Zach Steed is known around Carroll County for his business acumen and community volunteer work more than his ability to pick an acoustic guitar and sing tenor, but among Southern bluegrass buffs he is a musician they will travel, as they say, “a fir piece” to see.

The 43-year-old Bowdon native, who lives now in Carrollton and serves as director of business development for Systems and Methods Inc., was inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Honor on Nov. 28.

“That’s my real job, at SMI,” he said, referring to the job that pays most of his bills so he can pursue his second career as a musician with the regional bluegrass band Bullsboro. He first appeared on stage with the group in 1982, when he was just 15.

“As my dad always said jokingly on stage, ‘We don’t have any fun but we make a lot of money,’” he said. “But, some gigs do pay more than others.”

Steed the businessman is part owner of the Moe’s Grill in Carrollton and the Captain D’s restaurant in Villa Rica while serving on the board of the Community Foundation of West Georgia.

Steed grew up in a musical family and has been a full-time member of Bullsboro since 1994. The band, which was founded in 1971 by four men from Newnan, has evolved over the years but always kept its focus on traditional bluegrass, which blends harmonic tenor and baritone voices with stringed instruments like the banjo, mandolin and guitar, among others. Zach’s father, Mike Steed, joined Bullsboro two years after its founding in 1973, and he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Honor three years ago. Bullsboro’s current leader and one of its original founders, Donnie Lee, was inducted eight years ago.

“It was Zach’s time,” Mike Steed said. “So, little by little, maybe we’ll all be in there some day.”

The other two band members are Barry Waldrep and David Steed, Zach’s younger brother.

“Zach’s background in music, he’s done a lot more than play the guitar and sing in a bluegrass band,” Mike Steed said. “He’s been a producer [for other artists], and Zach’s written a good number of songs; he’s a writer and an arranger.”

Zach Steed co-wrote with Kacey Jones the theme song for the Sweet Potato Queens titled “Be Particular.” Jones also recorded a duet with Delbert McClinton called “You’re the Reason Our Kids are Ugly,” and Zach Steed has sung McClinton’s part with Jones at various shows.

Zach started, like many kids growing up in the 1980s, playing in a rock and roll band out of his parents’ garage in Bowdon.

“He played in a little garage band called Hands Off, but he started messing with a guitar when he was about 11 years old,” Mike Steed said. “He grew up in it, because we went to bluegrass festivals a lot as a family. He was just exposed to it and he couldn’t help it.”

Zach was influenced as a boy by some of bluegrass music’s biggest legends.

“My favorite picture of Zach was of him when he was maybe 8 or 9, standing in front of a stage, leaning his chin on the edge of the stage, when Doc Watson was playing the guitar and he was just mesmerized by him,” Mike Steed said. “He loved all kinds of music and what he was exposed to most was traditional acoustic music.”

And it’s that traditional sound that still drives him to perform.

“I’m grateful to the organization [Country Music Hall of Fame in Atlanta] for honoring roots music and I’m honored to be included in that,” Zach Steed said. “It’s nice to know that there are folks who understand that all music that needs to be heard isn’t necessarily heard on the radio and this organization honors people who may or may not be professional musicians but have committed a significant portion of their lives to playing music and playing traditional music.”

He said he still gets a rush from being on stage.

“Oh yeah, it’s exciting,” he said. “I always have a little adrenaline flowing before we go up there on stage, especially when you’re on the bill as part of a touring act, you feed off of the crowd.”

Bullsboro has been on the same bill as some of the more legendary acts, such as Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, Ralph Stanley, and the Osborne Brothers.

“I’ve had a lot of fun through the music,” Zach Steed said.

He’s had fun recently playing with fellow Bullsboro member Waldrep, who started the band Rolling In The Hay and is now touring nationally as part of the “Breaking Southern Ground” tour with the Zac Brown Band.

“He [Waldrep] introduced me to the base player for the Allman Brothers, Oteil Burbage, who has been with the Allman Brothers for over 10 years but his hobby is playing bluegrass,” Zach Steed said. “So it’s a big thrill for me jamming bluegrass with one of the best base players in the world.”

But he’ll never forget his roots, playing simple instruments and singing in harmony with his dad and his younger brother.

“We think it makes the music better and, especially, we have a good harmony, the three of us,” he said. “And they say family members often do have the best harmony. It just sounds good, at least to me.”

And it touches others as well. A Bullsboro concert, whether it’s at the Gospel Barn in LaGrange, at the Lowell Opry House in Carroll County or some similar venue throughout the South, is guaranteed to draw a crowd of loyal fans.

“I think people appreciate the fact that nobody has to plug their instrument in to be heard and we just play and what you hear is authentic sounds, everything is real, and it creates an energy that is hard to describe, it’s just kind of raw and edgy,” Zach Steed said.

Steed said he can play other instruments, but he usually only plays guitar on stage.

“I have noodled around on all of them, all the bluegrass instruments, but guitar is the only one I play in public,” he joked.

As for his aspirations for the future, he said he’ll continue working at his day job at SMI, and just savor his musical opportunities as they come.

“I guess when you grow up around it and it’s such an important part of your childhood experience and your formative years you just realize it makes up who you are an you can’t separate yourself from your music,” he said. “That’s how big it has become for me.”