Zach Top announces new summer-released album, debuts new single at CMA Fest
Academy of Country Music award-winner and chart-topper Zach Top is back for album number two.
"Ain't In It For My Health," the follow-up to his 2024 release "Cold Beer and Country Music," arrives Aug. 29 from Nashville-based record label Leo33.
Top premiered the new album's honky-tonking summer party anthem "Good Times and Tan Lines" at a performance to close the 52nd CMA Fest. The 27-year-old performer said he feels mature enough in his art and craft to dive past his grooving neo-traditional stylings into more introspective and personal material.
Top's CMA Fest set on June 9 at Nissan Stadium was one of the best-received of the weekend.
Songs like "Bad Luck," recent radio chart-topper "I Never Lie" and cheating anthem "Use Me" showcase the emotional range of his work. As well, Top's performance of "Sounds Like The Radio" swept the crowd into an almost immediate two-stepping frenzy.
Top will not return to Nashville stages for a while as he's spending the summer on the road with Dierks Bentley, a performer who, like reigning country Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson, Americana Artist of the Year Billy Strings and Country Music Hall of Famer Alan Jackson, champions him.
Bentley went so far as to bring Top out during his Sunday evening CMA Fest set for a warmly-received rendition of Alabama's classic "Mountain Music."
Before letting Top go, Bentley put his arm around the performer and announced to the crowd, "Let me tell you something about this guy… This is the future of country music right here, Zach Top."
Over the past five years, Top, a Washington State native, has blended masterful bluegrass stylings with classic country inspirations to quickly become an award show and live event staple comfortable in all avenues of the genre.
"Artists, especially country ones that are remembered for generations tend to stand out in a massive way when they (debut in) the genre's mainstream. Sometimes you have to give people what they want, right down the middle," Top said in a 2024 Tennessean interview.
"Attempting to gain mastery of your own thing allows you to make music that keeps country's fans from feeling like the genre is getting stale," Top said. "Fresh varieties of country music don't contribute to the stereotype that the genre is some sort of programmed machine."
Growing his fandom via critical acclaim, massive streaming growth, plus TV appearances on programs like "Live With Jimmy Fallon," he's a fast-rising favorite with inherent mainstream appeal.
Describing what seems like the immediate connective power of "Sounds Like the Radio," Top added the following: "Introducing people to me and my music with an up-tempo toe-tapper on an album filled with so many sounds hits the nail on the head in an approachable way that sticks out like a sore thumb (in country's mainstream format)."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Zach Top announces new album, debuts new single at CMA Fest
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