Zach Top’s Big Year: The Country Star Details His Journey From ‘Cold Beer & Country Music’ To ‘Ain’t In It For My Health’

Fame has always been something of a pipe dream for Zach Top. Though he started learning guitar at 5 years old and formed a bluegrass band with his siblings by 7, he never envisioned he'd be a chart-topping country star. Now, it's hard for him to imagine how different life looked last year, let alone five years ago.

"If younger me had known this is where he'd be today, I think he'd be thankful all day long," Top tells GRAMMY.com.

His debut album, Cold Beer & Country Music, was released in April 2024, debuting at No. 49 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and has since reached No. 4 on the chart. What followed after, though, set the stage for what would become Top's big year. 

"I Never Lie," the album's second single, found virality on TikTok and eventually became the Washington native's first No. 1 on country radio. Since Cold Beer & Country Music's release, it's been a domino effect of success for Top. Among many feats, he was nominated for — and won — New Male Artist of the Year at the 2025 ACM Awards, in addition to being nominated for New Artist of the Year at the 2024 CMAs. 

Stats and accolades aside, what matters most to the neotraditional country artist is connecting with people through his work, whether that be through his emotionally resonant songwriting or his true-blue country performances onstage. In quick succession, Ain't In It For My Health, the follow-up album to last year's debut, blends the traditionalist style of country music and bluegrass that has set Top apart from many of his male counterparts in the genre.

This year, after opening up for artists like Dierks Bentley and Lainey Wilson, he finally set out on his first-ever headline tour, aptly titled Cold Beer & Country Music Tour; the second leg will commence later this month with sold-out stops at venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre. "My favorite part of the job is playing live shows every night," Top shares. "The fact that more and more people want to keep coming out and seeing us is a really cool feeling."

In celebration of Ain't In It For My Health's release, Top looked back on the past year with GRAMMY.com. Below, in his own words, he discusses his No. 1 single "I Never Lie," playing stadiums for the first time, and more. 

Releasing His Debut Album & Watching It Grow

I think it — the release of Cold Beer & Country Music — went about as well as I could have ever imagined. I hoped some folks would like it, and it turned out a lot of people did. I've always just wanted to sing and play, and there's a lot of other work to do outside of that. But I'm very thankful that now I get to sing and play and call it a job.

I think there was sort of a little bit of a sigh of relief, too, that I wasn't crazy. I believed in the music from the start and everything, but it sticks out like a sore thumb from most of the stuff that's going on [the radio] right now. When we got it out and it was well received, it felt like, "Okay, I wasn't just going insane with what I'm doing," so it's been a lot of that. 

It was the feeling of belief. More just like, "We finally have it out, let's see what it does now." I believed in the music and thought that it would do well, but there was also that sense of, "Alright, we've done all we can do. Now the music is out, and let's see if folks love it as much as we think they will." I'm so grateful that folks have connected with the music and that the songs have resonated as well as they have.

We see these songs go from little baby ideas, we get them written, then make a demo recording, then make the actual record, and finish it up. When you put it out there and people love it enough to learn the words and sing it back to you at your show, that feels like where it all comes together for me. The part I love most is putting on a good live show. That feels like the finished product to me. 

Earning His First Country Radio No. 1 With "I Never Lie"

I always loved the song; it's been one of my favorites I've written ever since we finished it. But that was not on my shortlist from the first record that I thought could be really big. I love it, I'm glad that's the one folks resonated with and kind of drifted toward.

You know, it's kind of a mid, slow-tempo, sad ballad. It's funny that that's the one everybody lit up on so much. And now, with the new record, I'm trying to pick out which one will be the little sleeper that kind of pops up that I don't expect off this one, too. I've got some bets going with a few different people on what it might be. 

I think it's a balance [with picking a single]. I don't want to crowdsource too much; I want to put out music that I believe in. We kind of live in a day and age now where you can put music out, see what sticks with people, and then react to that. You can pour more fuel on the fire if it's already starting, which is a useful way to go about things. The people can kind of decide for you what their favorite is, and then you can push it from there.

It's nice to have the radio hits and whatnot, but I don't concern myself a whole lot with that. Some of my favorite songs I grew up on were never big radio hits, so I don't think that's what makes a song great. But it's fun to have it, for sure. If it keeps introducing the song to more people, then I'm all for it. Playing that song live every night and hearing people go crazy from the first two notes of the intro — that's kind of all the validation I need for the song.

Headlining His Own Tour

It's been unbelievable seeing that, just at the beginning of last year, we were playing little 200 to 300-cap clubs. Now, we're coming up to the first weekend of my tour, and we're about to play two sold-out nights at Red Rocks in a row. It's kind of wild. Honestly, if the growth I've seen in the last year and a half had happened over 10 years, I would've been thrilled. It's pretty crazy how quick it's moved. I guess it's a testament to how much folks enjoy the music, which I'm very thankful for.

We're going to go back and play a bunch of venues I opened up in over the last year for Dierks Bentley and then Lainey Wilson. Now we'll get to go back and do our own show in those places. That's another kind of crazy, pinch-me moment. Just in 2024, I was the opener in a bunch of these spots, and now, one year later, we're coming back to do our own shows. That is wild and very exciting.

