Once again begging these two to release an official duet.
In many ways, The Red Clay Strays and Zach Top have shared a similar trajectory over the past few years. Though the two sit on opposite sides of the genre, with the Strays bringing a wholly unique blend of country, southern rock and gospel elements from album to album and Top spearheading the rise of traditional country back to the mainstream, it hasn’t stopped the pair from garnering a lot of crossover fans and, more importantly, a whole lot of success both commercially and critically.
For the Strays, they’ve been nothing short of dominant during the recent award show cycles. At the 59th annual CMA Awards last November, they’d dethrone Old Dominion as Vocal Group of the Year en route to their first-ever CMA win. They’d follow that up last week and dethrone Old Dominion once again, this time taking home their first-ever ACM Award for Group of the Year.
For Top, he’s arguably been even more successful. Not only did he take home Best New Artist at the CMA Awards in November, which he accepted with a Coors Banquet in hand, but he also scored his first-career Grammy in February. In turn, Top became the first-ever winner of the brand-new Best Traditional Country Album category, winning it with his sophomore album, Ain’t In It For My Health.
What makes the two so special, outside of the incredible work in the studio, is the number of times they’ve collaborated in the past year. Last April at Georgia Rodeo, the pair teamed up for the first time and surprised the crowd with a performance of Waylon Jennings’ 1990 single, “Where The Corn Don’t Grow,” which was later covered and popularized by Travis Tritt in 1996.
This year, they’ve been making appearances together early and often. Back in June, at Red Clay’s album release party for Grateful at the Pinnacle in Nashville, Top would make a surprise appearance, and they’d play the track once again. Just two weeks later, they’d reunite at Top’s headlining show at the Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, Alabama, performing George Jones’ “Bartender’s Blues.”
Last night, the pair teamed up for arguably their biggest collaboration to date. In their headlining debut at Madison Square Garden in New York, Top would surprise the crowd not once but twice throughout the concert.
Early in the set, the Washington native would make his first appearance of the night for a performance of “Don’t Wanna Know,” a standout track from their new album, Grateful. In case that wasn’t enough, however, he’d return during the encore for a stunning cover of Kris Kristofferson’s country standard “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” which has been recorded countless times by the likes of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash to Tyler Childers and Elvis.
Even more excitingly, the entire show will be released as a live album in the coming months, with frontman Brandon Coleman confirming the notion at the concert after it was being billed as a “Live from MSG” recording upon its announcement back in November.
“Help Me Make It Through The Night”
“Don’t Wanna Know”
Their third collaboration of the year comes on the heels of Top teasing a collaboration potentially being in the works back in June when he explained that he and Coleman have been wanting to finally write and record a song together.
“Any time we’re around each other, we love singing together. He’s one of my favorite singers in the world. So we keep on talking every time we see each other. It’s like, ‘Man, we gotta write something some time and record something together.”
While we still have to wait for an original song from the two powerhouses, it looks like we’ll have live versions of “Don’t Wanna Know” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night” officially available on streaming services incredibly soon.
