11 days away, but who’s counting?

Simply put, there’s no one doing it quite as well as Zach Top these days. Though there are plenty of other stellar artists keeping the traditional scene alive, such as Jake Worthington, Charley Crockett and more, the Washington native has launched himself into the stratosphere as of late.

Of course, this was highlighted on a national scale the past year when he not only took home Best New Artist at the CMA Awards in November, which he accepted with a Coors Banquet in hand, but also when he scored his first-career Grammy back 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.

Given the immense amount of buzz surrounding him over the past few years, the success of his last two albums and his fall extension of the Cold Beer & Country Music Tour, the question on everyone’s mind lately has been “When is new music coming?”

Last month, during an appearance on the Mostly Sports With Mark Titus and Brandon Walker podcast, Top would confirm that his junior album is coming next spring and that he’s planning to drop a “couple songs” at the end of the summer

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to say it yet or not, but I think we’re gonna put out a couple songs at the end of the summer. Then [I’m] planning on next spring, putting out another record.”

Back on July 18th at Under the Big Sky festival in Whitefish, Montana, Top would reignite talk about new music when he debuted an unreleased track, “Good Girls & Cowgirls,” to the sold-out crowd, leading fans to beg for a release date.

Turns out the “I Never Lie” singer had even more up his sleeve than just the new track. Shortly after confirming “Good Girls & Cowgirls” is coming on August 21st, he’d double down and announce the release of a second song, “Other Side Of Hurtin’,” on the same day, along with a 7″ vinyl record.

After giving fans a preview of “Good Girls & Cowgirls” in its entirety with a brand new acoustic video on his YouTube channel at the end of July, the Washington native would go ahead and debut “Other Side Of Hurtin’” over the weekend during his stop in Ottawa. Simply put, he’s got yet another winner here once again.

Being a tried and true heartbreaker, filled to the brim with some gorgeous fiddle and steel throughout, Top grapples with a fresh breakup here on “Other Side Of Hurtin’.” Setting the scene at Losers in Nashville, he frames it as a conversation about how he’s doing with a random stranger.

After noting how it’s “almost always about a woman,” he centers the chorus around not wanting to talk about his former lover. In the incredibly relatable hook, he explains that he’s finally getting on the titular “other side of hurtin’,” asking not to ever bring her up.

“I’m just now getting to a place where things are fuzzy
90 proof’s got a way of going down with ease
There you go asking me another damn question
I told you I wasn’t gonna talk about a friend
I’m just now getting on the other side of hurtin’
So don’t you go bringing her up again”

At this point in his career, it’s not an understatement to say that Top has yet to release a bad song, and it looks like that will remain true once again here with the imminent release of both “Good Girls & Cowgirls” and “Other Side Of Hurtin’.” Given how popular his heartbreakers like “I Never Lie,” “Use Me” and “South of Sanity” have been over the years, it’s pretty safe to say that “Other Side of Hurtin’” is primed to be a fan-favorite soon.

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