After releasing his debut single, “Sounds Like the Radio,” last January, Zach Top was suddenly selling out venues everywhere. His “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to country music appealed to purists and casual listeners alike. Even with his popularity surging, the 27-year-old Washington native has refused to neglect the smaller, more intimate crowds on this year’s Cold Beer and Country Music tour. Keeping true to that promise, the “I Never Lie” crooner stunned the crowd when he took the stage at a Nashville dive bar and delivered a Merle Haggard classic.
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Watch Zach Top Cover Merle Haggard’s “Ramblin’ Fever”
Zach Top has been out and about in Nashville lately. On Wednesday (April 9) a TikTok user named Sara was hanging out at the Music City Bar and Grill when the 2025 ACM New Artist of the Year nominee suddenly appeared.
Sara shared footage of Top singing Merle Haggard’s 1977 hit “Ramblin’ Fever” to the platform. “Zach Top hopped on stage at my favorite local bar in Nashville last night,” she wrote in the caption, adding a “mind blown” emoji.
Indeed, there he was, rocking a baseball cap and blue-and-white shirt, singing, My hat don’t hang on the same nail too long / My ears can’t stand to hear the same old song / And I don’t leave the highway long enough / To bog down in the mud / ‘Cause I’ve got ramblin’ fever in my blood.
“Kicking and screaming right now…I would have died,” one TikTok user wrote.
[RELATED: Watch Zach Top Play What Might Be the Song of the Summer During a VIP Event]
“I’m a Merle Haggard Nerd”
Zach Top knows a thing or two about Merle Haggard. In a May 2024 interview with San Diego radio station 103.7 KSON, he took some time to shed some light on the “Okie From Muskogee’s” softer side.
When one of the hosts said she didn’t see Haggard as “a love song kind of guy,” Top immediately broke out into a rendition of “Always Wanting You.” The story goes that Hag penned the 1974 hit about his unrequited love for Dolly Parton.
“Oh, he’s got so many good ones!” exclaimed the “Bad Luck” singer. “Some of his biggest hits ended up painting him as… ornery, like political sort of songs, and that’s by far a small sliver of his catalog.”
He continued, “I’m a Merle Haggard nerd. One of the best all-around artists. Writer, singer, player… I wish I could have seen him live.”
Featured image by Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images
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