Zach Top Adds New Tour Dates, Reveals Alter Ego ‘Billy Bottoms’
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. He’s also moving into much bigger venues. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, just as we’ve seen from other surging artists, Zach Top is officially an arena-level artist. You had your opportunity to see him in intimate settings. Now you have to share him with the masses.
The new dates include pretty much all arenas, except for a two-night stop at Red Rocks in Colorado September 28th and 29th. Jake Worthington and Andy Buckner will be the openers on the new dates. They come ahead of Top releasing his new album Ain’t In It For My Health out August 29th.
Zach Top is also set to perform Sunday night (6-22) at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado. Will he play a country set? Will he play a strictly bluegrass for the first time in the last few years? Will he collaborate with other performers? We’ll just have to see.
Another new development in the Zach Top universe is the revelation of his alter ego “Billy Bottoms.” It came at a tour stop where Zach Top was opening for Dierks Bentley, who features his Douglas ‘Doug’ Dougalson and Hot Country Knights throwback ’90s comedy country side project as part of tour stops.
Zach Top is known for performing John Michael Montgomery’s “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)” at shows, and so he came out with Hot Country Knights and sang the country classic as the cigarette-smoking ex-con “Billy Bottoms.”
The pre-sale for Zach Top’s new dates starts on June 24 at 10 a.m. local time. General sale will begin on June 27 at 11 a.m. local time at zachtop.com/tour.
New Zach Top Tour Dates:
September 26—College Station, TX—Live At The Station
September 27—Lubbock, TX—Cook’s Garage
September 28—Morrison, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre
September 29—Morrison, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre
October 3—Charlottesville, VA—John Paul Jones Arena
October 9—Knoxville, TN— Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center
October 10—Louisville, KY—KFC Yum! Center
October 11—Evansville, IN—Ford Center
October 16—Brandon, MS—Brandon Amphitheater
October 17—Bossier City, LA—Brookshire Grocery Arena
October 18—Oklahoma City, OK—Paycom Center
October 24—Charleston, SC—Credit One Stadium
October 30—Missoula, MT—Adams Center
October 31—Billings, MT—MetraPark – First Interstate Arena at Metrapark
November 1—Casper, WY—Ford Wyoming Center
November 7—Bismarck, ND—Bismarck Event Center
November 8—Rapid City, SD—Summit Arena at The Monument
November 13—Eugene, OR—Matthew Knight Arena
November 15—Vancouver, BC—Rogers Arena
June 21, 2025 @ 6:07 pm
I think that may bring the kind of publicity and responses that he doesn’t want.
June 21, 2025 @ 6:57 pm
???
June 29, 2025 @ 8:19 pm
The Zach Top Glaze is becoming unhinged. He is decent, but he sounds like a 90’s tribute act. I find it funny you praise him none stop but attack more “mainstream” artists. When Zach’s stuff is of no more substance than a Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs or Riley Green.
June 21, 2025 @ 6:19 pm
Kind of an insult to Billy Strings.
June 21, 2025 @ 8:55 pm
How?
June 22, 2025 @ 8:34 am
Taking the name Billy and making it the butt of a gay joke, a “top” referring to a “bottom,” while play acting a specifically low class caricature of a country musician.
This after he and Strings record an EP that Zach titled “Me and Billy,” which is presumably supposed to allude to a close friendship.
Clearly Zach is punking Billy Strings. Not uncommon in an “industry” that produces fake burlesque stars to commercially supplant authentic artists, minimizing them while poaching their fans.
And it is no coincidence that Zach Top is the spitting image of the cowboy in the Village People.
Wake up folks.
June 22, 2025 @ 9:15 am
I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about Hank33. You’re making shit up in your head. Zach Top and Billy Strings ARE friends. The only one inferring a gay joke here is you. It’s a stupid Dierks Bentley side project that Zach came out and performed one song with.
June 22, 2025 @ 10:34 am
“Stupid” side projects are more often than not actual humiliation rituals written into contracts.
June 22, 2025 @ 7:55 pm
I attributed the choice of name to a bit of cluelessness on Z Top’s part.
I think that intentionally calling oneSELF “Billy Bottoms” in a devious scheme to “punk” Billy Strings would turn into about the worst “self-own” on record.
June 22, 2025 @ 8:50 pm
Just saw Zach Top in Colorado. He gave a real heartfelt shout out to Billy about his mother’s passing. They’re good friends.
June 22, 2025 @ 10:23 pm
Oh ‘Hank’. Come on!
