Brown began to write “Chicken Fried” with Wyatt Durrette several years before the song’s release. The two met when Brown was playing at a tavern in Atlanta, Georgia. According to Country Weekly, Brown had already started the song when he and Durrette began listing off “things that are very southern or characteristic of the South to put into this song.”

https://genius.com/Zac-brown-band-chicken-fried-lyrics