[Announcer] This program is brought to you in part by Santa Cruz Guitars Company and Santa Cruz Parabolic Tension Strings and the Santa Cruz Guitar PLEK Department.

And by Peluso Microphone Lab.

Additional support provided by these sponsors.

Hello, and welcome to The Life of a Musician.

Tonight's episode is recorded live from historic 917 West Main Street.

Let's step inside and listen.

-Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Life of A Musician .

I'm your host, Brandon Lee Adams, and we are shooting from the historic 917 West Main Street.

Welcome to Season Two, y'all.

And I'm here with a good old buddy of mine, Mr. Zach Top, straight from Nashville, Tennessee, via Washington state.

-Yes, sir.

-How are you doing, buddy?

-Oh, just wonderful.

Glad to be here.

Thanks for having me out.

-How was the drive down?

Did you find a place all right?

-Oh, yeah, it wasn't too bad.

Winding back through some beautiful country, that's for sure.

I loved it.

-Good.

Well, I know you brought the truck down and hope that wasn't too big a gas bill.

-No, well, it'll be too big, for sure, but, you know, you win some, you lose some.

-Well, we'll get you dinner.

-Perfect.

I love it.

-We'll take care of dinner tonight.

But...

I'm not sure exactly where to start.

Like I was telling Zach earlier that this is a cool full-circle moment.

I've known this young man; I can call him a young man because I've got gray hair now.

I was telling him that it feels like a good full-circle moment because I knew this fella here when he was shorter than me.

-[Zach chuckles] -What, about ten years old?

-Yeah, I think.

Yeah, that was probably about when we met.

Last time I seen you, I think was when I was 11 or 12, so.

It's been a minute.

-Yeah, I remember.

And like I said, I was taller than you.

I felt good about it.

-Yes, sir.

-You done beat me.

-Well, I've been working hard on it, you know.

-I don't know.

I don't think you tried very hard.

It just came natural to you, I bet.

-Somethin', I guess.

-Well, tell us a little bit about yourself.

-Yeah, man.

Yeah, I mean, we met back in Washington.

That's where I grew up.

A little town called Sunnyside, Washington, where I was born and lived there.

Lived in Washington till I was about 17, I guess.

Grew up playing bluegrass music.

I guess at first, what got me into music was country.

I wanted to be George Strait, I guess, since about the time I was two years old.

And the first guitar teacher I could find ended up being involved in the bluegrass world.

Her name was Marie Park.

She's a big reason why I'm here today, I suppose.

But, yeah, she got me going on the bluegrass train, which is kind of how we connected originally.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

And grew up playing bluegrass band with my three siblings.

And we, I think that was, you all come out to Washington with that band, Bottom Line, and played some shows, and I think we opened up a couple of them for you and... -And did a fine job even back then.

I didn't know Marie taught you.

-Yeah, oh yeah.

Yeah, she taught all of us kids.

-Huh.

I didn't know that.

She's a sweet person.

-Oh, yeah.

She's wonderful.

-So I remember back then, even at that young age, you guys were harmonizing together, and you were working on some actually advanced things that you wouldn't expect out of 10- and 11- and 12-year-olds.

But, where did that kind of come from?

Or was that just natural?

-Yeah, it's hard to say.

My mom and dad never played, hardly at all.

You know, we grew up singing in church and all that kind of thing.

I guess that blood harmony comes a little bit natural.

But Marie had a big hand in kind of teaching us just some fundamentals on singing, breathing right and... you know.

But, yeah, I guess being able to sing in pitch and blend together kind of came pretty natural to us, from a long time back.

-Yeah.

Well, you know, I could see back then that all of you, including yourself, I said to myself, if they keep at it, they're going to do something.

And lo and behold, here you are.

-I guess I'm the only one that kept at it.

All the rest of them got real jobs and did smart things with their life.

I'm still living on the road and trying to make it as a broke musician, you know.

-I understand.

Trust me.

-Yes, sir.

I know you've been there.

-If you get lucky, you'll end up with your own TV show.

-There you go.

I'm hoping, man.

-I hear you, brother.

-Yes, sir.

-Well, I do want to get into just visiting with you.

It's actually been really fun.

I saw you walking up the driveway and I'm like, good Lord.

It was mind blowing.

-Yeah.

-But everything, since, you know, we kind of reconnected, everything's really, honestly, honest to goodness, has blown me away how far you have come.

-I appreciate that, man.

Thank you.

-So I remember I was asking you last night, I was listening to songs that you sent me, and, you know, your playin' just hadn't gone from here to holy crap.

But I was like, did you write those songs, man?

I mean, where did that come from?

How'd that happen?

