They both had something to prove. Zach Top is one of country music’s hottest young stars, helping revitalize the neotraditional sound of the 90’s and greats like Alan Jackson, and this year, he already won big in terms of awards shows this year, taking home the ACM win for New Male Artist in April. He is up for five awards at the CMA Awards tomorrow, which include nods for Male Vocalist of the Year, Single/Song of the Year (“I Never Lie”) and Album of the Year (Cold Beer & Country Music), last week, he scored his first three career Grammy nominations for Best Traditional Country Album (Ain’t In It For My Health) and Best Country Song/Solo Performance for “I Never Lie.” Top is also up for a Grammy in 2026 in the Best Traditional Country Album category for Ain’t In It For My Health, Best Country Song for “I Never Lie,” and Best Country Solo Performance for “I Never Lie.” But he took a risk when he signed with his current label, Leo33, which is an independent label, and at the time, was brand new. Top signed with them in September of 2023 as their first artist, as well as their flagship artist, and his debut album Cold Beer & Country Music came out in April of 2024, and the rest is history. And on the Ten Year Town podcast this week, label head Katie Dean talked about her first time meeting Zach, joking that she’s “never thought about a man as much as I thought about Zach Top”: “I mean, I can’t tell you the number of nights I spent praying, manifesting, whatever, that we would sign Zach, and then that we would be able to deliver Zach. I’ve never thought about a man as much as I thought about Zach Top.” Hilarious… and she was right about him. She recalled flying to Savannah, Georgia to see him perform, and she knew right away that she wanted to sign him: Rachael and I flew down to Savannah to see him play live, he was opening for Dwight Yoakam. I haven’t even met him yet. We were sort of late getting to the show, he was getting onstage, so we’re in the venue, and that’s solidified it. I was like, absolutely, yes, this guy. I mean, we thought, this is the guy that we wanna start the label with for sure. We go out after his set is over, and his manager, Mike Doyle, is manning the merch booth, and there’s a crowd already. And I sort of defaulted to my promo roots, and started running a de facto meet and greet that wasn’t a meet and greet. And there was a kind of a break in the crowd, and I then introduced myself to Zach. I said, ‘Hey, I’m Katie. I came from the label to see you.’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, I was wondering who this overly helpful woman was in here.’ And then like this other group of girls came up, and he was so funny, he said, ‘Give Katie your phone and she’ll take the picture.’ I thought, yes, you know already.” There were other labels in the mix, but Top ultimately singed with Leo33, and he told Katie it was because he knew they had “something to prove,” and he did too: “And so there were other labels in the mix, and I think that Mike Doyle and Zach will tell you that us showing up and being there was a huge part of the reason that he signed with us. And he also just said, ‘I knew that you had something to prove.’ And he’s 100% right, we did.” It was clearly a perfect match, and it’s really interesting to hear how he got his first big break in the industry, and when he could’ve signed with a much bigger, more established label, he took a risk that has clearly paid off already. He obviously has a great team behind him, which makes all the difference, and I’m sure he’ll be taking home at least one or two CMA Awards tomorrow, which is a win for all of us: @tenyeartown Katie Dean of Leo33 is signing Zach Top. #zachtop #countrymusic #nashville ♬ original sound – Ten Year Town Podcast The full podcast is available to watch below. The post Zach Top Signed With An Independent Label Because They Both Had “Something To Prove” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.