"Keep Me in Mind" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

group

Zac Brown Band Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulele, ...

. It was released in August 2011 as the fourth single from the Zac Brown Band's second major-label album, 2010's '' You Get What You Give''. The song was written by lead singer

Zac Brown Zachry Alexander Brown (born July 31, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the co-founder and lead singer of the country Zac Brown Band, as well as electronic dance music group Sir Rosevelt. In 2019, Brown ...

, along with

Wyatt Durrette Wyatt Beazley Durrette Jr. (born February 21, 1938) is an American attorney and former politician. He served three terms in the Virginia House of Delegates as a Republican, from 1972 to 1978, and was the party's unsuccessful nominee for gove ...

and Nic Cowan.

Composition

In the song, the narrator asks that another woman "keep imin mind" should she be dissatisfied with her lover. The song is in the key of

F-sharp major F-sharp major is a major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has six sharps. Its relative minor is D-sharp minor (or enharmonically E-flat minor) and its parallel minor is F-sharp min ...

, with the guitars in

E-flat tuning Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including classical guitars, acoustic guitars, and electric guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By c ...

. During the entire first verse, a two-measure guitar riff is repeated. The chorus follows the pattern B-F-B-F-Dm-B-C-F before the tempo slows on the bridge. During this part of the song, piano and a

string section The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

are heard, following the pattern Dm-F-Dm-B-F twice before returning to the original tempo and repeating the chorus.

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song four and a half stars out of five, calling it "fun" and "funky" while adding that the only negative thing that can be said is that it's "more jam band than straight-up country music." Marc Erickson of ''Roughstock'' also described the song "jam-band like" and "great sounding", giving it four stars out of five. Dan Milliken of ''Country Universe'' gave the song a B− grade, saying that the song "offers some cool musical changes to pad out its slight theme utthe band moves through everything so smoothly that that padding also starts to seem slight." He goes on to say that "even when they transition into a

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

– R&B groove – audacious on paper – they do it with so little drama that you hardly notice it."

Music video

The music video, directed by

Fenton Williams Fenton Williams is a production designer and video director. He has worked with Dave Matthews Band since 1991. He began as their road manager and has served as Dave Matthews Band's lighting designer and video director for the last 20 years.

, premiered on CMT during their Big New Music Weekend on October 14, 2011. It was filmed during a live performance at

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also known colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheater in the Western United States, western United States near Morrison, Colorado, approximately southwest of Denver. It is owned and operated by the c ...

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. It shows the group on their tour bus, in concert, and shots of the red rocks. It also uses a live version of the song.

Chart performance

"Keep Me in Mind" debuted at number 59 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart for the week of September 3, 2011.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2011 singles 2010 songs Zac Brown Band songs Atlantic Records singles Song recordings produced by Keith Stegall Bigger Picture Music Group singles Songs written by Zac Brown Songs written by Wyatt Durrette (songwriter) Songs written by Niko Moon