As Mark Twain said “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things”. Zac Brown Band is interesting because most of their songs lyrically and visually revolve around this idea of simplicity. Most of their music videos are shot in a very simplistic way and do not show much extravagance. Nothing pictured in the video is expensive; everything from Zac’s home to his clothes to his truck. “Chicken Fried” is primarily about how all the artist needs is a simple life with family, friends, and a home. Most people in this world neglect the saying “money can’t buy happiness”, in Zac Brown Band’s music video “Chicken Fried” they use that saying as a central idea for the video. The director uses many symbolic scenes to help portray the main motif of the video, the author intentionally uses people like Zac’s wife and child or his friends to show how he is connected with them.

Not everyone in this world is born with a silver spoon in their mouth; some people have to work really hard in order to afford the simplest amenities, however, being born without a silver spoon can sometimes be a blessing in disguise. It teaches people to appreciate the things they have because they had to work long and hard for it. Sometimes these items that people have can distract them from important things in life like family. In the beginning of the song Zac sings about his home and growing up in a small simple home. As he starts to sing about his present home he says “my house it's not much to talk about, but it’s filled with love.” This shows that he is contempt with what he has in life and the love that is in that house is really what he cherishes in the house. As those lyrics are sung, the video shows a small simple home with Zac walking up his front porch to meet his smiling wife holding their baby. The wife and child are placed in the center of the screen with Zac of to the side of the image. This shows how they are importance and can symbolize that Zac’s world revolves around his wife and child. By placing the wife and baby above him the scene it also represents how important they are to him. The small house with the wife and child shows that he does not need much for him to be happy. This motif is recurrent  in lots of the band’s songs; they often sing about love, family, and friends.

Memories from people’s childhood come in many different forms and the most common type is old videos, everyone has seen some kind of embarrassing home movie from their childhood. The simple, old film with the unsteady camera. The director uses this style of film to his advantage; the whole video has a home movie like quality. Home movies often portray a feeling of family and special memories that will last forever. One scene captures this feeling very well, it is blurry with a slightly wobbly camera, it shows a small group of friends relaxing, laughing, and drinking around a fire. This simple, fun scene helps show the theme very well. With the laughing people in the middle of the screen, it emphasizes their happiness and their friendships. The scenes are also shot with the camera being angled upwards towards the group of people, this emphasizes the importance of the friendship, the scene is supposed to show how the singer does not need a whole lot to be happy. In the scene nothing expensive is shown on camera, everything is simple and cheap, during the video the director really stresses the idea of being ordinary, this idea helps Zac Brown Band’s music relate to a larger demographic. They try tries to tell people that you do not need a big house, new car, or the best anything to have a good time.  

Growing up some of the most influential people in a person’s life are their friends and family. After all, those are the people who know a person for who they really are. Family and friends are the base that people build their lives on, and when everything comes crashing down, those people, that base is what catches them. As proverbs say “A true friend loves at all times” (17:17), when people have nothing they should still have their friends and family. That is what this video portrays; they might not have a lot, but they have each other and that is all they need, by portraying certain scenes from different angles it emphasizes their importance to the band. Also, by filming the video in a simplistic way the director gives the video a comforting feel. Zac Brown Band’s music reaches out to a broad audience because of their simple messages in their music; people do not need a lot, all they need is each other.