Does Gen Z remember the Marlboro Man? Maybe he still lights up somewhere on the plains of their genetic memory. Consciously or not, young country music fans seem to have found their own version in Zach Top, a 27-year-old singer from Sunnyside, Washington, who wears tall blue jeans, a brambly mustache and a cowboy hat voluminous enough to hold heavy thoughts. At first glance, Top resembles Alan Jackson, Clint Black and other so-called “hat acts” who printed cash money back in the 1990s, but if you tune your ears to the glint in his voice, you’ll hear the priceless finesse of Keith Whitley, Randy Travis, Don Williams and Vern Gosdin. Time and space gently spin out of position as a big man from yesterday sings softly in the right now.

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