-Yeah, I was a co-writer on all three of them.

You know, I'd never really taken writing very seriously as a young kid.

I did a little bit, fooled around with it with my sister Maddie when we were doing the family band thing.

We wrote a couple of little things, but I probably wrote a dozen songs and only ever let people hear about two of them.

And anyway, but got hooked up with a producer named Carson Chamberlain, producer, hit songwriter, and we started working together back in 2018, I guess.

And he kind of just asked me if I wanted to get into the songwriting thing anymore, and I said, heck, yeah, I definitely want to try it out.

Didn't know if I'd be any good at it.

I don't know if I'm any good at it.

I get to write with a lot of really great writers, so I don't know how much I'm contributing, but they let me in the room with them.

But no, it was something that I really didn't know if I'd love, and I really have fallen in love with it in the last few years.

I've been doing it a lot, and have had the good fortune to be in the room with some, you know, some phenomenal writers, Tim Nichols and Mark Nestler and Paul Overstreet, and a bunch of others.

I don't mean to leave anybody out, but those are just a couple examples.

And I've tried to just be a sponge, sitting in there, watching everything they're doing, listening to everything they're doing, and try to pick up what I can.

And it's been a really awesome journey, and it's fun to, you know, be on the front end of creating them and seeing them come to fruition all the way up to once they're recorded and mastered and let other people hear them.

It's a really fun process.

-It's an amazing thing, and you are, you are worthy to be in the room after what I listened to.

-I appreciate that.

-And I apologize I hadn't listened sooner.

-No, that's all good, man.

-Well, like I said, I got gray hair now, and in my mind, you're still... that tall.

-Yeah.

No, I hear that.

-Let's talk about... not for too long, because I want to hear the whole song and do my best to just play forward and not mess up the rhythm.

-I got you.

-But this first song, tell us just a little bit about it.

-Yeah, absolutely.

This first song is called "Bad Luck."

This is one I wrote with Carson and then Mark Nestler, and I don't know what there is to say about it.

It's a fun little groovy tune in a minor key, which you don't hear a ton of anymore, I feel like, in commercial country, but I love this thing.

It's called "Bad Luck."

It's kind of a goofy little spin on a guy who's had bad luck all his life until the right gal came along.

And that's kind of the story the song tells.

We had a blast writing it, and we kind of knew as soon as we were done with it that day that we wanted to record it at some point.

And the first session we ended up going in and we cut this one, and I think it turned out great.

And I'm going to do a little version of it for you now.

-Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

And like I said, I'll do my best just to make the fills pretty and not mess up the rhythm.

-I love it.

Let's do it.

1... 2... 3... ["Bad Luck" instrumental music] ♪ My lucky star Fell out of the sky ♪ ♪ Right before My wishing well went dry ♪ ♪ Seems every which way I go ♪ ♪ There's a black cat Crossing the road ♪ ♪ Played the lottery With last month's rent ♪ ♪ And I'm still waiting On my shift to come in ♪ ♪ Bad luck was always Hanging around ♪ ♪ A good roll was always Letting me down ♪ ♪ I had every reason In the world to give up ♪ ♪ But you came along And now it's gone ♪ ♪ So long bad luck ♪ ♪ My first love said She'd love me for life ♪ ♪ Slipped out one night And never told me goodbye ♪ ♪ My second love convinced me To love again ♪ Get this... ♪ Then she left me For my best friend ♪ ♪ My third and fourth Went crazy as hell ♪ ♪ I even bought a rabbit's foot But that didn't help ♪ ♪ Bad luck was always Hanging around ♪ ♪ A good roll was always Letting me down ♪ ♪ I had every reason In the world to give up ♪ ♪ But you came along And now it's gone ♪ ♪ So long bad luck ♪ [instrumental music playing] ♪ You're my lucky Four-leaf clover ♪ ♪ Horseshoe over my shoulder ♪ ♪ Seven come eleven girl ♪ ♪ I'm lucky I found you ♪ ♪ Bad luck was always Hanging around ♪ ♪ A good roll was always Letting me down ♪ ♪ I had every reason In the world to give up ♪ ♪ But you came along And now it's gone ♪ ♪ So long bad luck ♪ [instrumental music playing] ♪ So long bad luck ♪ [instrumental music playing] ♪ Oh so long ♪ [instrumental music playing] -There you have it.

[both laugh] -That's really good, man.

-Well, thank you.

I appreciate that.

-I love that song.

You know, it's a fantastic, fantastic tune.

Great rhythm.

You don't hear that rhythm a lot.

-No, that's, yeah.

-I'm generally playing the bluegrass a lot.

Having something like that come along is a real breath of fresh air.

