Drew Baldridge Pioneers A New Path To No. 1 [Interview]

/by

Drew Baldridge. Photo: Lyric Ridge Records

Almost a decade after his first record deal, singer-songwriter Drew Baldridge is currently making a push to be the first artist to ever take a self-released single to No. 1 on the country charts.

The Patoka, Illinois native moved to Nashville 13 years ago to pursue a career in music. Not long after, he was inking a record deal with Cold River and releasing his debut album Dirt on Us. The album and proceeding singles did well enough, but when the label closed in 2019, Baldridge had nowhere to go.

“After that, COVID hit and I didn’t know what to do. I was broke, the publishing company I was with got bought out and I was thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ So, I decided I may as well post on TikTok and Facebook to see if anyone would want a show in their backyard,” explains Baldridge. “I thought I would get five requests at most, but we ended up getting over 20,000.”

Baldridge made good on his offer and spent the next two years of his life traveling the country and playing in over 300 people’s backyards with “just me and a guitar.” During this odyssey, his perspective shifted.

“My music really changed when I was in these people’s backyards, eating barbecue, playing corn hole and gaining weight. It made me realize that these were the people I was making music for. I needed to quit thinking about everything else and focus on the people.”

During his two-year tour across the nation, Baldridge married his now-wife and re-recorded her favorite song of his, “She’s Somebody’s Daughter,” so she and her father could dance to it at their wedding. The track was previously recorded in 2019 under Cold River, but wasn’t released as a single due to Tenille Townes’ “Somebody’s Daughter” hitting the radio around the same time.

The re-recorded track was a special, stripped-back version of the original that he titled “She’s Somebody’s Daughter (Wedding Version).” After the song was a success at the reception, he decided that he would create a post about it on social media.

“I remember it was a Wednesday night on our honeymoon, and I told my wife that I was going to post a TikTok about it—telling the story of why it had been recorded. When we woke up the next day, it had close to 10 million views on it.”

YouTube video

After fielding calls from labels in Los Angeles, Baldridge waited for Nashville to get on board, but the calls never game. The success of the song was apparent, though, as women began to post TikToks sharing photos of them with their fathers growing up.

Fast forward to 2023, at one of his first concerts back, Baldridge was playing the Fireman’s Picnic just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. When he began singing “She’s Somebody’s Daughter,” he realized that everyone in the crowd knew the words by heart.

“I looked at my bass player, who has been with me for a decade, and said, ‘Do you ever remember people singing along?’ and he said, ‘No, but I’ve been waiting for 10 years!’”

It was after that event that Baldridge knew he had to capitalize on this opportunity. He readied a radio-friendly version of the sentimental song, titled “She’s Somebody’s Daughter (Reimagined),” and began a grassroots promotion push shortly after by calling up old radio friends and asking them their thoughts on the song and advice for moving forward. Today, that team has grown into its own label, Lyric Ridge Records.

Since then, the staff, consisting of Louis Newman, Chele Fassig, Gwen Foster, Brent Battles and his radio mentor, Tim Richards, among others, has been hard at work pushing the track to the top of the charts. This new venture did come with its own set of unique challenges, though.

“Something a lot of artists don’t have to do is be on their own radio promo phone calls,” Baldridge quips. “I’ve had to put on some thick skin because, now, the stations are telling me that they don’t like my song straight to my face. But, for me, I was like, ‘Hurt me! I am putting all of my time, money and effort into this—I want to know how to get to a good end-destination here.’”

All the time, effort and thick skin has paid off. Baldridge’s track has now earned over one billion impressions on TikTok, 58 million listens across all versions on Spotify and sits at No. 8 on both the Mediabase and Billboard Country Airplay charts.

Baldridge makes it very clear that he has not done all of this alone, though, and that he has his fans and supporters to thank for his success.

“They are a part of this just as much as I am. Without them letting me play in their backyards, graduations and weddings, I can’t send the song to radio. Without them being here when no one else was, I don’t have a career,” says Baldridge. “When I post on my socials and I see someone comment, ‘We had you in our backyard a year ago, and now you have a song in the top 10!’ It makes me so happy—I want to win for them. I want us to win together.”

John Nix Arledge
Latest posts by John Nix Arledge (see all)