Zach Top, one of the nominees for 2024’s Country Music Awards’ new artist of the year, spoke candidly about the changes fame has brought to his life. The 27-year-old grew up surrounded by animals and farm life in Sunnyside, Washington, though his family didn’t farm as a means of income. “We didn’t run the farm for my family to make money. It was kind of a hobby farm. We had a bunch of goats and chickens and a handful of cows and some horses and stuff. My dad was in the livestock business, so he had a big commercial ranch and then ran the sale barn,” he told Fox News Digital. Despite how busy farm work can be, he stated he had fond memories of his childhood. “I look back on growing up on that farm with only fond memories. It was awesome getting to grow up around animals and, you know, learning how to work like that and everything. I think it was really valuable and a cool way to grow up.”

Life on the road pursuing a country music career has certainly been a big change. “Life’s way too fast, too. It seemed like it was pretty slow moving. I guess it always is when you’re a kid a little bit. But, yeah, it just felt like a routine every day. And, you know, probably the biggest thing is waking up in the same spot when I was growing up,” he said. On the road, he finds himself in different cities constantly. “Now, I never wake up in the same town. I wake up somewhere else. I’ve got to figure out where I am the next morning,” he shared. He admitted being grateful for many of the changes, but that there were some “I’d rather live without.” One change he noted was the constant sitting required when on a busy travel schedule. “All I do is sit around on this bus and wait to play music it seems like now. I try and get outside as much as I can, but it’s a lot more to, you know, go play golf or go for a hike or something. It seems more like a vacation to get outside than it was,” he said.

He is grateful, however, for the ways his music has resonated with fans. “People resonate with songs that, you know, there’s something on that record, I think, for everybody, no matter what stage of life,” he said. His debut album had over 4 million streams the first week it was released. “Party songs, and you’ve got heartbreak songs. You got love songs. You know songs about love. Just, you know, kind of covers the range of the human condition, I guess, which is one of my favorite things about country music is that it tells stories that makes people feel understood and seen wherever they are in life.” The 2024 CMA’s premieres on November 11, with hosts Peyton Manning, Luke Bryan, and Lainey Wilson.