Zach Top is back with two new singles, “Good Girls & Cowgirls” and “Other Side of Hurtin’,” and once again, he proves why he has become one of my favorite artists leading the charge for traditional country music right now.
What I love about Zach Top is that nothing about his music feels like he’s playing dress-up with the ’90s country sound. There’s a difference between being influenced by an era and simply trying to recreate it. Zach has found a way to take the steel guitars, fiddles, melodies and storytelling that made that period of country music so damn good and make it feel natural in 2026. These two songs are a perfect example of that.
“Good Girls & Cowgirls” is the lighter and more playful of the two. It has that easygoing, honky-tonk charm Zach does so well, with the kind of melody that feels like his familiar sound. It’s fun without trying too hard to be fun, and Zach’s personality carries the song. This is the kind of country song you can imagine blasting with the windows down just as easily as you can hear it playing in a packed honky-tonk on a Friday night.
Then there’s “Other Side of Hurtin’,” which gives us the other side of what makes Zach Top such a special artist. This is where that classic-country influence really shines. Zach has one of those voices that was practically built for heartbreak songs. There’s a warmth and maturity in his delivery that can make a song feel like it came from decades ago without sounding dated. “Other Side of Hurtin’” leans into that strength, giving him the opportunity to slow things down and remind everyone that traditional country music has always been at its best when somebody is singing about something that hurts. It blends well with “South of Sanity” that blew up off his previous record.
That contrast is what makes releasing these two songs together work so well. “Good Girls & Cowgirls” gives you the good time. “Other Side of Hurtin’” gives you what happens when the good time is over.
One makes you want to grab a beer and find a dance floor. The other makes you want to sit at the bar for another round and think about somebody you probably shouldn’t be thinking about. THAT is country music. And Zach Top continues to understand that better than most.
There doesn’t need to be some massive reinvention here. Zach doesn’t need to chase whatever sound happens to be popular this month. His greatest strength is that he knows exactly what kind of artist he is, and these two singles continue building on the sound that has made him one of the most exciting names in country music.
If “Good Girls & Cowgirls” and “Other Side of Hurtin’” are any indication of where Zach Top is headed next, I’m more than ready to hear what comes after them. Sometimes you don’t need to reinvent country music. Sometimes you just need a great voice, a great song, some steel guitar, and somebody who knows exactly what to do with all of it. Zach Top sure as hell does.
