Zach Top kicked open the doors of the country music world in 2024 with Cold Beer & Country Music. The Washington native seemingly came out of nowhere with a throwback country sound that fans can’t get enough of. Between the solid country gold of the instrumentation and Top’s timeless voice, listening to his debut full-length is like stepping into a sonic time machine. However, he’s not new to this at all.
Videos by American Songwriter
The video below shows a baby-faced Top covering a Vince Gill tune in 2021. The video’s comment section is full of early fans and followers requesting covers and praising him for his traditional country sound. However, they likely didn’t know he would be one of the most celebrated rising country stars in a few short years. Watch him perform Gill’s “Trying to Get Over You” below.
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Looking Back at Zach Top’s Debut EP
Zach Top released the above video in 2021. About a year later, Top released his self-titled debut EP. The eight-track collection showcased Top’s songwriting and timeless voice much like his 2024 release. It also contains co-writes from Carson Chamberlain, who co-penned all 12 tracks on Cold Beer & Country Music with Top. However, the sound is very different.
Cold Beer & Country Music could have been a contender for Album of the Year in the early to mid-‘90s. Top’s debut, however, had a much more traditional sound. It was a blend of the bluegrass that Top cut his teeth on as a kid and classic country music.
Seeing Chamberlain’s name in the writing credits of Top’s debut EP isn’t surprising. He is part of the reason that the “Beer for Breakfast” singer started writing songs. “Growing up, I wasn’t very focused on songwriting. I put all my energy into working on my singing and playing,” Top told American Songwriter last year. “It wasn’t until I started coming to Nashville and started working with Carson Chamberlain that I started really writing songs,” he added.
“There’s something really cool about being able to see the whole process of the creation of a song from a seedling of an idea. I think it’s cool to see that process. I think it makes it mean a little more to me as opposed to cutting an outside song where you didn’t have any part in writing it,” Top said of the songwriting process.
(Featured Image via TikTok)
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