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Boston Globe

A major country star stepped in to help buy a space for a Jack Kerouac center in Lowell

Advertisement After Sylvia Cunha, head of marketing and business development for the Kerouac Estate, posted about plans for the center being put on hold, Bryan reached out. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'How can I help?' he wrote. 27zachbryan FOXBOROUGH, MA - 6/26/2024. Zach Bryan performs during his concert at Gillette Stadium. Kayla Bartkowski For The Boston Globe 27zachbryan Kayla Bartkowski For The Boston Today, the Kerouac Estate is announcing Bryan's purchase of the church for an undisclosed sum from TMI Property Management and Development, which bought the building from the Archdiocese of Boston in 2006. Kerouac grew up near the Byzantine Romanesque Revival-style church, where he served as an altar boy. When he died in 1969, his funeral Mass took place at the church. Earlier this week, Bryan Advertisement Bryan, a former active member of the US Navy who was born and raised in Oklahoma, has been on a dizzying trajectory. He released his self-produced debut album, 'DeAnn,' named for his late mother, in 2019. In 2022 his triple album 'American Heartbreak' marked his major-label debut. Last summer, Bryan opened his self-titled 2023 album with a spoken-word piece that sounded like Kerouac incarnate: 'I'd say I've seen some beautiful days, I've walked countless coastlines, awoken on mountaintops.' 'He's 29,' Cunha said of Bryan, 'but he's an old soul. Kerouac is part of the reason he got into songwriting, he told me.' Bryan's commitment to Kerouac's legacy should go a long way toward ensuring that younger generations engage with the writer's work, said Jim Sampas, the estate's literary executor. 'I think what's really important about both these artists is the genuineness,' Sampas said. 'In the same way that Jack Kerouac's 'spontaneous prose' touched so many people — he's probably the most influential writer ever for musicians and artists — if you listen to Zach's music, it's so heartfelt and true.' In 2023, Sampas and Cunha co-edited a collection of Kerouac quotes titled 'Truth and Beautiful Meaningful Lies,' part of the estate's ongoing efforts to sustain the writer's legacy. 'We're hoping that more people will discover Jack,' said Cunha. 'That's the whole point.' Bryan's investment in the proposed Jack Kerouac Center, Cunha said, makes his admiration for Kerouac official: 'Now they're intertwined forever.' Advertisement James Sullivan can be reached at .