01-08-2025
Zach Top Does Slick Country Balladry Like Few Others on New Song ‘South of Sanity'
Zach Top struggles to balance a relationship with a life on the road in his new ballad 'South of Sanity.' The latest track released off his forthcoming album Ain't in It for My Health, out Aug. 29, is a slice of slick and satisfying Eighties balladry, with pristine production from Top's producer Carson Chamberlain.
In the first verse, Top establishes that he's far from home, playing yet another gig on the rodeo circuit. This one's in Montana, while his lover, saying 'I love you' and crying over the phone, is 2,000 miles away, begging him to come back. But Top is due to walk onstage — now with a head full of drama. 'When we hung up she was talking leaving/Now how am I supposed to sing and play?' he sings, finding himself 'somewhere south of sanity/just north of insane.'
More from Rolling Stone
'The Mount Rushmore of Festivals': Zach Top Wows Telluride Bluegrass Fest
ACM Awards 2025: The Complete Winners List
Reneé Rapp Isn't Happy But She's Hot on 'Bite Me'
'South of Sanity' follows Top's latest single 'Good Times & Tan Lines,' released in June. The Washington state native is currently on the road with Dierks Bentley's Broken Branches tour, and will play his own headlining dates on his Cold Beer & Country Music tour, beginning in September and running through November.
Ain't in It for My Health is Top's follow-up to his 2024 debut, Cold Beer & Country Music. In June, he delivered a sterling set at Telluride Bluegrass Festival that drew on his own bluegrass roots. 'This is on the Mount Rushmore of festivals,' Top told Rolling Stone following his set. 'You can sit there, play a show, and just look at the hills.'
Best of Rolling Stone
Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs
The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs
All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Solve the daily Crossword
