Hot off the press.
An early Academy of Country Music Award win has been named this evening, and boy, does this man deserve it. Your ACM New Male Artists of the Year goes to… drum roll please… Zach Top.
“JUST IN: The ACM New Male Artist of the Year for the 60th #ACMawards goes to… Zach Top!”
Zach Top will be sleeping like a baby tonight, knowing that all of his hard work is finally paying off. And that ain’t a lie.
The Washington native has had music pumping through his blood from a young age when he and his siblings formed a traveling bluegrass band. After a decade or so of playing local festivals and events, it became evident that Zach Top was the only of the Top siblings who wanted something more out of their time playing together; he wanted to do it full-time.
“Yeah, we ran around 10 years. Luckily, I didn’t ruin any relationships with my siblings ’cause I remember having… we had some brutal band practices. I was definitely the one that wanted it really bad, and I’d sit down there and play guitar three hours a day and then try and get them to, you know, do a little band practice for whatever show we had coming up or something. I was definitely an unpleasant little tyrant a lot of times, I’ll say.”
In 2015, Top moved to Colorado to work for a year before attending CU Boulder for a year. Then, he quit and decided to pursue music full-time. The first video that took off for Top was one of him covering Daryle Singletary’s “Spilled Whiskey” on the day he passed. Soon after the video began gaining traction, Top started getting calls from folks in the music industry. Still, nothing felt right until his current producer, Carson Chamberlain, got in touch with him. At first, Top was reluctant to reach out to Chamberlain, but thanks to his girlfriend at the time, who gave him some encouragement to speak with Chamberlain after seeing he was a highly decorated producer. Top agreed to medaet with him, and the rest is history.
Last year, Top showed the world that he was the real deal with the release of his debut record, Cold Beer & Country Music. The record, which has a sound reminiscent of the greats of the ’90s country movement, shook up the scene in a big way and put Top on the map. After spending last summer opening up for Lainey Wilson, Top went out on his first solo tour and underestimated how popular he had become, selling out tickets at the blink of an eye.
In the fall of 2024, Top was placed on the map, receiving his first major award show nomination. While he didn’t win the CMA Award last year (which we all know is never an accurate reflection of the state of country music), his nomination, however, showed that country fans of all kinds like what he’s doing. From the country radio fans to your grandpa’s generation, everyone can get down with Zach Top.
Now, Zach Top fans are convinced he’s related to the living legend Alan Jackson, as he has joined him on a few of his tour dates. It doesn’t help that Top’s sound is so deeply rooted in that traditional ’90s sound. But don’t go thinking that was Top’s plan; he never set out to be the ’90s gimmick act.
“Obviously, I’ve got sonically, a reminiscent sort of thing going on from the ’90s stuff. But I kind of…I feel like I cut my teeth on the same kind of stuff the ’90s guys cut theirs on.
For one thing, I’m honored that people see me as sort of a spearhead or a leader back towards traditional country music or country music the way that I fell in love with it and, you know, still love. It’s a fun spot to be in, and I think it’s a lot of just the right place at the right time sort of thing.”
Things are just getting started for Zach Top, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this talent. Country music is healing with this early ACM win.
Well deserved, Zach Top. Well deserved.
“I Never Lie”
