Zach Bryan took some time to reflect after his Oklahoma tour stop. The country music superstar is currently on his With Heaven On Tour to share the music from his sixth studio album, With Heaven On Top, which released this past January. And this past weekend was setting up to be a special pair of shows before weather got in the way in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bryan was supposed to play back-to-back nights at H.A. Chapman Stadium, but due to inclement weather, the first night was canceled. Fortunately, the weather cleared up the next day, and Zach was able to at least play one of his two home-state shows. The weekend also included his 30th birthday, and in a recent Instagram post, the “Pink Skies” singer was transparent about aging and spoke about how special his birthday was this time around: “I turned 30 last weekend and had two shows back home in Oklahoma. Reckon 30 is strange ‘cause you ain’t old and you definitely ain’t young. When I was 27, I figured I’d never make it to 30 but there I was, playing football and flying RC planes around with my family in a field after making it there. That night it thunder stormed and the winds were upwards of 70 miles an hour. There was that old smell in the air like water and grass that reminds you of childhood and Sammy and me were bunkered down with our pups in our tour bus. Every year I’ve had a wild party with copious amounts of booze and bowling, T.I. played one year and Creed played another and we would always be out all night and I’d get so tossed I couldn’t remember anything anyways. This year felt more fun because I was with people I actually liked, doing things I actually enjoy in the place I was raised.” Sounds like Zach Bryan was really able to slow down and enjoy his lowkey birthday. And in the later part of the country star’s message on social media, he thanked Oklahoma for continuing to accept him. Why would they have ever stopped? Well, Bryan mentioned the backlash that he faced when he teased – and then eventually released – his anti-ICE song “Bad News.” Zach figured that Oklahoma would have turned on him after that, but he was pleasantly surprised to still be welcomed with open arms in his home state: “The crowd was electric even though I thought Oklahoma disowned me after the whole ‘Bad News’ Fox News bulls**t but it was still home and my people were still my people. No matter who’s saying what, I feel at peace with myself in the world for once and that was worth every sh***y day. You can still come home. Thank you Oklahoma for making my birthday so special.” View this post on Instagram Interesting to include that in what is otherwise a very grateful and non-controversial statement of gratitude. It just goes to show that Bryan is still dealing with (or at least thinking about) the criticism he received when he shared a snippet of “Bad News” last October. You likely remember that the buzz around the song shot to the stratosphere when it was first teased, and even got the attention of the Department of Homeland Security. Of course, Zach wears his heart on his sleeve, always has… it’s why his writing hits so hard with fans. We did a deep dive on the song here after it was released, in case you wanted to check that out. And of course, here’s the full song that was released as a part of With Heaven On Top in case you haven’t heard it: “Bad News” by Zach Bryan The post “My People Were Still My People”: Zach Bryan Thought Oklahoma Was Going To Disown Him After ‘Bad News’ Backlash first appeared on Whiskey Riff.