Zach Top & Modern Tradition at the 2019 Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival – photo courtesy of the festival
The CMA Foundation has announced that a $10,000 grant for Zach Top to distribute as part of winning the New Artist of the Year award at the 2025 CMA Awards, has been directed to Taylor’s Camp, a free kids academy program that occurs as part of the Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival each year in Cashmere, WA.
By now, most bluegrass and country music fans know that Zach is a native Washingtonian, born on a farm in Sunnyside, WA in 1997, and that he played a good bit of bluegrass before hitting it big as a country music artist. In fact, a band he was in, Mashtag, won the International Bluegrass Band Championships at the 2017 SPBGMA convention.
Shortly after moving to Nashville in 2021, Top’s self-titled bluegrass debut album was released by RBR Entertainment. It featured a strong group of young pickers: Maddie Denton on fiddle, Caleb Smith on banjo, Zion Napier on mandolin, and Wyatt Harman on bass. It was well received in the bluegrass community upon its release.
But country stardom came calling, and the bluegrass, while not left behind, has been on the back burner. Zach does pop up from time to time at Nashville jams and bluegrass gigs, and the community looks forward to welcoming him back any time he wants to visit.
Back in his younger days, Taylor’s Camp at Wenatchee was a big part of his musical education, so when the CMA Foundation announced a grant to be given at his direction, the choice was easy.
Top says that the camp left a lasting impression on him as a youngster.
“Taylor’s Camp is a special place to me because I got to be on the other side of it — I was a kid learning there, and later I got to come back and teach. There’s something pretty special about being able to pass along what somebody once passed along to you.
I’m really proud that this investment can help more kids experience that, find something they love, and keep this music going.”
It’s also special to Washington grassers as the camp is held in honor of Taylor Richard, a young man who picked up flatpicking through lessons at a local music store, and went on to win a guitar contest just five years after starting lessons.
He was very popular at the Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival, and loved the people and vibe so much that even after moving to Georgia, he would come back each June to visit and enjoy the music.
Sadly, Taylor lost his life serving as a Lance Corporal in the US Marine Corps in Afghanistan on June 26, 2010. The kids program was then named Taylor’s Camp in his honor.
Will McSeveney, proprietor of Skyline Records and a member of the board that runs the Wenatchee festival, says that in addition to being proud of Zach Top’s accomplishments, they are extremely grateful for this grant.
“Zach has been part of our festival family since very early in his music career. He came up through Taylor’s Camp as a participant, having such a positive and lasting impact on so many of the young musicians who came through it, and later returned to headline our main stage. That he still wants to give back to this camp, no matter how far his career has taken him, means more to us than we can say.
We take enormous pride in Taylor’s Camp, and thanks to Zach and the CMA Foundation, it can continue giving young musicians the opportunity and resources to learn, grow, and make music alongside friends.”
Well done Zach and the CMA Foundation, and congratulations to Taylor’s Camp and the Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival!