The fact that more and more people want to keep coming out and seeing us is a really cool feeling. We'll keep working hard to put on the best show we possibly can for them every night. You spend so long coming up, playing cover songs just to keep people interested because you've got to play something they know. Then it starts to transition into, "Oh, now I've got a couple songs of my own that they want to hear." 

Now we're at the point where we barely have any room to do covers, because people want to hear all our songs. You have an intimate connection with a song if you write it — it starts as a little baby idea, you watch it grow up, and then you put it out into the world. When the crowd loves it just as much as you do, it's a very cool full-circle moment. It definitely makes me feel something every night. 

Playing His First Stadium Sets

The first stadium we played at was back in March — we sold out the Houston Rodeo. That was my first time really being in awe of how many people were out there. I think it was like 72,000 or something, just a crazy number. That stage is down in the center of the arena, spinning slowly, so you're getting the full view of everybody. It was ridiculous — kind of crazy how loud and quiet it sounded at the same time. It was a very manageable volume inside, but there was this low roar from how many people were there. That was pretty wild.

I feel like a lot of those big shows can almost get overhyped before you ever play them, and then you go do it and it's like, "All right, yeah, it was cool, a lot of people, whatever." But that Houston Rodeo one in March lived up to and exceeded the hype.

Then, of course, CMA Fest — that was awesome. It was fun to be in the lineup with all those other artists and show the fans who come to Nashville a good time. We were just putting "Good Times & Tan Lines" at midnight that night and wanted to let people know it was available. I wanted to put it out at the beginning of the summer and make it a big old summer country anthem if we could. I don't know if we succeeded there or not, but it was fun. Folks seemed to enjoy it. It's a pretty hooky, easy-to-sing-along, lighthearted song, so people caught on to it pretty quickly. It's been fun seeing that song come to life all summer at the shows, too. I knew we were going to be in front of a lot of people, so it was an easy way to let folks know it was coming out.

[Dierks Bentley and I] played "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)" and "Mountain Music," the old Alabama song, at CMA Fest, which was fun. Obviously, we've been on tour with him all summer, so I've gotten to spend a bunch of time with him and share the stage a little. We have fun with it — throw it back with some bluegrass.

I'll get up there and do "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)" and flatpicking and singing a little, and then join in on their goofy Hot Country Knights thing too. That's always a blast — you kind of just get away with murder, act like an idiot, and everybody laughs their heads off and has a good time. Being out on the road with Dierks has been great — he's a very cool guy who loves country music the same way I do. It's been a good relationship to build.

Winning The ACM For New Male Artist Of The Year

I knew we had a great year, and we got nominated alongside a bunch of other folks who had great years, too. I'm not overly concerned with awards, but it's nice when people in your industry — your peers, folks who understand your world — want to give you kudos for doing a good job. It was definitely an honor to get that. It was really nice of them to hand me that award and then let me sing a little song on the show, too. I enjoyed it and appreciated the opportunity for sure.

I was pretty surprised at the CMA nomination, and then surprised again by winning the ACM. It's an industry stamp of approval. Not necessary, but nice to get. 

Like I said before, there are so many people out here being artists and songwriters and musicians, and when you can notice somebody else in your field who's doing a good job, it's cool to let them know. It's nice to hear from other singers and writers in the industry that they appreciate what I've been doing. Hopefully, I can show that appreciation back as much as I can when I feel it. 

It's a nice pat on the back from folks working on the same thing you are. And all the while, the big reason we do it is for the fans.

Making His Second Album

There wasn't much difference [between making the two albums]. If folks liked the first one, I think they'll love this one. And if they didn't like it — well, I don't think I'll change their minds with this one either.

Ten of these tracks we already had recorded before we even put out the first album, actually. I spent several years in town writing before I ever put out any music, so we had a bunch of stuff stacked up. My producer, Carson Chamberlain, and I would be writing songs, and every time we felt like we had five or six killers stacked up, we'd go in and cut a few more. We just kept stockpiling the best stuff as it came … then we went in and cut five more at the beginning of '25 to finish out the project. Some of it was different, but a lot of it came from that same batch of songs as the first record.

That said, I do think there's more meat on the bone with this record — more depth, more maturity. I've grown as an artist, mostly just with age — having a little more to say and more life experience under my belt now than when I first came to town. I was 22 then, and I'm about to be 28 now. More living, more perspective. I think I've become more zoned in on what I want to say and how I want to say it as an artist. That's probably the biggest area of growth I see in my music.

I hope [listeners] feel a little bit of everything. That's very important to me. If you're trying to make a good country record, there needs to be something for everybody — whatever stage of life they're in, whatever emotion they're feeling. There should be something on the record that makes them feel understood, seen and heard. You've got your fun, lighthearted party songs, your love-gone-wrong songs, your love-going-right songs, and everything in between.

That's my favorite thing about country music — you turn on a great record, and no matter how you're feeling, there's a song on there that meets you right where you are. I hope this record does that.

As things keep going, it's easy to constantly look forward, and sometimes it's difficult to be intentional about enjoying what's happening today. We plan our lives out a year in advance — I've already got my next summer pretty much booked. You're always looking toward bigger and better things in the future. But I'd like to not take any of it for granted. Not forget about what's happening right now — tonight, today, whatever it may be. The younger me would be proud.