to pick really great musicians. But the thing is with really great musician they’re always in high demand so I’m going to take the really great musicians that I can get for those days.”

When you will start recording your next CD and when will it be out?

ZD - “I start recording at the end of this month. I don’t know when it will be released. With the last record I put a time limit on it and I said ‘I’m going to recording it this week and it’s going to be done on this week’ but I hate to put time limits on creativity and my last two albums I recorded them both in four days. We also had three days of mixing but as far as the recording process only four days and I always feel like it’s rushed and I always feel this sense of anxiety because of it and that’s not what you want to be thinking when you want to be putting down your heart and soul on wax. So on this one I’m thinking more naturally and I’m probably making the people I’m working with more nervous by not thinking about what I’m doing and I’m going to let it be more natural. I’m going to not try to rush anything and go in there and have a good time and take whatever comes out of that.”

For those people who haven’t seen a Zach Deputy show, especially those who will be seeing you for the first time at the Gathering of the Vibes, what can they expect when you walk out on stage?

ZD – “You know I don’t even know what to expect when I come out on stage! I have so many different angles that I can go as far as music. One thing is that it’s usually a positive, uplifting set that is hopefully going to leave you in higher spirits than when you came.”

There will be plenty of high spirits when Zach Deputy takes the stage at the Vibes on July 19th. Zach is a one man band tour de force who is sure to put a big smile on your face. When you read about Zach on the internet it’s amazing to see that everything written about him is overwhelmingly positive. As a person and as a musician he has that kind of affect on people. Check out Zach’s website at www.zachdeputy.com to learn more about him maybe even pick up a CD or two.