Zach Top Discusses The Unexpected Rise Of ‘I Never Lie’
“I wasn’t expecting that to be the one that would kind of take off and be the ‘hit,’ so to speak,” he explained.
Zach Top; Photo Courtesy of Leo33
When Zach Top released debut album, Cold Beer & Country Music, fans were quick to take a strong liking to a track that surprised the rising star. Along with previously released songs like his debut single, “Sounds Like The Radio,” “There’s The Sun,” “Use Me,” and the title track, “I Never Lie” unexpectedly became a highly anticipated moment in his live shows.
“’I Never Lie,’ it’s kind of been the thing off the record that’s really poked its head up…It’s funny,” he shared with Nick Major on the Spout Podcast. “That’s either favorite or second favorite song on the record for me, but I wasn’t expecting that to be the one that would kind of take off and be the ‘hit,’ so to speak, off the thing.”
“I Never Lie” Has Turned Into An Anthem
The second fans hear that opening guitar lick, they instantly recognize the song penned by Top with Carson Chamberlain and Tim Nichols. The ballad captures the Sunnyside, WA native’s clever songwriting and traditional country music sound while putting up the front that he’s feeling no pain from a breakup or the fact that she has moved on with someone else.
“It’s as country as anything on the album and a ballad,” Top continues. “So the fact that when we hit those first two little (*mimics guitar riffs*), people just lose it and stuff.”
@zachtop Thank y’all for makin “I Never Lie” your anthem! #classiccountry #countrymusic #ineverlie ♬ I Never Lie – Zach Top
Within the story, Top goes on to say life’s been going pretty good for him too. The emerging act notes that he’s met a model out in LA and that he’s “never been better” and we have no reason not to believe him because as the song says, he always tells the truth.
“I sleep like a baby/ I never show up late for work/ I don’t drink whiskey/ I don’t know how it feels to hurt/ Oh, and I ain’t been lonely since you said goodbye/ Wish I could say I miss you, but you know I never lie,” he sings on the chorus as his twang blends with a strong dose of sarcasm.
Experiencing A Major Shift
Seeing people react so strongly to this song has been a big part of the shift in his career that Zach Top says he started to feel earlier this year. He suddenly went from playing only cover songs during his three hour sets in local dive bars just to try and keep people interested in his performance to having fans fill venues because they want to hear his original songs.
“It felt like a switch flipped somewhere in March or something, even before the record came out because we’d been playing all the stuff on the record at the live shows for a while. So people were starting to know some of the songs before they were even out. But it was, yeah, a switch kind of flipped where we were playing 200, 300 cap. rooms and hoping maybe a hundred or 150 people show up to make it feel full enough and then all of a sudden everything started selling out in advance and we [were] showing up knowing we’re playing to a full room. And rooms just kept getting bigger and bigger.”
Not only are fans coming to a Zach Top show in anticipation of hearing him perform his songs, but he’s proud to say that they’re also singing right along with him, even beyond the hits.
“It’s really fun. It does feel like people that buy tickets for our shows, they know every word to every song. It’s not just ‘Sounds Like The Radio’ and ‘I Never Lie’ and ‘Bad Luck,’ they know every one of them. So that’s been fun. And yeah…it gives me goosebumps every night seeing people sing along them songs back to me,” Top admitted.
Zach Top is currently serving as support on Lainey Wilson’s Country’s Cool Again Tour and has several more dates with the female superstar before the run comes to an end for the year.
Last month, he also added new dates to his 2025 Cold Beer & Country Music Tour, which kicks off on January 16 in Omaha, NE and continues through March. Joining him are special guests Cole Goodwin and Jake Worthington.
Written by
Madeleine O’Connell
Madeleine O’Connell graduated from North Central College with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Broadcast Communications before deciding to pursue her studies further at DePaul University. There, she earned her masters degree in Digital Communication & Media Arts. O’Connell served as a freelance writer for over two years while also interning with the Academy of Country Music, SiriusXM and Circle Media and assisting with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast. In addition to Country Now, she has been published in American Songwriter, Music Mayhem, and Holler.Country. Madeleine O’Connell is a member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.