Don’t look now, but there has been a dramatic shift in the trajectory of two of country music’s hottest up-and-coming stars, and it doesn’t bode well if you’re advocating for the continuance of country music’s resurgence
It’s a very real possibility that Zach Top doesn’t win a single trophy at the 2025 CMA Awards. But in some respects, it doesn’t matter if he does. He’s already won as a traditionalist on an independent label.
Summer is winding down, and it’s time to put away the swimsuits and party songs, and bust out the sweater and sad bastard tunes. There’s so much great music coming out right now, it’s kind of ridiculous.
Zach Top illustrates the timeless appeal of true country music. He isn’t just making music that’s curiously popular for its older sound. He’s ushering in an entirely new era for the country music genre.
Whoa, the release day we have lined up for Friday, August 29th is going to be WILD. Some of the names you might recognize. Some of them might be new to you. But they’re all worth paying attention to.
Charley Crockett has been making more and more public pronouncements that make you want to pump your fists, ranting about the music business, and making David Goggins-like motivational points
Don’t ever find yourself taking for granted that we live in such a fruitful, resurgent time for true country music. It’s a bumper crop of incredible songs coming out each week. This is where you can find the cream of the crop.
Mr. Jukebox. The Mayor of Lower Broadway. The Singin’ Professor of Country & Western. Whatever you want to call him, Joshua Hedley has been a radical preservationist of actual country music for years.
Zach Top has revealed the 15-song track list. Along with the Alan Jackson-inspired summer anthem “Good Times & Tan Lines,” Zach Top has also released the song “South of Sanity” from the new record.
Hope you like *all caps* COUNTRY music, ’cause it’s coming straight at you hard and heavy in this playlist. And if you don’t, why the hell are you even hanging around these parts anyway?
Jamey Johnson reveals just how much new music he has saved up, including a song about him written by another big artist, his feelings on today’s country, as well as his affinity for Zach Top.
Telluride Bluegrass doesn’t just entertain revelers on a local or regional level. It works as an incubator for talent, a launching pad for stars, and the implications of what transpires both on and off the stage is often momentous.
When Top took the stage, the roar was the loudest all weekend, and perhaps one of the loudest heard in the 52-year history of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. After all, this was an arena-level artists playing a 10,000 capacity fest.
There’s just about nothing hotter in country music at the moment than Zach Top. And to meet that demand, he’s released a whole new mess of tour dates that you can be assured will be selling quickly.
Zach Top has just announced the title and release date for what will immediately become one of the most anticipated albums on 2025. To be called ‘Ain’t In It For My Health,’ it will be released on upstart label Leo33.
It remains an unfortunate aspect of the modern media landscape that whenever higher institutions broach the subject of country music, it’s commonly done by someone uniquely unqualified to speak on the matter.
Like Zach Top’s meteoric success, it symbolizes the resurgence of neotraditional country in the mainstream, and is opening up doors for other traditional country artists.
It’s just the ACM Awards. And it’s just their “New Artist of the Year” categories that are split into three separate awards. But the good guys won, and it does perhaps portend positive things for the future.
It truly is a shame that it appears we have to bid adieu to Jon Pardi as a country music traditionalist, and one that was embedded in the mainstream no less, giving him a unique opportunity to change the music for the better.
Is Zach Top really a traditional country artist? Or is he just reimagining the sounds of ’90s country? And are people forgetting that in the ’90s, traditionalists though the music was terrible?
As the rest of country music seems to be following Jon Pardi’s lead, Jon Pardi himself seems to be staying static, if not heading in the other direction ever so slightly.
Why is Morgan Wallen getting a second opportunity to play Saturday Night Live when there are so many other worthy names from the country and roots world that are still waiting for their first one?
The ACM Awards continue to spiral towards irrelevancy. That said, there are some interesting names in the nominations for the 2025 ACM Awards released Thursday.
Neotraditionalist Zach Top is the biggest new thing in country music. And he’s only getting bigger. This album is surging in the charts while he set the 2025 Rodeo Houston attendance record so far.