Boy, were they wrong.
In an era filled with some of the most exciting voices we’ve heard in the genre lately, ranging from the likes of Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson to Turnpike Troubadours and Colter Wall, there’s no one doing it quite the way Zach Top is these days on a national scale. Though there are plenty of other stellar artists keeping the traditional scene alive, such as Jake Worthington, Charley Crockett and more, the Washington native has launched himself into the stratosphere as of late.
Of course, this was highlighted on a national scale the past few months when he not only took home Best New Artist at the CMA Awards in November, which he accepted with a Coors Banquet in hand, but also when he scored his first-career Grammy earlier this month. In turn, Top became the first-ever winner of the brand-new Best Traditional Country Album category, winning it with his sophomore album, Ain’t In It For My Health.
Though Top caught some buzz with the release of “Sounds Like the Radio” back in January of 2024, before the release of Cold Beer & Country Music, there’s really no arguing that “I Never Lie” was the track that helped blow him into the stratosphere. In addition to receiving a whole lot of virality online, it would eventually become Top’s first-career #1 hit on country radio in May 2025 and receive a 2x platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
As it stands today, Top has gotten a Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song nomination at the Grammys, a Single and Song of the Year nomination at the ACM Awards and the aforementioned Single and Song of the Year nod at the upcoming CMAs — all for the hit track.
Of course, it was all well-deserved. Being a stone-cold, classic country song, complete with traditional lyrics that have the perfect tongue-in-cheek nature to it and stellar instrumentation, it seemed like nothing short of a no-brainer to send to radio. With that being said, however, that was not the case.
During his appearance on the Zach Sang Show, Top would reveal that “I Never Lie,” along with the entirety of Cold Beer & Country Music, was being passed on by a plethora of different labels upon its completion in 2023. He’d note that while everyone was saying that the record was really good, he was met with multiple responses along the lines of “get back to us if anything goes viral.” In fact, he’d go as far as to say that the main reason stemmed from the fact that it sounded too traditional and ultimately not in line with the pop/trap-influenced tracks that were dominating the radio at the time (and still do, save for the massive success of Ella Langley at the moment).
“I never got any notes specifically other than ‘this isn’t what’s working right now, so let us know if it goes viral or something.’ Everybody liked it. Everybody was like, ‘Wow, it’s really good, but you hear what’s having hits today? This ain’t it.'”
Though it’s clearly a backwards way to look at things, especially from an artistic perspective, it’s not very hard to see why. At the end of the day, the business side of music is all a numbers game to higher-ups, who are banking on a song or artist creating the perfect song to blend in and further blow up on the charts. The “Guitar” singer would reference this as well, noting how most labels and executives want to play it safe and play the “volume game.”
He’d also touch on the massive success of Morgan Wallen over the past five years, noting how many artists, labels and producers are still chasing the sound that he’s dominated with recently. Top would go on to explain that, from a business perspective, it makes more sense to push something along the lines of Wallen’s sound, which has clearly been working lately, compared to his extremely traditional stylings.
“Most people are going to play it safe and play the volume game. For our example in country music, Morgan Wallen is about as hot a thing going as there is right now. So if we got something that kind of sounds a little bit like that, well, then we got a good chance of having some success with it. We’re not gonna set any trends, and we’re not gonna blow anybody’s minds, ’cause we’re chasing something [and] not doing our own thing. But it’s a safer investment to do something that kind of fits in with what’s having success right now.
It’s way more of a risk to take something that doesn’t sound anything like what’s working and say, ‘Yeah, but we like it, and we think it’s good. Let’s go.’ ‘Cause if that flops, you look like an idiot. It’s like, ‘Duh, you should have been doing that.’ But if it does work, then you get to be the trendsetter instead of a trend follower.”
Thankfully, Top’s label, Leo33, eventually took a “chance” (if you can even call it that due to how good Top’s music is) on the Washington native, and the rest is pretty much history. “I Never Lie” would eventually become a #1 and score SIX nominations across the Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, and Top would eventually become the first-ever winner of Best Traditional Country Album of the Year at the Grammys this past February.
Watch the full podcast here:
Zach Top Summer Tour Dates
June 5 – Durant, Oklahoma – Choctaw Grand Theater with Cole Goodwin
June 12 – Orange Beach, Alabama – The Wharf Amphitheater with Cole Goodwin
June 20 – Columbia, Maryland – Merriweather Lakehouse with Wyatt McCubbin
July 9 – Salt Lake City, Utah – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheater with Jake Worthington
July 10 – Boise, Idaho – ExtraMile Arena with Jake Worthington
July 15 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Sasktel Centre with Lukas Nelson
July 16 – Edmonton, Alberta – Rogers Place with Lukas Nelson
August 7 – Ottawa, Ontario – Canadian Tire Centre with Wyatt McCubbin
August 8 – Canandaigua, New York – CMAC – Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center with Wyatt McCubbin
August 13 – Wantagh, New York – Jones Beach Amphitheater with Marty Stuart
August 20 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – PPG Paints Arena with Marcus King
August 21 – Allentown, Pennsylvania – PPL Center
August 22 – Bangor, Maine – Maine Savings Bank Amphitheater with Marcus King
August 28 – Gilford, New Hampshire – BankNH Pavilion with Marcus King