-Yeah.

Heck, yeah.

-And I'm really digging like how you've come into your own as a musician.

-I appreciate that.

-Can you take us through a little bit for the guitar aficionados back home?

-Yeah.

-Kind of what's your thought process when you're kind of setting up a lead for that?

So, we're starting in that?

-Yeah, yeah.

On the solo, yeah.

I don't know.

So, I mean, on the record, I played a Telly solo on it, so I'm kind of doing an imitation of that on this.

But I don't know, with that thing, I don't know if I had much of a thought process.

It's just kind of playing what I feel, and, you know, it runs up through that kind of closed C chord position.

And pretty much same deal on the D chord, I'm playing out of chord positions a lot, it's kind of how I get around the fretboard, I suppose, but it's just kind of outside of that, there's not much thinking.

It's just kind of get started and see where it goes.

-I hear you, man.

-Try to hang on till it ends.

-That's kind of my thought process on a lot of stuff, is move through the chord and you'll find the note.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Just keep that chord in your brain.

-Absolutely.

-But like I said, I love the style you're bringing to it.

-Well, thank you.

-You know, it's kind of a breath of fresh air... -I appreciate it.

-...kind of approach to the guitar.

-Thanks.

I appreciate that.

Yeah.

It's...

I'm kind of, you know, your hero and mine, Tony Rice.

I know, you know, pretty much most of my early influence playing a lot of bluegrass was from him.

And then, slowly kind of getting into the telecaster world.

You know, guys like Brent Mason or old school, you know, Roy Nichols, stuff like that.

And then, Ray Flacke is one of my favorites as well.

Stuff like that, you know, and just kind of blending the two all together because there's definitely, you know, some Rice influence still in playing solos like that.

-Absolutely.

Absolutely.

-And then trying to steal some off them Telly guys, too, and, I don't know, hopefully come up with some amalgamation that works out to be good.

-For me, it was one of those things like watching how far you've come.

You know, I go back and I think to myself, wow, you know, he stayed at it.

What do you think that was the thing that kept you at it, you know?

Life is crazy, man.

-It is.

-A lot of stuff gets in the way.

-Yeah, it definitely does.

I don't know.

I suppose it was just... something in my blood or something.

I don't know.

It didn't necessarily come from my parents much.

Like I said, all of us kids played and sang, and my siblings were all really talented, too.

I guess I wanted it bad enough and was too dumb to get a degree or get a day job, so I kept at it.

No, I'm just kidding.

But, no, really it's, I couldn't imagine, you know, doing life without music.

Whether I was making a living at it or not, I'm sure I'd be trying to play, you know, every weekend I could and doing it for fun, even if I wasn't, yeah, like I said, trying to pursue it for a career.

And I've been fortunate enough and blessed enough to run into some really good people that's kind of helped me be able to, so far, make a career out of it.

-I'll tell you; this next song was the first song anybody that had been listening to your music that, you know, I brought up, hey, we got Zach coming onto the show.

This next song is the song that everybody's bringing up.

-Well, yeah, people seem to enjoy it for sure, and I'm really grateful for that.

I love this song, and seems like it's resonating with some folks.

-Well, it's beautiful, too.

Walk us through this one just a little bit.

-Yeah, absolutely.

There's kind of a funny story on this one.

This was the first...

I had just gotten moved to... moved to Nashville, I guess, kind of part-time in March of 2020, which, if y'all remember, was a big boom for the music industry.

And so, I moved there, thought I was going to write songs.

And nobody was paying anybody to write songs at that point.

Well, nobody new, anyway.

They weren't bringing in anybody new that they wanted to pay.

So anyway, I'd moved out there, and was just stuck.

I went back to work in construction, and kind of writing songs one day a week or so.

And this one was... there was a big old snowstorm that hit Nashville and couldn't get to town to write, so I had to learn about the Internet and Zoom and computers and all that stuff.

Give me a crash course education so I could try and write a song via Zoom.

And it sucks, writing via Zoom.

A lot of people did it for a long while, and it's weird, you know, the lag and delay and everything.

You can't really play together.

You take turns playing and the audio cuts out, and you know, it was kind of a challenging process to write a song that way.

But we ended up with a really special little song that we're going to play for you now.

This I wrote with Carson again, and really good friend of mine, great, great writer, one of the best young writers in town.

I call him young, he's older than I am, but compared to the rest of the guys I'm writing with, he's a young guy, but Wyatt McCubbin is his name, and just a phenomenal songwriter.

So, yeah, we got this song.

It's called "There's the Sun."

-Let's do it, my man.

