Scotty McCreery Puts Zach Top To The Test, Asking Who Makes His Country Music Mount Rushmore
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Let’s face it, everyone’s Mount Rushmore would look different…
That’s the fun of asking others which figures would feature on their own Mount Rushmore.
Now, when you get country artists like Scotty McCreery and Zach Top in a room together, you wouldn’t be wrong to guess that they’re going to talk about their heroes of the country music genre.
“Who would you say are like your big ones — your Mount Rushmore?” asked Scotty of Zach.
His answer was revealing, but also rung as true from looking at Zach’s own style and body of work.
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Zach Top Shares Who Is On His Country Music Mount Rushmore
For the August episode of his SiriusXM radio show, Prime Country with Scotty McCreery, the country star and American Idol winner interviewed Zach Top.
Over the past couple years, Zach has earned a reputation as a champion of classic country, routinely performing covers of hits from the vast catalogue of the country music greats who came before him.
Further, he’s been recognized as a practitioner of traditional country, having won the inaugural Grammy for Best Traditional Country Album in 2026 for his third studio album, Ain’t In It For My Health.
Speaking to Zach, Scotty decided to dig a little deeper into where Zach’s sound and affinity for the past comes from.
“Here on ‘Prime Country,’ we love all things ’80s and ’90s country music,” Scotty began. “I think, in 2026, you are keeping the ‘Prime Country’ sound alive, so we all appreciate that.”
Zach replied, “Thank you.”
Continuing, Scotty then asked, “I know you’ve got to have been influenced by a lot of those ’80s and ’90s country music guys and gals. Who would you say are like your big ones — your Mount Rushmore?”
Being as much a fan of the music as he is an artist, this wasn’t an issue for Zach, who responded, saying, “Yeah, Mount Rushmore, for me, No. 1 is probably Keith Whitley. That was probably the biggest influence on my singing.”
Looking to No. 2, Zach said George Strait, adding, “‘Amarillo By Morning’ was my favorite song, you know, ever since I can remember. That’s the first one I asked to learn how to play on guitar when I started playing guitar when I was five.”
Rapid fire, Zach then fired off his No. 3 and No. 4, listing George Jones and Merle Haggard.
Clarifying his selections, Zach noted:
“You’re exactly right, all the ’80s and ’90s stuff, I very much was influenced by that, but it’s funny that was like the first thing that made me fall in love with music … As I got a little bit older, and really paid attention to trying to sing the best I could and playing too, I went so much older than that.”
He then shared how he listened to a bunch of work from George Jones’ back catalogue, when he was at Starday Records in the mid-’50s.
“I feel like that’s probably part of the reason that I’m sonically reminiscent of all the ’80s and ’90s stuff,” Zach admitted. “The same stuff that they were influenced by and that they grew up on, I kind of grew up on, too.”
Scotty replied, saying that this passion of Zach’s comes across as “genuine,” saying, “I think everybody can look onstage and see it’s real … That’s just who you are.”
Notably absent from his Mount Rushmore are women, like Emmylou Harris or Dolly Parton.
Listen to Zach Top’s answer as to which country stars would be on his country music Mount Rushmore, here:
Tune into Prime Country with Scotty McCreery on SiriusXM Prime Country Ch. 58.
There’s still one opportunity to hear Scotty McCreery’s conversation with Zach Top on air live, and that is 3 a.m. EST on Aug. 19.
Watch Zach Top perform the first song he ever learned to play on guitar, George Strait’s 1982 song “Amarillo By Morning,” live, here:
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