Some fans of country revivalist Zach Top were rendered crestfallen earlier this week when Zach’s rhythm guitar player and harmony singer Cheyenne Dalton Meyer revealed that she had been let go from the band a month previous. This also likely meant Cheyenne’s husband and bass player Jimmy Meyer was also no longer in the band.
Though backing members in country bands come and go all the time—and guys like George Strait and Willie Nelson who keep members till death do they part are rare—Cheyenne and Jimmy were pretty high profile band members who’d been with Zach Top for a while, and came up performing with Zach on the bluegrass circuit.
On Friday, April 24th, Zach Top opened the show for George Strait in Lubbock, TX at Jones Stadium. The sold-out in-the-round concert was the first time we got to see the newest editions to Zach Top’s backing band as the first official stop on his 2026 tour. A few of the players have been in the band for a bit, but some new faces also emerged.
ZACH TOP’S CURRENT BACKING BAND IS:
William Bagby – Lead Guitar
Norbert McGettigan – Bass Player (new member)
Ryan “Stiggy” Stigmon – Steel Guitar, Saxophone
Ryan Joseph – Fiddle, mandolin (new member)
David Meyer – Keys, fiddle
Nate Felty – Drummer
Lead guitar player William Bagby has been with the band since mid/late 2025, and is probably the main reason they decided Cheyenne Dalton was no longer needed. Zach Top happens to be an excellent lead guitar player himself, and still plays many of his own breaks. But bringing on Bagby allowed Zach to focus more on vocals, and play more acoustic guitar and rhythm. That made Cheyenne less necessary to fill out the sound.
Ryan “Stiggy” Stigmon has also been with the band for a while after replacing Zach’s original steel player, veteran “Smokin’” Brett Resnick. The other interesting thing about Stiggy is he also plays the saxophone, and has been featured recently on the horn during Zach’s cover of Conway Twitty’s “Slow Hand.” For those too young to remember, Merle Haggard kept a horn/saxophone player in his band for many years too.
Nate Felty has been Zach Top’s drummer for a while, and David Meyer has also been with the band playing keys and fiddle. Incidentally, David is the brother of former bass player Jimmy Meyer, and brother-in-law of Cheyenne Dalton Meyer. Even though one of the new members of the band plays fiddle too, David still keeps his fiddle on top of the piano to play when necessary. Previously, David had been doing double duty.
Bass player Jimmy Meyer is replaced by Norbert McGettigan who comes from the bluegrass world, and has been seen playing in the new band behind fiddle player Jason Carter, and has also performed in the bluegrass band The Well Drinkers.
The other new member Ryan Joseph is a fiddle and mandolin player originally from Pittsburgh who moved to Nashville in 2007. He’s played behind many performers, including Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Jimmy Fortune, Craig Morgan, Dierks Bentley, Kacey Musgraves, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, and more. He also was a regular in the backing band for Alan Jackson for many years. He’s played on the CMA and ACM Awards, along with other high-profile appearances.
Zach Top and his new band are opening another show in Athens, GA Saturday night (4/25), and then continue on their 2026 tour from there. Normally there might not be this much interest in a backing band. But Zach Top is not some ordinary artist, and neither are the people behind him. They’re saving country music in real time, and have created renewed interest in traditional country instrumentation.
As for Cheyenne Dalton and Jimmy Meyer, they’re unlikely to be out of work for very long. And who knows, maybe this is a blessing in disguise for Cheyenne, who might have a solo career in her future.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source savingcountrymusic.com ’
