Zach Top and the 90s Country Revival
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 авг 2024
- The 90s country music sound has remained beloved in popular culture for the past two decades, but it's getting a refresh in artists like Zach Top, whose bringing the jukebox vibes of Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn back to life.
00:00 - 90s Country Is Alive
01:28 - The Rise of Zach Top
04:09 - Braxton Keith, Randall King, Ernest
06:15 - Unsuccessful 90s Country Tributes
07:38 - Light criticisms of this era
08:19 - How this era is like the 1990s (Class of '89)
TikTok: / gradywsmith
Twitter: / gradywsmith
Instagram: / gradywsmith
Facebook: / gradysmithwriter
Spotify: open.spotify.c... 
Видеоклипы
Fun fact I work at Amazon, and whenever there’s a major country concert in my area we get an uptick in Stetsons and cowboy boots orders lmao
Hey, it can never hurt to have more stetsons in circulation for their kids to find in the closet 20 years from now 😂
😂😂😂
Who orders a stetson from amazon?!?@🤣🤣
@@Mason_N.I never have, but Stetson has a store. Get it quick and easy, free returns if it doesn’t fit I’m guessing.
Never knew they sold actual Stetsons at amazon.
A month ago I paid for a Riley Green concert just to see Zach Top. Absolutely worth it
Same with Luke Bryan in Virginia, left after Zach’s set was over 😂
In Indianapolis? If so I did the same!
@@ivanarroyo4377 yup!
The revelation that the 90s was 30 years ago was brutal, to be honest.
You ain't never lied
I saw Zach play at a sold out show for 20 bucks back in April and he and his band absolutely killed it. What you hear is from them not some computer, it was a breath of fresh air.
I saw him at a festival in April so incredible
The Grandstand?
Neotraditional country music is having a revival and I absolutely love it ❤
Zach top will be the Top Zach soon 🫡🙌🙌
Hahaha this is witty
It’s gonna catch on eventually 😭
Your dumb
Zach Top, William Michael Morgan, Alex Key and Randall King all deserve more respect.
Randall King, Drake Milligan, and Zach Top are my Top 3 “90s-esque” country singers right now. They’re bringing it back and I love it
I've seen Zach Top twice now for $20 a ticket.. stood front of the stage both times and I knew once he got on the Lainey Wilson tour he was gonna take off and that just wouldn't be possible anymore. I'm happy for him, his album is amazing, and can't wait to hear more.
I’ve just started getting into Zach top. Grady’s timing is impeccable
I freaking love Zach Top. Something you didn’t mention is he’s a ridiculous guitar player. On the level of Brad Paisley. He grew up playing bluegrass competitions so he’s a natural to that stylized electrified plucking that makes 90s country iconic
i just saw Brooks and Dunn in concert a week ago. Probably the best concerts I've ever been to. Ernest was the first opener and he SHOCKED me. I'm big on 90's country, it's what I grew up with. That entire set had me smiling and feeling like a kid again riding in the backseat of my dad's pickup truck blasting Alan Jackson. He was so much better than I thought he'd be.
Ernest is disgusting.
I love Zach Top’s album, and I look forward to him putting out more great music in the future. Thanks for another great video Grady.
You know who we really need to talk about in country music? The Honky Tonk Wranglers, they are absolutely killing it
People got sick of seeing country artists dressed like they just mowed their lawns. They want class. The hat is back.
You mean the ones with their torn jeans, caps turned backwards, gold chains, and singing bro-pop? I'm right there with you!!!🤠
@@rkf2746 Well if the songs were good or made sense they might tolerate the trash can dressing outfits.
love love Zach. Ernest's album is such a good mix of authentic old school country and his more pop stuff.
I like 75% of that album. Some of those tracks are pure trash. 🤢
Jake worthington last album is seriously good
I legitimately thought I was listening to 90s country when I heard him on the radio. Absolutely love it!!
When I first heard "Sounds Like The Radio" come on the radio, I thought it was 90s country, but I was around back then and didn't recognize it. Zach Top has been on my radar ever since!
My wife and I were at George Strait at Kyle field. Tons of straw hats and pearl snaps.😊
Alex Key deserved a mention in this vid. Fortune Teller is such an underrated song.
Yes he did!! Been doing 90s country long time…just because he chooses to stay independent
I love Alex Key! Making Them gives me flashbacks to my childhood! The man does not miss!
One thing that should also be noted is that some of the "unsuccessful" neotraditional acts of the 2010's who had the simple misfortune of debuting during the late Bro Country era are really deserving of their flowers at this point in time. I'm talking about Mo Pitney, William Michael Morgan, and a few others.