June 23, 2025 @ 3:25 pm
Hank ?? Are you back on the pipe??
June 22, 2025 @ 8:39 am
He didn’t choose Billy Dingalings
June 21, 2025 @ 6:30 pm
Awesome. I was just thinking yesterday that we haven’t heard from the hot country knights in a while
June 21, 2025 @ 7:26 pm
Unless it is your main “stage persona” (Conway Twitty, Elton John, Sting, Boxcar Willie), adopting a temporary personality seems like a symptom of mental issues to me (Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines, David Robert Jones,/David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust/The Thin Man – now there’s a serious case, Sturgill Simpson/Johnny Blue Skies etc.).
Rather immature, really. They’re too old for such.
June 21, 2025 @ 8:07 pm
Hank Williams – Luke the Drifter
June 21, 2025 @ 8:25 pm
Boy, what a bunch of wet blankets in this comments section, which I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about. It’s just a stupid ’90s goof, and if you can’t have a little fun with it, I feel sorry for you.
Sheesh people.
June 21, 2025 @ 9:41 pm
Trig, they’re all nuts…… they have no sense of humor. We get it, and that’s all that matters. I love the Billy Bottoms video. I wasn’t there, but I know Zach is having a lot of fun with it.
June 23, 2025 @ 7:32 am
as someone who lived through the 90’s country era that they’re parodying – BOY am I surprised at how much people are overreacting to this pretty harmless joke. You guys who are yelling about mental illness have, well, lost your minds.
June 22, 2025 @ 6:43 am
The Statler Brothers & Hot Rize did something similar & in the exact same spirit and both entities are known for being quite intelligent and mentally stable.
June 23, 2025 @ 3:27 pm
Red Knuckles and The Trail Blazers!!
June 21, 2025 @ 7:35 pm
It’ll be interesting to see how the Red Rocks nights turn out. That’s 19,000 tickets for someone who’s never headlined there before. And on a Sunday-Monday, so anyone flying in has to take at least one day off.
Don’t get me wrong, I want Top to succeed. I was there about 2 years ago in Denver when he played a bar show. I suffered through Dierks (not actually cuz Dierks does a good live show too) Red Rocks just to see Top there. I was at the Billy Strings Rose night.
I want Top to succeed and make radio country good again. But 19,000 is a lot of tickets and a tall demand.
June 21, 2025 @ 8:03 pm
That’s perhaps the least capacity he has to fill on the new tour dates. My guess is they’ll sell out immediately. But we’ll see.
June 21, 2025 @ 9:45 pm
It’ll be interesting. The Rose shows were booked before he went big and that was mostly a “Well, we didn’t know how this would take off” because otherwise he would have been at Mission the same nights (4k people)
Red Clay Strays announced and sold out Sunday, then announced Monday, then announced a show in the Springs. And they’re the closest “viral” group that fits the bill.
It’s just weird to completely skip the 4k venues since it’s all under the same management company. CWG hasn’t sold out RR. Flatland hasn’t sold out RR.
June 21, 2025 @ 10:36 pm
Yeah, Top is many times multipliers of those bands. He’s one of the Top 5 biggest artist in all of country music at the moment. His peers are Luke Combs and Jelly Roll.
June 28, 2025 @ 12:08 pm
And yet, both Red Rocks nights didn’t immediately sell out. Don’t believe me? Go check out the Monday show on AXS. Trig you’ve been in this game too long to know that anything other than immediate sellout is a failure.
Top isn’t in the Luke Combs stage yet (obviously because those are stadiums, not arenas). Top is in the weird 12-15k venue spot, which is tough since those don’t really exist anymore.
June 28, 2025 @ 12:13 pm
I agree that the intent is to sell out all dates. I wouldn’t say if they don’t sell out “immediately” it’s a “failure.” Agree that Top currently sits in an intermediate range where he couldn’t possibly play theaters and ampitheaters, but maybe arenas in some markets will be too large. We’ll just have to see. He also has a new album coming out, which could definitely goose ticket sales.
June 22, 2025 @ 11:47 am
I’m not on the Zach Top hype train myself, but I think comparing him to Charles Wesley Godwin and Flatland Calvary is misplaced. Zach Top is getting heavy radio play. Flatland Calvary only get played on Texas radio and Charles Wesley Godwin relies entirely on streaming.
