John Driskell Hopkins
Products used: Acetal Rounded Triangle 0.63mm and 0.80mm guitar picks with his own custom designs
“I’ve used Clayton triangle picks religiously for the past 20 years. In my experience, there isn’t another pick on the market that is more balanced or reliable. Some of my older friends may even recognize this one circa 1993…”
John Driskell Hopkins has walked the musical path for the last 20 years. As a bass player, guitar player, singer and songwriter for several bands of the rock variety, Hopkins rooted himself in the Atlanta, GA music scene in 1995, producing records and touring with his band Brighter Shade. Hopkins met Zac Brown in 1998 at an open mic hosted by Hopkins. Over the next several years, they remained friends and with Hopkins lending a production hand, they released the first Zac Brown record, “Home Grown,” in 2004. Hopkins became a founding member of the Zac Brown Band in 2005 and has enjoyed engineering and songwriting credits on hit songs such as “Toes,” “It’s Not OK,” and “Sic Em On A Chicken,” from the multi-platinum selling record “The Foundation,” and “Nothing,” “I Play The Road,” and “Settle Me Down,” from the current platinum selling record, “You Get What You Give.” As the ZBB continues to garner critical and public success through Grammy, CMA, and ACM Awards, Hopkins continues to share the spotlight on stage with his band of fellow songwriters and friends. When off the road, Hopkins works in his home studio on the occasional ZBB collaboration, production for other (ZBB-label) Southern Ground artists, and songwriting and recording with a growing crop of regional talent; he often shares these tracks with Bug Music Nashville, whom he’s partnered with in an administrative deal since early 2011. You can catch 7 episodes of Hopkins’ ongoing Podcast entitled “Under The Influence with John Driskell Hopkins” on iTunes. And when he has downtime on the road, you can try to catch him as he takes his Harley out for a tour of the city du jour.