Thank you for mentioning WMM.
I got to see Zach Top play for Free at the palms resort casino in Vegas during cowboy Christmas for the NFR. I was freaking out because I feel like NOBODY knew how good we had it to be in such a small intimate setting with him and his band. I swing danced right in front of him and got to talk to him for five minutes after the show. He is hands down the best performer I have ever seen and I’m sure that will be the best concert I’ll ever have the privilege of going to.
So I grew up in the 90's listening to the country stations. Mom was country, 80's pop and "Oldies" soul and Motown. Dad was Classic Rock and talk radio. As I got older of course I got into Emo and Goth and Nu Metal 😂, eventually shoegaze and Folk Rock so on. All this to say the past few years I've come back to my roots and listen to a lot of Alternative Country again, and have recently gotten into "Countrygaze", but every week I throw on some 90's and 80's country, and low and behold...I realized I've heard several of these artists on spotify becuase they played while I had a station on for Clay Walker or Toby Keith or George Strait! Great to hear this sound mainstream again! ❤
Man I came up on Merl Haggard and Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and I'm 56' now! This Kid Zach Top is on fire! This music really connects with me and moves me! I love music that does that,I hear Clint Black,George Strait and Keith Whitley when he sings, nothing short of amazing!!🔥
Just saw Zach Top in Taos, NM opening for Midland and took a picture with him. Felt like I was watching a young alan jackson. Zachs songs are just so good, the songwriting. He is the one to bring old country back I think
I've been listening to Zach Top since his bluegrass days. Three Sheets To The Wind is one of my favorites of all of his songs, and his latest album is fantastic country music. I actually got the opportunity to open for him last September and it was definitely a highlight! Such a nice guy, killer voice guitar player, and songwriter!
Also, got to open for Braxton Keith in December when he headlined with Josh Ward. He was such a cool dude, and I really like some of his stuff. I didn't really get to talk to Josh Ward much, but Braxton drug me along to hang out with him and his band! Such a great time!
(I apologize if this just seems like I'm just name dropping. 😅)
Three sheets is definitely up there with his best songs. I wish he would come to KC before he gets big enough where the tickets will jump to a crazy price. Definitely top of my list of artists to see
Love the 20th century green bankers lamp. Also Zach Top Cold Beer and Country Music is some of the best new county I’ve ever heard next to Lainey and Charlie Crockett
I’ve been listening to Zach top and Braxton Keith for like 2 years almost now and I’m so glad that they’re finally getting recognition. (Braxton Keith has also given me advice/help on song writing after about 2 or 3 instagram DMs 😂)
Have been waiting for this video for a while now. Zach Top is the man!
IVE BEEEN WAITING FOR THE ZACH TOP VIDEO LETS GOOOO
Finding people like Zac Top is why i watch your channel!
I don't listen to country radio because it isn't county anymore. But, when you bring up gems like this guy - THIS is why i listen to your channel!
Love the video as always Grady but there’s two artists you missed that sound straight out of the 90’s! Alex Key and Drake Milligan both are incredible and deserve a listen or shoutout from you. If not at least give them a listen because they’re awesome!
Can’t believe he wants to talk about bringing old country back and didn’t mention Alex Key when his album was number 1 on Amazon new releases…really?
Perfect timing. Been to more country concerts then every before this year and young ppl loving real country and western culture is so back
Midland has been great for years. They should be bigger than they are
Saw him at a local radio show last month. Private show for like 30 people. Great guy. Definitely lucky to see him
I just saw The Rolling Stones in Chicago, and Lainey Wilson opened for them. I stopped listening to modern country a while back because of how it started to sound, but hearing her has encouraged me to give it another chance.
Love that Zach is having his moment. We had him on our podcast two years ago. Can't wait to see where his career takes him!
I was not expecting the “annoying” descriptor for the mustache, made me laugh 😆 and you’re so right!
Ahhh thank you I have been hoping for this video. I love hearing about 90s country and have been really here for the revival!
So happy that Jon Pardi’s song Old Hat was right. Not everyone is ready to give Old Hat the boot!
Zach too was ther best $20 bar concert I’ve ever ever been to
Have you heard of Alex Key? He’s been doing the 90s sound for awhile now !
Scotty McCreery‘s new album has 90s country vibes.
I really am loving Zach Top and Braxton Keith's music, and Randall King. I also think flatland cavalry is amazing.
Zach Top, Alex Key and Jake Worthington.
SO HAPPY YOU DID THIS VIDEO. I am a Zach Top DIEHARD
OMG! To hear such lovely steel guitar in a new country song again!