I don’t think Zach Top will have any problem selling out Red Rocks. There is always gonna be a segment of folks who will go to Red Rocks (regardless of artist) just to experience it, then you layer on the viral folks AND the radio listeners?
He will be fine.
June 23, 2025 @ 6:57 am
Dude sold out the HLSR. He’s gonna be okay.
June 23, 2025 @ 3:30 pm
I bet they sell out in like 10 minutes…People in Colorado Love Zach Top…
June 28, 2025 @ 12:01 pm
Fun fact: Monday show has a shit ton of seats left
June 22, 2025 @ 12:30 am
Hot Country Knights > Dierks.
June 23, 2025 @ 7:34 am
Don’t let it get to their heads!
June 22, 2025 @ 5:38 am
Hopefully, the Vancouver date means he’ll do a whole canadian tour 🤞
June 22, 2025 @ 5:47 am
Frustrating seeing the hipsters who comment here finding their weird reasons to turn on Zach top for the sin of being popular
June 22, 2025 @ 8:31 pm
Right? He’s pretty much the best newer artist in mainstream country radio. Isn’t this site about saving country music?
June 22, 2025 @ 5:56 am
Gracious sakes alive, people. I’ll bet y’all thought Pat Boone had really turned into a devil-worshiping metal head in the 90s too…
June 23, 2025 @ 3:34 pm
Didn’t He???
June 22, 2025 @ 8:46 am
I saw a clip online of Zach Top performing with Hot Country Knights. It comes across like he’s copying homework from Dierks but maybe this will get Dierks to commit to going back to the 90’s Country sound for his mainstream stuff since what Zach is doing is working.
Another commenter, I think it was Kevin who said that Charley Crockett is doing is essentially one big alter-ego like what Tom Waits did. Also Crockett was just on Joe Rogan so I will give that a listen.
June 22, 2025 @ 8:51 am
“You had your opportunity to see him in intimate settings” he hardly played any smaller venues on the West Coast the last year and a half he was too busy on festival dates or on touring with Lainey Wilson . . . Honestly I’m kind of upset he never did a small club tour before getting to the arena level. He skipped over the “intimate setting” yours and straight to arenas. I just hope he doesn’t charge an arm and a leg to see him
June 22, 2025 @ 10:09 am
@Trigger have you ever done an article about the history of country music alter-egos? It would be a fun read. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
June 22, 2025 @ 11:04 am
No, but that is a good idea.
June 23, 2025 @ 7:36 am
please do this!
June 23, 2025 @ 2:59 pm
Earl Dibbles comes to mind
June 23, 2025 @ 7:09 pm
Ferlin Husky/Simon Crum–Nowadays–and from the names–most people would have a hard time–and would probably guess wrong–as to which was the real name and which was the comedic alter ego.
And who can forget Hank Jr. as Thunderhead Hawkins of “Rich White Honky Blues”– (which was reviewed here)? OK, maybe a lot of people, but still.
June 22, 2025 @ 11:49 am
No one can top DAC as The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy! That whole schtick is literally the stuff of legend!
June 23, 2025 @ 9:43 am
How many are “serious” projects (Johnny Blueskies, Luke the Drifter, Hank Wilson, Chris Gaines) vs. comedic (Earl Dibbles Jr., Doug Douglason)
And where do the Stryker Brothers land in that conversation?
June 22, 2025 @ 10:49 am
I wonder how many of the people complaining about the “alter-ego” thing also complain about “Johnny Blue Skies.”
June 22, 2025 @ 11:38 am
I already did!
June 22, 2025 @ 8:35 pm
I have a uncle named ” Billy Bottoms” he’s a cigarette smoking ex-con from South Alabama. He’s currently in a nursing home at almost 80. He’s lived a hard life.
June 23, 2025 @ 5:40 am
I actually saw Zach Top at Red Rocks last August. We were vacationing in Colorado and I always wanted to see a show at Red Rocks and felt lucky Dierks Bentley was playing the last night we were there. While I don’t listen to him much anymore I am a Dierks fan and had seen him before about 8 to 10 years ago. I had heard the name Zach Top but had not heard any of his songs. He was the 1st act and I enjoyed his set. Where he really shined though, is he came back out for Dierks extended “Up on the Ridge” part of the show. He got to show off his guitar skills. Afterwards, I gave his music a listen and added a few songs to my playlist and am looking forward to see where his career goes.
June 23, 2025 @ 10:43 am
Wouldn’t a better alter ego be to incorporate southern Texas country rock & roots and do something with ZZ Top?