On The Budding Friendship of Billy Strings and Zach Top
Billy Strings has taken bluegrass to heights never seen before, and mixed it with jam band music in a way that has expanded both the fandom for the music, and where a bluegrass song can take you.
Nobody would have thought six years ago that one of the hottest names in all of country music would be a staunch neotraditionalist who some think was sired by Alan Jackson, and who could also stand toe to toe and pick with Billy Strings.
Hell, up until the last few years, all we got to witness was a sharp and steady decline in country music across the board. But not any more. We have two dudes out there helping to completely rewrite the script. Zach Top and Billy Strings are at the top of their game, and the top of their respective genres, allowing us to re-imagine the possibilities for country and bluegrass into the future.
Add on top of all of that, they also happen to be friends, and increasingly frequent collaborators.
In many respects, the friendship of Zach Top and Billy Strings is as unlikely as the success of their careers. Neither is from country music’s heartland. Billy hails from Michigan, and Zach from Washington State. Billy Strings is a wild, long-haired and tatted-up psychedelic character, while Top is dudded in starched Kimes Ranch jeans and buttoned up shirts.
But game recognizes game when it comes to Zach and Billy. They’re both bad mothers.
The first public encounter of the two was at Under The Big Sky Fest in Montana in July of 2024. Zach Top was headlining Sunday evening of the fest, and Zach performed earlier in the day. You didn’t really expect for Zach to jump up on stage during Billy’s set. But when he did, magic ensued. The two’s rendition of “Freeborn Man” was nothing short of epic. “Big Spike Hammer” was not bad either. And both the rednecks and hippies in the audience rejoiced.
Then there was the meeting in Colorado about a month ago in Denver at The Grizzly Rose. Some lucky SOB’s in the 2,000-capacity venue got to see Billy Strings jump up on stage with Zach and they went to town once again.
In November, the two released a 3-song live exclusive recording to Apple Music where they played Zach’s songs “Bad Luck,” “Things To Do,” as well as “Don’t Cheat In Our Hometown” popularized by Ricky Skaggs. On Friday (2-28), the 3-song set was finally released as the Me & Billy EP to all streaming services.
Don’t be surprised if this is the first of many live and studio collaborations between the two stars who both started in bluegrass, and are both killer guitar players—Billy being more improvisational, and Zach being more clean and composed.
In fact, fans have taken notice that Zach Top is playing consecutive nights at the Ryman Auditorium Friday (Feb 28th) and Saturday (March 1st), while Strings is scheduled across the street at The Bridgestone Arena these same nights, and The Ryman March 2nd. Will we see the two on stage together once again? We’ll have to see, but there’s at least a chance.
But even if they pass like two ships in the night this weekend in Nashville, rest assured, Billy Strings and Zach Top aren’t done shocking crowds and rewriting the script for country music, both separate, and together. It feels like were living through a Willie & Waylon 2.0. And both country music and bluegrass are better off for it.
February 28, 2025 @ 8:42 am
Billy is such a great harmony singer, I always love hearing him get to do that
February 28, 2025 @ 9:04 am
With all the others things you can praise Billy Strings for, people often overlook his singing. He’s a great singer, and his higher register is his sweet spot, making him perfect for harmonies.
February 28, 2025 @ 2:36 pm
I’m glad you brought this up, Trigger. Billy really understands his range. I’ve been blown away by how, with any cover, he is able to match the pitch but sing in his own key. Summertime is a good example of that. He’s something else and this collaboration is unreal.
February 28, 2025 @ 8:49 am
Looking forward to both nights at The Ryman for Zach and hoping for a Roberts collab 🤞🏻
February 28, 2025 @ 9:53 am
I wonder how much Apple got paid for letting the EP go universal? Apple didn’t do a great job promoting it to get streaming subscribers. I kind of stumbled upon it in November. I absolutely love Apple Music streaming though.
The earliest version of “Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown” I know of and grew up on was Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs on their album Second Generation from 1971 when both were just 17 which I’m positive is the version that inspired Billy Strings and Zach Top. May I suggest Second Generation get the ol’ Trig retro album review treatment? We haven’t had one in ages.
The sooner Zach Top goes bluegrass, the happier I’ll be.
February 28, 2025 @ 10:04 am
Hoptown
Im scratching my head on ” the sooner Zach Top goes bluegrass” take. Of course you know Zach Top spent YEARS in the trad- grass world. Thats all he did, bluegrass, for years. His coming to Country is a newer career move. I love his take on honky- tonk.
Don’t get me wrong, i love bluegrass too, but there’s plenty of grass artists out there to enjoy. Top is downright refreshing to see getting love from more mainstream country fans. I see him as a Dwight Yoakam type, shaking the tree hard by bringing the music back to familiar roots. He’s a generational talent, and I’ll take him anyday over Zac Bryan.
February 28, 2025 @ 10:17 am
Top has one bluegrass compilation out of which 1/2 of the songs are covers. I feel his 90’s neo-traditional stuff is more impersonation, a schtick, than artistry. It pays the bills and he should ride into the ground, but I think the good stuff will be when he goes back to his roots.
