Industry Ink: Bailey Zimmerman, Riley Green, Radney Foster
Bailey Zimmerman Surprised With RIAA Plaque
Pictured (L to R): Adi Sharma, Diane Monk, Stephanie Hagerty, Kevin Liles, Scott Frazier, Cris Lacy, Jacob Fain, Tracy Martin, Ben Kline, Gregg Nadel, Chief Zaruk, Jonathan Janis and Simon Tikhman.
Members of the Elektra and Warner Music Nashville teams joined Bailey Zimmerman at the opening night of Morgan Wallen’s stadium tour. They surprised the rising artist with a plaque celebrating his first two singles, “Fall In Love” and “Rock and A Hard Place,” both earning double Platinum certification from the RIAA.
“Rock and A Hard Place” is currently holding the top spot on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart for the fourth consecutive week and continues its reign at No. 1 on the Country Aircheck/Mediabase chart for the second consecutive week. At its peak last year, “Fall In Love” became the fastest debut single to reach No. 1 since 2015, and the first and only debut hit of 2022 to make it all the way to No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart. Zimmerman has already earned nearly 1.8 billion streams in the two years since the release of his first song in 2021.
Riley Green Celebrates Gold & Platinum Records
Pictured (L-R): BMLG Records’ Jimmy Harnen, Riley Green, Big Machine Label Group’s Allison Jones and BMLG Records’ Ryan Dokke. Photo: Sam Crabtree
BMLG Records presented Riley Green three plaques for his hit songs “Different ‘Round Here” (Gold-certified), “Georgia Time” (Gold-certified) and “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” (double Platinum-certified). Green’s friends, family, co-writers and industry partners gathered Saturday afternoon (April 15) to celebrate the chart-topper’s latest RIAA certifications ahead of taking the Nissan Stadium stage for the second night in a row on the “Luke Combs World Tour.”
He is set to release his next single “Different Round Here (feat. Luke Combs)” on May 11.
Kacey Musgraves Inducts Radney Foster Into Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall Of Fame
Radney Foster & Kacey Musgraves. Photo: Ted Parker, Jr.
In a ceremony at Austin’s Moody Theatre on Feb. 25, Kacey Musgraves joined Radney Foster onstage for “Nobody Wins” and “Texas In 1880” – songs she sang as his background singer at 19. Along with Kelly Willis, Randy Rogers and William Beckmann, who also joined Foster on stage, Musgraves inducted her former boss into the 2023 Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The Texas Heritage Songwriters Association honors Texas songwriters who have helped shape and define the state’s culture. Other performers included Ronnie Dunn, LeeRoy Parnell, W.C Clark, Escovedo, Clawson, Nunn and David Lee.
“The first Foster and Lloyd really changed music for me,” said Darius Rucker in a video tribute. “No one deserves this more. Radney is one of the greatest songwriters of all time.”
Later in the tribute, Keith Urban said, “Radney is the real deal. The first time I heard him sing, I thought, ‘Who is this voice?’ His album See What You Want to See was a game changer, his songwriting really spoke to me. I’ve cut four songs off that record!”
Foster has written multiple number one singles and had countless cuts by Urban, the Chicks, Hootie & The Blowfish, Jack Ingram and others. He joins Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Rodney Crowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Joe Ely, Townes Van Zandt, Lefty Frizzell, Clint Black, Robert Earl Keen, Liz Rose, Aaron Barker, Freddy Powers and more in the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Foster is currently on tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of his solo debut, Del Rio, TX 1959.
