Zach Top says country music lost its ‘soul’ and bluegrass fills the gap
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Zach Top shares his warm take on modern country music, saying the music now seems “perfect” and has lost some of its “soul.”
During a recent interview Rolling stoneThe 28-year-old country singer talked about her new song “Good Girls & Cowgirls” and why she thinks the bluegrass music she started playing is now growing in popularity.
“From my perspective, that’s pretty much in line with how popular my music is right now,” he said. “At least we spent a long time in the country world…everything is really perfect and everything is set up. Everything is just right in the pocket. I think some of the soul is left behind in that.”
According to him, people are now looking for music that’s “a little more raw and real” and that “bluegrass is just that” because “there’s nothing hiding you” when performing the genre.
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Zach Top thinks modern country music has lost some of its “soul” because everything is too “perfect.” (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
Citing Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan as two other major country stars today who have embraced a “very real and raw” sound and found great success with it, he explained that when playing bluegrass, “you better be a bada on your instrument and a bada-singer.”
“You’re not trying to chase perfection,” he said. “You just try to play good music and put your heart and soul into it. People like that. And that’s what bluegrass has always been for me.”
Top is known for playing traditional honky-tonk music and is considered one of the young country artists responsible for the resurgence of traditional country music.
He released his debut EP in 2022, the same year he made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry. He made his big breakthrough with his first album, “Cold Beer & Country Music”, released in 2024.
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Zach Top won the 2025 CMA New Artist of the Year award. (Michael Buckner/Billboard, File via Getty Images)
He achieved further success by releasing his second album, “Ain’t In It for My Health” in 2025, and won the ACM New Male Artist of the Year and CMA New Artist of the Year awards in the same year.
“I don’t know. I brought a beer to the stage, read between the lines,” he said backstage at the CMAs about his plans to celebrate after the win. “I’ve got a bunch of my road crew and band here with me. We’ll go find a place and order a few beers. I’ll probably call my family at some point…other than that, hopefully I’ll get to bed before 5 a.m.”
Her latest song, “Good Girls & Cowgirls,” will be officially released on August 21, along with her new song, “Other Side of Hurtin’.”
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Zach Top’s latest song “Good Girls & Cowgirls” will be released on August 21. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images, File)
Although he has two new songs coming out soon, he has yet to confirm a release date for his highly anticipated third album, telling Rolling Stone that “we haven’t set the date for sure,” but he’s hopeful it will be out in April.
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She said of the song, “It’s a silly, fun song, a dichotomy between what you would call ‘good girl’ and a little more of the wild side of women.” “I think people will enjoy it. Our plan is for this to be the new record. That’s next spring.”
