RANKED: Every Song Off Zach Top’s 2022 Self-Titled Debut

Going back to the early days of ZT.

Before Zach Top laid down nostalgic ’90s riffs, he traveled the nation with his siblings, picking bluegrass at local fairs and festivals.

Top started performing around the age of 7 with his siblings on acoustic guitar. But before Top picked up a guitar, his parents thought he might’ve been a good piano player, which Top claims he “kicked and screamed” through years of lessons before switching to guitar.

“I was playing piano before I was playing guitar. But, for whatever reason, I never had a lot of interest in Chopin and Bach and Beethoven and stuff like that. If somebody could have taught me to play piano like (Hargus) ‘Pig’ Robbins, maybe I would have been excited about that, but the style of music I was into, guitar lent itself more to that, I guess. I kicked and screamed through… shoot, seven or eight years it must’ve been of piano lessons, and they (his parents) finally gave up on that, I guess.”

Once Top had a guitar in his hand, he became a picking machine. I mean, just look at this video of a 12-year-old Top ripping “Mule Skinner Blues.”

After about a decade of touring with the family band, it became apparent that ZT was the only child who wanted to keep playing music forever. He joked with Dale Brisby that he forced his siblings to practice more than they wanted, and while they dragged their feet at times, thankfully, the forced participation did not ruin any of his relationships with his siblings.

“Yeah, we ran around 10 years. Luckily, I didn’t ruin any relationships with my siblings ’cause I remember having… we had some brutal band practices. I was definitely the one that wanted it really bad, and I’d sit down there and play guitar three hours a day and then try and get them to, you know, do a little band practice for whatever show we had coming up or something. I was definitely an unpleasant little tyrant a lot of times, I’ll say.”

His persistence paid off, as he’s become one of the hottest emerging stars over the last year. Since blowing up, we’ve seen Zach Top return to his bluegrass roots, teaming up with Billy Strings for the Me & Billy EP. The EP showcased a bluegrass version of his songs “Bad Luck” and “Things To Do,” along with a bluegrass classic, “Don’t Cheat In Our Hometown.”

However, that is not the first streamable collection of songs that highlights his bluegrass stylings.

Although Cold Beer & Country Music was marketed as his debut record, Zach Top released a self-titled album in 2022 before securing his record deal. Zach Top is filled with a sound highlighting the bluegrass roots Top grew up playing. The eight songs (does that make it an EP? What’s the cut off?) on this record highlight the traditional roots of the genre and his silky smooth vocals.

Since the release of Zach Top, the “I Never Lie” singer has settled more into reviving the classic sound of ’90s country. However, the boy can pick and can pick GOOD. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with the album, it’s well worth a listen top to bottom. Like with his debut album, every song on the tracklist is a strong contender with no filler songs, making it hard to rank. But if asked to do the near impossible task, here is how I would rank the tracklist of Zach Top.

Check it out:

8. “Showboat Gambler”

7. “Like It Ain’t No Thing”

6. “Forget You”

5. “In A World Gone Wrong”

4. “Are You Lonesome Tonight”

3. “Love Someone Like Me”

2. “I Don’t Mind”

1. “Three Sheets To The Wind”

The post RANKED: Every Song Off Zach Top’s 2022 Self-Titled Debut first appeared on Whiskey Riff.