After the success of his debut album a year ago, Zach Top released his highly anticipated sophomore album “Ain’t In It For My Health” last Friday.

Top released his first album “Cold Beer & Country Music” last April. On the strength of songs such as “I Never Lie” and “Bad Luck,” Top quickly rose to stardom within the country music industry.

While Top’s meteoric rise earned him a large following of fans eager for a more traditional country sound, it left others speculating whether Top would be yet another one-hit wonder. Top laid that speculation to rest with last week’s release.

After listening to the entire track list, listeners may notice the album has a slower tempo compared to Top’s debut album. However, the storytelling seen in many of his releases remains all the same.

“South of Sanity” sounds almost as if it came directly off a Keith Whitley album, likely due to the influence of songwriter Carson Chamberlain, who was a steel guitarist for Whitley. The song describes the singer trying to balance life on the road with his relationship back home, 2,000 miles away.

The track immerses the listener in the feeling of the spotlight shining on them, all the while, their lover back home is ready to end their relationship. However, the show must go on, all while teetering over the edge of going insane.

“Livin’ a Lie” feels like it could be a sequel to Top’s most popular song, “I Never Lie.” In this track, Top has seemingly undergone the stages of grief, with a shift from denial to acceptance. It is a feeling that many listeners who have dealt with heartbreak can sympathize with — lying to oneself until finally coming to their senses and facing the bitter truth.

Even with a noticeably slower tempo throughout the album, Top still produced some faster tracks that listeners were expecting after his debut record. “Flip–Flop” was one of the most anticipated songs when Top announced his sophomore album.

The track has less of Top’s familiar traditional country sound and more of a beach country sound that echoes the spirit of Jimmy Buffett. Top paints a vivid picture with symbolism embodying the typical beach vacation, and mixes heartbreak with a somewhat comical vibe that gives words a double meaning of sorts. Saying that he does not “give a flip–flop if I ever see that beach again,” the listener knows that the beach is not all Top is referring to.

“Country Boy Blues” leans into why many of Top’s core fanbase listen to his music, exemplifying the more traditional country sound. Top seems to share many of the frustrations that his listeners have, wanting to know where he’s supposed to go to listen to country music “’cause it ain’t on the radio.” For fans of classic country music, this track is sure to resonate with their feelings toward modern country.

Top’s debut album set an extremely high bar for the musician, especially with how quickly he rocketed to the spotlight. In the span of just over a year, Top went from performing smaller shows at local venues to becoming the face of the revival of traditional country music.

With the increasing popularity of less traditional country music over the last few decades, Zach Top’s style is not going to suit everyone. However, he fulfills something that many country music fans have desired for a long time. Because of that, one thing is certain after Top’s latest album release: he’s here to stay and won’t be going away anytime soon.