Zach Top’s Backing Band & Behind-The-Scenes Supporters

Zach Top is one of the hottest names in country music at the moment. The ’90s-style traditional country sound that Zach features is something country fans both young and old are craving, and Zach Top is serving it up in new, original songs.

Top is not only winning over the hearts of true country fans, he’s also winning over the mainstream. He’s up for New Artist of the Year at the 2024 CMA Awards on November 20th, his single “Sounds Like the Radio” is currently #16 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, and his song “Never Lie” has debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 totally off of organic appeal.

As a bluegrass prodigy turned bluegrass performer turned traditional country star, Zach Top deserves the lion’s share of the credit for his meteoric rise. He’s the right artist for the right moment, and everything is clicking for him. He’s an incredible guitar player, both with acoustic flatpicking and Brent Mason-style electric pickin’, as well as a soulful and emotive singer, and a top-quality songwriter when he wants to be.

But behind every star is often a cast of unsung heroes who deserve credit, especially when everything is falling into place like it is with Zach Top. Here are the principal members of Zach Top’s band and team that have help put him at the Top.

Cheyenne Dalton Meyer & Jimmy Meyer

If you’ve seen Zach Top live, you’ve probably said to yourself, “Who is the girl playing acoustic guitar and singing harmonies with Zach Top?” Since Zach Top plays his own lead guitar, someone needs to play acoustic guitar to fill out the sound. That’s the job of Cheyenne Dalton Meyer.

Cheyenne met Zach Top when they were growing up and played on the bluegrass circuit together. She actually started in Zach’s band as the merch girl, and then replaced her sister-in-law in the band when she stepped away.

At the time she joined Zach Top’s band, Cheyenne did even know how to play guitar. She was a fiddle/mandolin player. In a month’s time, she had to learn guitar and a 90-minute set. Early on, Cheyenne would also play fiddle and mandolin, and was the band’s utility player. But more recently, she’s focused mostly on acoustic guitar and harmony vocals. During headlining sets, Cheyenne might also sing a classic country song or two of her own.

Another one of the reasons Cheyenne is valuable to Zach Top is she is active on social media. A Tik-Tok video from June is where she explained her role in the band. Much of Zach Top’s strength actually comes from a social media buzz, but Zach personally is not on these platforms, only his management is through his accounts. In some respects, this makes Cheyenne one of Zach’s liaison to the online world.

Some have also wondered if Zach Top and Cheyenne might be romantically connected. Cheyenne is romantically connected to a member of the band, but it’s not Zach Top. Zach’s bass player Jimmy Meyer happens to be Cheyenne’s husband.

Jimmy Meyer has been touring and playing with Zach Top for three or four years now, and like Cheyenne, grew up playing with Zach on the bluegrass circuit. Along with Cheyenne, “Smokin’ Brett Resnick,” and current drummer Nate Felty, they make up the nucleus of Zach Top’s band. They’ve also recently been playing with multi-instrumentalist David Meyer playing fiddle and keyboard.

“Smokin'” Brett Resnick

Steel guitar player Brett Resnick truly is one of the unsung heroes in the country music revolution. He was Kelsey Waldon’s right-hand man for many years as she was making her name in country music. Then when Kacey Musgraves was blowing up, Brett Resnick was her man of steel, appearing on big tours and major awards shows. Brett Resnick was also the steel guitar player for Luke Bell when he went on all those big Hank Jr., Dwight Yoakam, and Willie Nelson tours.

Few folks could keep up with the hot licks coming off of Zach Top’s signature Brent Mason Telecaster, but Brett Resnick is one of them. And while both Zach Top and the rest of his band is fairly young (Zach is 27), Brett Resnick is the wily veteran of the road. Simply having Smokin’ Brett in the band conveys a level of legitimacy to Zach Top, similar to how Ralph Mooney helped legitimize Waylon Jennings early in his career.

Recently, Nashville-based steel guitar player Ryan “Stiggie” Stigmon replaced Brett Resnick. “I’m incredibly excited to announce that I am now playing pedal steel full time with Zach Top!! So many cool things happening now and on the horizon for Zach and the band and it’s a true honor to be included,” he posted recently.

Brett Resnick said on Instagram, “My time has come to an end with Zach Top. I am very proud of all that we accomplished these last couple of years, starting this from basically nothing to now being on the verge of superstardom. I took a lot of pride in making sure the pedal steel was a force of nature and foundational pillar every night we took the stage.”

Carson Chamberlin

The big appeal for Zach Top’s music is that it sounds like something three decades removed from the present tense, but the music is all original. That means it benefits from both the nostalgia factor, and from being a hot commodity of today. If there was any ace-in-the-hole that helped Zach Top pull this off, it’s producer Carson Chamberlin.

If you want to mine ’90s country gold, go directly to the source. That’s what Zach Top did for his 2024 album Cold Beer & Country Music. Who is Carson Chamberlain? He’s the Berea, Kentucky native that played steel guitar and was the bandleader for Keith Whitley all the way up to the country legend’s death in 1989. After that, Carson was the tour manager for Alan Jackson and Clint Black. Along with Brent Mason who also played on the Zach Top record, they helped craft the ’90s country sound.

Carson Chamberlain also co-wrote every song on Cold Beer & Country Music with Zach Top.

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Also give credit to the independent upstart label Leo33, who took a chance on Zach Top that paid off big, and is putting big support behind him to push debut singles to country radio, which is an expensive proposition. Michael Doyle of Major Bob Music who manages Zach Top has also done a stellar job taking his traditional country sound, and injecting it back into the mainstream.

This story has been updated.