I would not use Dwight Yoakam and Zach Top in the same comment.
February 28, 2025 @ 11:04 am
Zach Top spent YEARS playing grass. He was lead singer and guitarist for North Country. They put out a couple of albums full length. They played the trad grass circuit. Look em up. There’s video on YouTube. He was a teen.
As for the criticism of doing lots of ” covers” here’s the thing about grass. Songwriters are not king in bluegrass, in fact most grass artists do loads of covers. It’s much more about virtuosity on the instruments than songwriting. Most of the bluegrass artists out there who are names, are not primarily songwriters, though they may write instrumentals now and then. Yes their are some, but it’s rare. There is a cottage industry of songwriting for the bluegrass market. Later in life, Tom T Hall wrote a lot of bluegrass songs, because it was an opportunity to get his songs more exposure.
Didn’t imply Top is equal to Yoakam, certainly not yet, but my point is he came out of nowhere bringing past sounds back to Country music and it’s working for him. You’ve got a hot take on him, but I often have unpopular hot takes on people here as well, so I can respect that.
February 28, 2025 @ 10:17 am
…”Hell, up until the last few years, all we got to witness was a sharp and steady decline in country music across the board.”
sorry trigger, this is an utterly false and misleading statement. the trend in country music is on a steady rise at least since 2016, even having been exploding in last two years in a way not seen since the 90s. both in quantity and quality.
fact is, billy strings won his first ibma “new artist of the year award” already in 2019. zach top already worked for a while with mark chamberlain, mark nestler or paul overstreet on his nashville career prior to getting a publishing deal with major bob music in 2021. clearly, the foundation of the success of just those two guys – whose developing friendship is of course good news and quite natural given their musical background – goes back more than five years. combs’ and wallen’s even some three years further, at least in comb’s case. isbell’s “southeastern” came out 2013, sturgill simpson’s indie-milestone “metamodern sounds in country music” had its 10th anniversary last spring and tyler childers’ “purgatory” was released in august 2017.
maren morris and kacey musgraves released their milestone albums in 2016 and 2018 respectively. lainey wilson’s arguably still best album “sayin’ what i’m thinkin'” came out in febuary 2021.
by and large we are talking the best part of a decade that country music trends higher, even experiencing something like an exceptional eruption for the last two years and counting. correct me, if i’m wrong but this is considerably more than half of the lifespan of scm so far, isn’t it.
sorry pal, you’re way behind the actual curve with that assessment above that does not hold water. there is already enough rubbish floating around, no need to create any more. or as we say here in the soccer world when it comes to facts and figures: league tables don’t lie.
February 28, 2025 @ 10:36 am
Whoa, slow down there Speed Racer. I’m on record countless times saying Bro Country’s Waterloo was the 2015 CMA Awards. I’ve spent the last decade-plus of my life covering this country music revolution very intimately, and don’t need to be hectored about it. I agree this has been going on for a while. But in the context of Billy Strings becoming an arena-level act and Zach Top emerging as a superstar (which is what this story is about), it’s a phenomenon that can only be told in the last few years. Perhaps I could have worded that sentence a little better, but let’s not act like I haven’t been reporting on the turnaround in country music this entire time.
Also, let’s not act like Maren Morris has anything to do with any of this.
February 28, 2025 @ 7:11 pm
Maren Morris and milestone album go together like peanut butter and motor oil.
February 28, 2025 @ 11:21 am
…you could have worded that opening statement (homepage) way better indeed, trigger. my post was not at all an attempt to hectoring you – it should rather be considered as something that is called “falsification” (in sience). but most of all it is an expression of some disapointment that you would come up with such a gross misleading statement as an opener of the teaser on the homepage. i know you know better and therefore could do way better than that.
also, let’s not act like ol’ hector has anything to do with any of this.
February 28, 2025 @ 12:17 pm
If we could just get Ben Haggard back in the mix…..
February 28, 2025 @ 5:41 pm
I like Ben as well. Not knowing the facts, my best guess is he inherited a bit of his dad’s money. And maybe he’s set. If that’s the case, then touring may hold little appeal to him. If he ain’t hungry for it…..then you ain’t getting him out there.
February 28, 2025 @ 6:23 pm
Not sure where you are located, but Ben and Noel are playing a show in Fall Creek WI on August 12th. This is their second time coming to the little outdoor venue. Last time it was a Merle tribute. Here is the link for anyone interested.
https://nashvillenorthusa.com/
March 1, 2025 @ 5:19 am
This is a good ep almost great. The first song i thinl is ok, the last two are great. I love the cover of dont cheat in my hometown. I could take some more.
March 2, 2025 @ 5:56 am
Great, great music. As a guitar lover (and low-bar picker) this stuff is irresistible. Was listening yesterday to Rick Beato’s interview with Billy and was so impressed with his determination to not stay stuck in one place, to keep learning, and his reaction when he hears people tell him how great he is (which is something like, “Not really.”)
March 2, 2025 @ 1:20 pm
Loved the Rick Beato interview as well!
March 3, 2025 @ 10:57 am
Was waiting for Zach and Billy to walk in after Friday’s show at Robert’s but never happened…. Maybe next time