I would add Hailey Whitters to the 90’s country revival as well. Her music reminds me so much of The Chicks. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought that “Everything She Ain’t”, basically the entirety of the “I’m In Love” EP, and “Big Family” from Raised actually was The Chicks. She’s awesome!
I love her! She was my #1 album of 2022! Actually got a whole essay on her if you scroll way back
Grady single-handedly revived country music
I’m seeing him tonight in concert!!
I've been listening to Zach Top for a couple of years now. Definitely my hands down favourite! Along with Drake Milligan and Jake Worthington. Just dripping with steel and fiddle. The way it should be IMO. 🤩 Also Will Banister is another guy that has the neo traditional sound. It's really nice to have some newer traditional country in my playlist now. Long live 90's country!!!!
Zach Top is one of the ONLY mainstream artists who actually sound like they belong on country radio. Is it that difficult to comprehend?!
The voices and melodies that sound pure 1990s to me: Craig Campbell (latest album of covers), Hayden Baker, David Adam Byrnes, Zach Top, William Michael Morgan, Jake Worthington, Emily Ann Roberts, Jody Booth, Tye Coleman, with some contributions by Randall King, Ernest, Drake Milligan. It struck me so much, I had to collect some of that music in a separate Spotify playlist. It feels like going back to the 1990s and listening to the radio (albeit without all the major stars of the era).
That’s a great list there!
@@theclamhammer4447 Thank you, buddy!
Please can we be friend on spotify? I want to follow your country music playlist
@@BrianDumondor You can find it there. The playlist is called “Country’s Golden Age Revival” by A Songbird.
@@andykirillov there are lots of good ones in your playlist. Thank you
Grady I think you’re underestimating your role in this country resurgence
If you're in to the 90s / traditional revival, @tyler booth really needs to be in the conversation! Great writer and artist. Josh Turner's new one "Down in Georgia" is a TB song. Don't sleep on him. 🤙
He deserves all the success and recognition! He's Legend in the making 🙌
Randal King, Jake Worthington, Jade Eagleson are some of my top country names right now. Grady you gotta talk more about Jade!
Pretty sweet Zach Top is from Washington State too. There's a lotta country fellas up here!
Grady, excellent take on this 90’s revival and how it sits inside and along the larger umbrella of what is country currently. First off, the points about Zach Tops crew being from the class of 89 era can’t be understated. For someone whose goal clearly seemed to be a sound of that time, Zach was smart to team up with the guys who were there making the stuff. And it shows in the sound of the songs on his LP, which is a great record to listen to and cruise the open road too 😂.
The bigger picture about country having a broader labeling to it now is more than fair. In fact, it’s funny to me how much people listen to a song and still need to determine whether or not “it’s country.”
I think of rock and how wide that genre goes. From Elvis to Pantera! 😂 They just give it subtitles. Rock and roll, metal, etc. I guess country is doing that now too.
Either way, I’m thrilled that a music I’ve loved and sang endlessly forever is getting its due. It’s getting its due because production aside, three chords and the truth are what’s needed maybe more than ever. In a culture searching for what is real and true.
You can’t hide a person’s voice and soul, or the lyrics in this style of music. That’s why people aren’t just gravitating to it right now. They’re dead sprinting to it haha.
Keep up the great videos my man..👏👏
I was listening to Zach's album today and got those Keith Whitley vibes. So cool he's working with one of the guys that wrote songs with Keith. ❤
I absolutely love it. Bring back Stetsons, nudie suits, and cowboy boots.
I’ve been tuned out on modern country for so long. But Zach top, Midland, Lainey Wilson and others are bringing back the soul in country
Zach’s music is great! He’s even a small town boy from Sunnyside Washington (15 mins away from my small home town) and it’s awesome to see somebody local, get big!
Just saw Jake Worthington, Emily Ann Roberts, and Cody Johnson at Country Thunder in Bristol TN. Awesome concert!!
Not sure is he’s as 90’s revival as these guys. But Alex Key has been one of my favorites to listen to and I think he does a pretty good job.
Alex Key is AMAZING!! Just because he chooses to stay independent
This is wonderful, thank you! I’ve been sayin I’m waiting for a Zach & Braxton collab 🙏
i was waiting for grady to do an episode on zach top!!
Country’s coming back to town! Shout out Brent Cobb
The nostalgia factor is interesting, but it’s weird in my case. I am 33 (born in ‘91) but was born in Manhattan and lived on Long Island until 2005, and no one in my world listened to country so I wasn’t introduced to it until I started listening country radio when I moved to Georgia in 2005. As I got more into country I gravitated toward ‘80s and ‘90s country and Zach Top is my current favorite artist. It’s just an interesting progression because I don’t have the nostalgia connection.
