Zach Top and the Red Clay Strays Deliver a Stirring MSG Performance of the Kris Kristofferson Classic Covered by Everyone From Elvis to Willie Nelson

Zach Top and The Red Clay Strays are together again. The country singer surprised the band’s crowd during their recent Madison Square Garden concert.

First, Top joined the Strays on to perform “Don’t Wanna Know,” a song that appeared on their latest LP, Grateful.

The audience really got a treat during the show’s encore, though. At that point, Top returned to the stage to cover Kris Kristofferson’s 1970 hit, “Help Me Make It Through The Night.”

The guys are far from the first to lend their own take to the track. It’s been covered by everyone from Willie Nelson and Elvis Presley to Tyler Childers over the years.

Fans who weren’t in attendance at the New York City gig will soon get to experience the special moments for themselves. The Strays are set to release the concert as a live album.

What to Know About Zach Top and The Red Clay Strays

The guys’ MSG collab wasn’t their first time sharing the stage. Top and the Strays previously covered Waylon Jennings’ “Where The Corn Don’t Grow” and George Jones’ “Bartender’s Blues” during lie shows.

During an appearance on Mostly Sports With Mark Titus and Brandon Walker, Top pointed to the Strays as the band he’d most like to collaborate with on a song.

“Brandon Coleman, any time we’re around each other we love singing together,” Top said of the Strays’ frontman. “He’s one of my favorite singers in the world.”

“Every time we see each other, it’s like, ‘Man, we need to write something sometime and record something together,’” he added. “He’s so good. That would be for sure up there if I had to pick one.”

For now, fans will have to enjoy the artists on their individual treks. The Red Clay Strays are currently on The Grateful Tour. The run kicked off earlier this summer, and has taken the band from California to New York. They’ll play their final show on Nov. 13 in Atlanta.

Top, meanwhile, has been taking his Cold Beer & Country Music Tour across North America since July. He’s play multiple shows in Canada and the northeast, and is set to wrap things up on Oct. 30 in Nashville.

Photo by Larry McCormack/Disney via Getty Images

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