CD Review: Zach Top – Cold Beer and Country Music
By Madison Monroe for Country Music International Magazine
- Sounds Like The Radio
- Cold Beer & Country Music
- Cowboys Like Me Do
- There’s The Sun
- Dirt Turns To Gold
- The Kinda Woman I Like
- Lonely For Long
- Bad Luck
- Use Me
- Ain’t That A Heartbreak
- I Never Lie
- Things To Do
Top’s debut album “Cold Beer and Country Music” is a breath of fresh air for country music. Zach brings his listeners a modern take on traditional country. There are many influencers of the album, including Keith Whitley, Alan Jackson George Strait, Hank Jr., Randy Travis, and Merle Haggard. All of their sounds and styles can be heard throughout the album.
Cold beer, love, heartbreak; all things that make country music country. This album allows the listener to experience what it is like to time travel back to the 90s.
The title track “Cold Beer and Country Music” is straight from the 90s. Zach’s use of a pedal steel guitar throughout the song is nothing short of traditional country. Cold beer is a staple in country music. Zach sheds a light on this idea with the lyrics
“All I need to keep me from losing it is good cold beer and country music”.
Zach talks about Alan Jackson being a big musical influence of his in interviews. The influence can be heard on the track Sound like Radio. Zach even refers to him in the first verse where he says “the day I was born the doc couldn’t believe I came out crying Chattahoochee.”
He sings about fiddles and steel guitars in this song. He calls those instruments “Country Gold” because modern country music is missing that these days. Zach is making sure that the listener knows he hasn’t forgot about 90s country with “Sounds Like the Radio”
The songs on this album are just what country music needs. Country music has lost what its way. “Cold Beer and Country Music” gives me hope for the feature of country music.
The bubblegum country music will be a thing of the past soon. This is if we keep letting artists like Zach Top into the industry. I would give this album and 100/10. I cannot wait for the next Zach Top album to drop.