During a conversation with Holler, Zach Top reflects on how he drew inspiration from Jimmy Buffett's island-inspired sound across his latest album, Ain't In It For My Health.

While chatting to Holler during his time in the UK, the ‘I Never Lie’ hitmaker begins by admitting he likely won't ever drop a whole-hearted beach country record, “It's early to tell. Who knows. But I don't envision myself kind of going full-blown island sound”.

Top goes on to underline his deep appreciation for Buffett's catalogue, “But that was a huge part of my [upbringing]. One of the earliest things I remember is my parents were always playing Jimmy Buffett around the house and in the car. I love so many of those songs. That comes very natural to me, too, every now and then writing a song that feels like that. So there will always be a little bit of that on any of my records. But we'll probably just keep it to a special one here and there”.

You can hear textures from the likes of Buffett and Kenny Chesney throughout Top's discography, most notably on songs like ‘Good Times & Tan Lines’, ‘Busy Doin’ Nothin’ and ‘Flip Flop’.

During a recent interview with the Zach Sang Show, Top sheds some light on how the playful ‘Flip Flop’ came about, “Yeah, no, that one's a goofy one for sure. We wrote that with Paul Overstreet...He's hilarious. And whatever and wherever his head's at that day, that's where [we are]. It's Paul's world, and we're living in it”. Top penned the sunny, carefree ode with Overstreet and Carson Chamberlain.

He recalls, “I remember [Paul] came in wearing a cowboy hat and flip flops, and he'd just come back from the Caymans or something, and he made some joke about how he had flip flops on with his cowboy hat, and that must look goofy. And then we stumbled on the flip flop [idea]...and so we ran with it and it's funny how with those type of songs, there's no big meaning, no big stories, just ‘That's kind of funny’”.

When Sang mentions hearing Buffett-esque vibes on ‘Flip Flop’, the ‘Cold Beer & Counrtry Music’ crooner confirms, “Oh, 100%. I remember probably being seven or eight years old...I remember sitting in the back seat with my sister, [Maddie] just screaming our heads off to ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’, rolling to my grandparents' house.”

Top fondly concludes, “Yeah, we listened to a ton of Jimmy Buffett growing up...I love that sort of little lane of country, the beachy, islandy sort of side of it, that he made his whole world. And I like having a little bit of that sprinkled in my music too”.

‘Flip Flop’ remains one of our stand-out tracks from Ain't In It For My Health, and epitomises the Washington native's ability to flit between various classic country sounds and styles.

It's one of the reasons Top continues to receive comparisons to the legendary Alan Jackson, with Jackson better than anyone at shifting gears between beach country, traditional country and a more commercial country sound throughout his career. We'd love to see Top following in the footsteps of his friend and fellow songsmith, ERNEST, in releasing a start-to-finish tropical country record. We're keeping our fingers crossed ERN convinces Top to give it a go before too long...

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