Washington’s own Zach Top to join country stars at Watershed Festival
Washington’s own Zach Top has taken the world of country music by storm with his authentic, throwback style. Now he’ll be accomplishing a lifelong dream of playing the Watershed Festival at the famed Gorge Amphitheatre.
Top was born and raised in Sunnyside – a place where he still “has many fond memories,” and where his love for country music first began on his family’s small farm just outside of town.
Around the age of 3, Top convinced his parents to buy him a small Walmart guitar and he took his first lesson around age 5. Immediately, Top wanted to play nothing but country.
His father worked at the Sunnyside Livestock Auction (which has since been moved to Toppenish) and he had “grown up around plenty of cowboys,” so that’s what he wanted to be, and the old songs of days gone by were where his heart lied.
The first song he learned to play was the classic “Amarillo by Morning” by George Strait.
“I think my teacher was a little appalled that a 5-year-old asked to learn that one,” Top said. “She said, ‘Maybe let’s learn ‘Jesus Loves Me’ first then we’ll work our way up to that one.’ ”
Whether it was a Marty Robbins cassette in his father’s pickup truck or the bluegrass styles of Tony Rice, Top was all classic country, all the time. He would later move on from his youthful cowboy dreams and begin to take his singing more seriously.
“I realized I was no good at being a cowboy, so I should probably just see if I can play and sing them songs,” Top said. “I like to say, ‘I’ve spent enough time on a horse’s back … so that I can wear the hat on stage without being a shame,’ but I sure wouldn’t call myself a cowboy. At least I had the hat before moving to Nashville!”
Thus, the 26-year-old has long been developing his love for country and the sound he now produces. Although Top’s current music is more reminiscent of 1990s country despite primarily listening to the sounds of the ’60s and ’70s. He figures since ’90s figureheads like Brooks & Dunn and Alan Jackson also grew up on legends like Merle Haggard and George Jones, he has ended up creating similar music “through some amalgamation of it all.”
In April, Top released his second album, “Cold Beer & Country Music.” The record is filled to the brim with crisp fiddle, long pedal steel and guitars with a certain twang that has proved difficult to ignore. The album successfully transports the listener to a hazy room lit by neon lights and fueled by whiskey.
The 12-track LP sounds straight out of 1994 (as the track “Sounds Like the Radio” also insinuates), but remains refreshingly modern yet raw, well-produced, catchy and honest – this record is all Zach Top.
Each song “comes from a real place, some life experience,” Top said. “And then you try to turn that experience into something that other people can sing along to and relate to.”
Featuring tracks like “I Never Lie,” “Use Me” and “Cowboys Like Me Do,” Top has reached the masses and love from country’s intense, more traditional online fanbase. He has stood out and made a name for himself as an artist, something he wasn’t entirely sure would happen.
“It’s been crazy, I’ve wanted to do this ever since I was 5 years old, so I feel really blessed and really fortunate,” Top said. “It’s more than I ever thought I might do, it felt like a pipe dream for a long time.”
Over the course of the year, he has been playing shows across the country, including his own headline performances, tours with some of the genre’s biggest like Flatland Cavalry and Lainey Wilson, as well as shows at major festivals such as Texas’ “Two Step Inn” as well as Montana’s “Under the Big Sky.”
“It’s always somewhat surprising and always super exciting that whatever new place we show up in there are people that have heard the music there and want to come out, buy a ticket, and sing them songs along with me,” Top said.
“It’s pretty surreal; gives me chills just about every night.”
Now he will be returning to Washington this weekend to play an absolute bucket list venue and festival – Watershed at the Gorge Amphitheatre.
When he takes the main stage, it’ll be “a bit of a hometown show; it’s always fun to get back up to the Northwest and play for some folks back home,” Top said. “It’ll definitely be a big highlight of the year.”
Top will continue his monumental year with another single, “Beer for Breakfast,” on Aug. 30 and looks to release even more new music in 2025.
“I’m just glad people are hungry for the type of music I’m putting out,” Top said.