“Bad Luck” is my favorite song by him.
Thanks for showing some love to my friend Braxton he has been grinding for a long time now love that he is getting more attention keep paying attention he’s got big things coming up
Some of the best country music exists in Mid to late eighties and early nineties.. Roseann Cash, Carlene Carter, Steve Earl, Dwight Yoakam. They have more than stood the test of time.
A. Country is cool again lets go
B. Super country soundin country music lets go
C. Can’t wait for the next ups like treaty and Zach Top
Great breakdown of the current swings and shifts in the music. One artist that I would include in this massive umbrella is Billy Strings. That guy is just taking Bluegrass, Jamgrass, and his prog rock to a whole new level.
snapified backing tracks are my number one opp
I hope your right because my station plays old and new country music and i change the station sometimes.
Recently got into Zach. Lonely For Long sounds just like Sittin’ On The Fence by George Strait. Almost identical opening guitar and steel riffs and same exact key. Either way, definitely like his sound.
This is the way the genre should be. Lots of options and everything thriving because everyone can listen to what they prefer.
Finally the Zach Top video I’ve been waiting on
Another awesome video from the 90's expert Grady! My favorite artist who resembles the nontraditional style of country music is Jon Pardi, but Zach Top is definitely a fan favorite for sure. This mixed bag of sounds in the country genre is quite healthy.
Love Zach Top! I grew up on 90s country (and love it) but at the same time, I love 2010s bro country. Totally different, but both vibes nonetheless. Country’s just cool like that.
A lot of songs on Zach Top's album remind me of specific classics. Lonely for Long has a very similar chorus to Meet Me in Montana by Dan Seals & Marie Osmond. There's the Sun has a similar feel to Texas Tornado by Tracy Lawrence. Love to see these sounds get revived.
Bad Luck is totally a mix of Good Run of Bad Luck and Live and Learn by Clint Black.
I saw Zach Top last weekend as an opener for Luke Bryan and of the three openers Luke had, Zach was by far the best and the most impressive
If this is the way the radio is headed I might need to start listening to the radio again.
I’ve been waiting for this video for so long you talked about all of my top 10 artists 😂
Never stopped being cool
One of his less popular songs called busy doing nothing is without a doubt the best beach song oat
Josh Ward’s Holding Me Together album is one of the best recent examples of a modern day ‘90’s sound there is, and it’s almost 10 years old.
We need a Zach and Cody tour lol.
If him opening for Lainey Wilson is enough for a video, can we get a video on Colby Acuff? He's opening for Luke Combs and has released 4 songs from his newest album you can talk about
He's great!
Been waiting on a dedicated video for Zach Top.
Clicked for Zach Top, hale yeah
Been waiting on you to make a video like this! Awesome stuff man!!
As one of the featured comments I'd like to thank my family and friends for the support
What comes around goes around. If you go back to the 50s on you can see the rotation.
Before 1956, country music was huge with steel.guitar and hillbilly quality. Then R&R happened and singers who were huge literally fell off a cliff. What came next was the Nashville Sound which lasted to.around 1968 which with all the strings and polish, started getting stale, that led into the Outlaw Movement that lasted nto the mid 70s(to around 1978/80) then late 70s, pop and disco permeated everything. Saying all this so far. Pop music has?always been a part of country music since R&R became popular. That pop sound that fumbled around a disco type beat, led to the mid 80s and the Judds and Randy Travis and That more traditional sound bouncing back. That lasted until Garth Brooks in 89and the age of country music having more of a pop sound. That more pop related sound hung around thru the early 90s to around 1998. But compared to other decades, that 89 to 98 time frame probably had more music that leaned more traditional than at any time since 1956 or so. The music was about as varied as it gets. Then came the rascal flatts movement towards a more pop sound around 1998/99. And that era lasted a long time where country music was getting more and more thinned out, where you got R&B and pop becoming more popularized with country. Which led tp for me, the worst era in country music. Bro country and super wimpy power ballads that you really couldn't tell if a song is singer was country or not. That's led to a slow revolt back to a more traditional sound. And that is where we are now. This will last a few years then whatever is popular in pop music will overflow into country music deluting even more. And the cycle continues. I just hope this traditional sound stats around for a while.
Boy, you had me at firecracker! 🧨😅
Been waiting for this video. This neotraditional wave rules
I want the innovation and rawness of DAC with the sound of Jennings and Cash, back, right meow.
Worth a mention. Alex Key (rising Artist)
This video is exactly what I needed
I was hoping you would make this video! 🙌
Country is very complex yet simple. It is supposed to tell a story u can relate to. It can be good or bad. It can be slow or fast but it must feel true.