STOMP AND STAMMER — Zac Brown Band bassist John Driskell Hopkins has a fun new Christmas album, titled You Better Watch Out!, featuring Atlanta’s own Joe Gransden (pictured here with Hopkins) and his Big Band.

It’s a mix of styles, with a jazz ensemble backing a country and bluegrass crooner as he interprets his favorite holiday classics. This team-up does wonders with the greatest redneck Christmas carol of them all, “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.” Hopkins revises the work of Elmo and Patsy with help from one of the world’s best banjo pickers, Bela Fleck. The end result makes the most of the talent at hand without diminishing the song’s sense of humor.

GEROGIAMUSIC.ORG — John Driskell Hopkins (of the Zac Brown Band) has released his second Christmas album. While 2015’s In The Spirit was recorded with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, You Better Watch Out is a collaboration with Atlanta’s esteemed Joe Gransden Big Band. The new holiday album also features appearances by Bela Fleck, Aofie O’Donovan, Daniel de los Reyes and fellow Zac Brown Band member Clay Cook. The songs are mostly familiar Christmas classics – “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and so forth.

ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE — Zac Brown Band founding member John Driskell Hopkins has a new place to play when he’s not on the road with his three-time Grammy Award-winning band.

Hopkins recently opened Brighter Shade Studios, a 2,500-square-foot professional-grade recording studio to be exclusively used by Hopkins, his friends and colleagues in his home base of Atlanta. 

In addition to his work with Zac Brown Band, Hopkins is an artist-in-residence at Kennesaw State University, producer, actor and frontman of his own John Driskell Hopkins Band.

WXIA 11 Alive, "Atlanta & Company" — Zac Brown Band's John Driskell Hopkins performs tunes from his new Christmas album, You Better Watch Out, and talks with host Christine Pulara.

WXIA 11 Alive, "Atlanta & Company" — Alex Guthrie performs and talks with host Christine Pullara.

ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE — Zac Brown Band founding member John Driskell Hopkins is at a good spot in his life.

When he's not on the road with the three-time Grammy Award-winning band, Hopkins is either spending time with his family and friends, working on projects for his own John Driskell Hopkins Band, or working on projects as a producer for the likes of living-jazz legend Joe Gransden, The Joe Gransden Big Band, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's daughter Katie Deal and rising Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Alex Guthrie.

But now, Hopkins doesn't have to drive to Tennessee to record at Zac Brown's Southern Ground Nashville or pay to rent out 808 EAST in Atlanta to produce an album. Hopkins is the new owner of Brighter Shade Studios, a 2,500-square-foot, professional-grade digital recording studio in his home base of Atlanta. 

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION — There’s a reason you know that Geico gecko or Flo from Progressive. Insurance companies have a lot of money to spend on advertising. And thanks to ubiquitous American Family Insurance ads, Marietta singer Alex Guthrie has been seen by practically every American who has a TV over the past seven months. He was the street musician at Woodruff Park in downtown Atlanta who was shocked when Jennifer Hudson strolled up and began dueting with him.

CBS 46, ATLANTA PLUGGED IN — John Driskell Hopkins (founding member of the Zac Brown Band) stopped by the CBS studios to talk about his new studio, Brighter Shade Studios, and his new Christmas Album with The Joe Gransden Big Band entitled "You Better Watch Out."  The album also features performances by Bela Fleck, Aoife O'Donovan, Daniel De Los Reyes and Clay Cook.  Available now at johndriskellhopkins.com. 

BIZ 1190, "THE DANA BARRETT SHOW" — DeKalb Entertainment Commission Director Shelbia Jackson joins Dana Barrett to discuss the booming entertainment industry in DeKalb County and Atlanta. From movies and TV, to music and digital gaming, it's all happening in Georgia.

DENVER POST — Eric “ESAM” Lew never goes to a video game tournament without his custom Wii U controller. But there was that time when he set his bag down before a competition in Austin, Texas, and inadvertently left without it. Preparing for a big e-sports competition isn’t unlike practicing for a baseball game or hockey tournament. Lew, who joins dozens of competitive gamers this weekend at Denver’s first DreamHack Festival, has his own tools. He practices five to eight hours a day before a big game. The reward? He is paid and gets to fly around the globe for competitions.

CBS, "ATLANTA PLUGGED IN" — We've all seen him be surprised by Jennifer Hudson on the American Family Insurance commercial but today he's here to perform live! Alex Guthrie will also be performing at The Peach and the Porkchop Restaurant tonight 9/29, and Eddie's Attic on 12/1!

Alex Guthrie Sits Down With Star 94.1 Atlanta's Marino!