I Saw Zach Top for $12 While I Still Could

Reviews 29 Comments


It’s a warning you’ve likely read here at Saving Country Music quite a few times over the years: Go see your favorite up-and-coming artists in smaller venues and for cheap ticket prices while you still can. You never know when the script will be flipped, and it’ll cost you three figures to see them from the nosebleeds, especially these days.

So as not to be accused of not practicing what is preached, the decision was made to drive two hours from SCM headquarters to see Zach Top perform at the Fort Bend County Fair in Rosenberg, Texas Thursday night (10-3) for 12 bucks, and up close and personal. After all, this might be the very last time all of this is possible.

It was one of those gigs that savvy music fans keep their eyes out for, where the performer was booked way before anyone knew what was about to happen, and right before it all blows up massively—but in this case, in a space that could swell to the capacity that Zach Top drew from the local area and the nearby behemoth of Houston.

Top said he thought it was probably the biggest audience he’d ever played to up to that point as his own act, meaning not an opening gig or festival. Folks arrived one and a half hours early in hopes of getting on the front rail, only to find a strong contingent of folks who arrived three hours early and had already spoken for the choice view spots. By the start of the show, folks were climbing trees, and girls were on the shoulders of their dads and boyfriends trying to get a glimpse of Zach.

School night or no, the front rows were all filled with folks half the age of Top’s style of ’90s country music. This was the music of their parents being sung by someone of their own age, and not dissimilar the audiences of another Zach—Mr. Bryan from Oklahoma— many of the songs were met with the crowd singing every word back to the stage, including the handful of classic country cover songs Zach Top and his band featured. There is also a heartthrob aspect to the Zach Top phenomenon, with young women and girls swooning, and if they catch a wink from him, screeching.

Where Zach only gets 20 minutes to play in front of Lainey Wilson on her current tour, or an hour at your average festival, Top got two hours in Rosenberg to do his worst. This included lots of his original material like crowd favorites “I Never Lie” and “Things To Do,” but also gave him the opportunity to feature a bluegrass set including a blazing version of “Freeborn Man.” His classic country covers included “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident),” which was appropriate since the county fair also featured a youth livestock auction on the same night, and the entire place smelled like animal leavings.


But this was Zach Top’s element. There’s nothing like enjoying good country music with a bunch of shit kickers at their County Fair on a steamy early fall night in Texas. Top said he was getting over being sick, any kept taking sips of liquid to fight back throat tickles. But when he sang the presumed Saving Country Music Song of the Year nominee “Use Me,” the audience was none the wiser to any ailment, similar to when he hit a high note on the tail end of “Freeborn Man.”

Zach Top took the opportunity to show off all the elements of his skill set, from incredibly soulful singing utilizing his wide range, to Brent Mason-style Telecaster chicken pickin’, to bluegrass flat picking mastery, to even a confident whistle. But it’s also the intangibles like how Zach moves, how he speaks, how he holds himself on stage in a way that feels authentic to himself and naturally entertaining, exuding both swagger and humility that country audiences crave.

Country audiences will be seeing a lot more of Zach Top in the coming years, and hopefully a lot more of the kind of country music he brings to the table. Years ago there just wasn’t the space or the appeal for someone such as Zach Top. Now the appetite is insatiable. If you care about the present and future of country music, it’s hard to not be heartened by the whole phenomenon.

Zach Top didn’t start this fire, but he’s most definitely keeping the flame alive.

© 2024 Saving Country Music