["There's the Sun" instrumental music playing] ♪ I might sound crazy now ♪ ♪ But I'll say it anyhow ♪ ♪ 'Cause I want you To hear my heart baby ♪ ♪ I'll never win no prize ♪ ♪ For pretty words and rhymes ♪ ♪ But you'll feel What I'm feeling baby ♪ ♪ Thought I knew What beautiful was ♪ ♪ There's the sun ♪ ♪ There's the moon ♪ ♪ There's million dollar Skyline views ♪ ♪ And there's Rocky Mountain highs ♪ ♪ Oceans rolling wild and blue ♪ ♪ There's the sun ♪ ♪ There's the moon ♪ ♪ Then there's you ♪ [instrumental music] ♪ Baby just think about ♪ ♪ Could you imagine Life without ♪ ♪ All those things ♪ ♪ All those beautiful things ♪ ♪ Now you know What I'd feel like ♪ ♪ With no you in my life ♪ ♪ Like the stars ♪ ♪ With no sky to hold 'em ♪ ♪ That world ain't one I wanna live in girl ♪ ♪ There's the sun ♪ ♪ There's the moon ♪ ♪ There's million dollar Skyline views ♪ ♪ And there's Rocky Mountain highs ♪ ♪ Oceans rolling wild and blue ♪ ♪ There's the sun ♪ There's the moon ♪ ♪ Then there's you ♪ [instrumental music] ♪ Thought I knew What beautiful was ♪ ♪ There's the sun ♪ ♪ There's the moon ♪ ♪ There's million dollar Skyline views ♪ ♪ And there's Rocky Mountain highs ♪ ♪ Oceans rolling Wild and blue ♪ ♪ There's the sun ♪ ♪ There's the moon ♪ ♪ Then there's you ♪ [ending instrumental music] -Yes, sir.

-Folks, we'd like to thank you for joining us here with Mr. Zach Top.

And, Zach, before we sign off, what if we take you out on a real good tune?

Give us a title for this.

-Yeah, well, this one's called...

This one's about my two favorite things in the whole world.

"Cold Beer & Country Music."

Yeah, I love this song.

It's one of my favorites.

And wrote this with my producer, Carson Chamberlain, and we had a good time writing it.

And I couldn't believe this title hadn't been written already.

He came up with it and he called me.

He was out in Colorado, actually, and called me.

He was like, man, I got an idea.

We just got to write it.

I can't believe nobody else wrote it before this.

So, I was like, all right, what is it?

"Cold Beer & Country Music."

Yeah, I'm in.

So, we got on this thing, and hopefully we got it wrangled right.

I sure love it, and folks seem to enjoy it, enjoy listening to it and hearing it out, live.

So, we'll do a little version for you now.

It's called "Cold Beer & Country Music."

["Cold Beer & Country Music" instrumental music] ♪ Hey bartender I need me One of those long necks ♪ ♪ Yeah man that's good as About as good as it gets ♪ ♪ Here's a twenty for the Jukebox crank it up please ♪ ♪ Here's another fifty Run a tab for me ♪ ♪ Nah that stool's not taken, Girl you can sit right there ♪ ♪ Ol' Joe will take good care Of you 'cause he cares ♪ ♪ No I didn't come in here Lookin' for no romance ♪ ♪ Hell I didn't even Come here lookin' for ♪ ♪ One of those One night stands ♪ ♪ I don't need to talk ♪ ♪ I don't need no shrink ♪ ♪ I don't need to dance ♪ ♪ Or hear what you think ♪ ♪ All I need to keep me From losing it ♪ ♪ Is good cold beer And country music ♪ ♪ Girl I hope I didn't come off Too much like a big jerk ♪ ♪ But I'm here to treat myself To a little bit of self-work ♪ ♪ If you'd sit down on That stool any other night ♪ ♪ Girl I'd be buying you drinks Feeding you lines ♪ ♪ Working on a real good time ♪ ♪ But tonight I don't need to talk ♪ ♪ I don't need no shrink ♪ ♪ I don't need to dance ♪ ♪ Or hear what you think ♪ ♪ All I need to keep me From losing it ♪ ♪ Is good cold beer And country music ♪ [instrumental music playing] [Announcer] Thank you for being a part of our show.

We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of The Life of A Musician.

[instrumental music playing] -♪ All I need to keep me from losing it ♪ ♪ Is good cold beer and country music ♪ ♪ All I need to keep me from losing it ♪ ♪ Is good cold beer... ♪ [Announcer] This program is brought to you in part by Santa Cruz Guitars Company and Santa Cruz Parabolic Tension Strings.

And the Santa Cruz Guitar PLEK Department.

And by Peluso Microphone Lab.

Additional support provided by these sponsors.