Zach Bryan barely does interviews. On Friday he dropped a two-hour one anyway, with Matthew McConaughey, on a porch, on the same day as a Lana Del Rey duet. The internet is still sorting through both.
The conversation, Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs – On The Porch (With Matthew McConaughey), went up on Zach’s official YouTube channel on Oct. 16. It passed 230,000 views by Saturday morning. Early in the talk McConaughey points out that Bryan is “pretty famous for not doing interviews,” and Bryan explains why he did this one: “I need an interview of some sort where I can just tell this story correctly.”
The 5 biggest moments from the Zach Bryan McConaughey interview
1. Why he finally told his own story. Bryan wrote a book with the same title as the EP. “If you don’t tell your own story, a thousand people will tell it for you, usually incorrectly,” he says.
2. Where the title “Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs” comes from. He’s 19 and about to deploy with the Navy when his mother collapses and falls into a coma. While he’s holding her hand at the end, a hospital staffer walks in with paperwork asking, “Can she donate her organs?” Bryan says he spent his twenties reconciling that moment: “Even when you’re dying, people are going to come and they’re going to ask.”
3. The truck stop that got him sober. After a month-long motorcycle trip from Manhattan to Seattle, he sat on a curb at a Pilot truck stop with a 40-ounce Budweiser. “What the hell was all that worth? Why’d I do any of that? I feel emptier than when I left,” he remembers thinking. He also talks about the panic disorder he says drinking was masking.
4. The hardest part. Bryan opens up about his mother’s addiction and says he was abused as a kid. He calls writing it down the way he finally got an explanation and forgave her.
5. The lighter side. He has six dogs, and when McConaughey asks how many kids he wants, he answers instantly: “Six.”
How “Lies” with Lana Del Rey came together
Bryan tells McConaughey he recorded “Lies” with Lana Del Rey at Easy Eye Sound on Music Row in Nashville. That was a city he admits he used to look down on. While he was sitting there with Lana, Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon texted asking him to come perform that night. “No other city could this happen,” Bryan says.
The song itself is a big piano-and-strings ballad, and its hook borrows from Fleetwood Mac‘s “Little Lies.” It’s track 3 on the EP.
The critic split: gorgeous or “just a little sad”?
This is where it gets fun. Nobody agrees.
- Billboard calls “Lies” “gorgeous, bolstered by swelling violins and cellos,” though it “doesn’t pack quite the punch” of “I Remember Everything” with Kacey Musgraves.
- Stereogum says Bryan and Del Rey “sound really, really good together.”
- Pitchfork isn’t sold. It asks whether Bryan has “always sounded this much like Hozier” and concludes: “It’s not heartbreaking, just a little sad.”
- Country Central says the EP “is nowhere near Bryan’s best work,” but calls the duo’s harmonies “transcendent.”
Fans, meanwhile, voted with their streams. Chart trackers had “Lies” at No. 1 on Apple Music’s US daily chart and No. 4 globally within a day of release. So whose side are you on?
Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs: the EP facts
- Released: Oct. 16, 2026, on Belting Bronco/Warner Records
- Length: 8 songs, about 30 minutes
- Features: Lana Del Rey (“Lies”) and Turnpike Troubadours (“Plainsman”)
Tracklist:
- Lodi When
- Robot Killed The Working Man
- Lies (feat. Lana Del Rey)
- Dog Days
- Backwards
- Plainsman (feat. Turnpike Troubadours)
- Is The Blue Tangled In You?
- You’ll Get By
It comes just weeks after Bryan wrapped the With Heaven On Tour. We were there for the Jordan-Hare finale, fireworks and a 30-minute “Revival”.
The 2027 YM&ODO Tour: dates, guests and tickets
Bryan is taking the EP to 19 stadiums for 23 shows across North America and Australia. The run starts April 28, 2027 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis and ends Dec. 18 in Brisbane. He says the production is all new, and the setlist will mix older songs with every track from the EP.
- April–June dates: John Fogerty and Fey Fili
- July–August dates: Ryan Bingham & The Texas Gentlemen and Gabriella Rose. Gabriella missed the Jordan-Hare show because of hurricane weather, so it’s good to see her on the 2027 bill.
- Australia dates: Vance Joy and Emma Ogier
- Tickets: Artist presale is Oct. 21 and local presale is Oct. 22. Public on-sale is Friday, Oct. 23 at 10 a.m. local time at ZachBryan.com. Register for presale at ZachBryanPresale.com.
Why the McConaughey pairing makes sense
McConaughey keeps showing up on music fans’ timelines lately. He’s also the reason a lot of people just discovered NoMBe. Here he mostly lets Bryan talk, and that’s why the interview works. For more on Zach, see our Zach Bryan artist page.
FAQ
Where can I watch the Zach Bryan McConaughey interview?
It’s on Zach Bryan’s official YouTube channel, titled “Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs – On The Porch (With Matthew McConaughey).” It runs just over two hours and was posted Oct. 16, 2026.
What did Zach Bryan talk about with Matthew McConaughey?
His book and EP, the meaning of the title, getting sober, his panic disorder, his mother, leaving the Navy after going viral, and how “Lies” with Lana Del Rey was recorded in Nashville.
Is “Lies” by Zach Bryan and Lana Del Rey a real song?
Yes. “Lies (feat. Lana Del Rey)” is track 3 on Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs, released Oct. 16, 2026.
What is the meaning of “Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs”?
Bryan says the title comes from the moment, at 19, when someone asked him to sign organ donation papers while his mother was dying. To him it’s a metaphor for people always asking for more.
Who is on Zach Bryan’s 2027 tour?
John Fogerty, Fey Fili, Ryan Bingham & The Texas Gentlemen, Gabriella Rose, Vance Joy and Emma Ogier, each on select dates.
When do Zach Bryan 2027 tour tickets go on sale?
Public on-sale is Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 at 10 a.m. local time. Presales run Oct. 21–22.
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