Radney Foster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) |
| Radney Foster | |
|---|---|
 Radney Foster at South by Southwest 2006.
|
|
| Background information | |
| Born | July 20, 1959 |
| Origin | Del Rio, Texas, USA |
| Genre(s) | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals Guitar |
| Years active | 1986-present |
| Label(s) | Arista Dualtone[1] |
| Associated acts | Sara Evans Foster & Lloyd Jack Ingram Keith Urban |
| Website | http://www.radneyfoster.com/ |
Radney Foster (born July 20, 1959 in Del Rio, Texas[2]) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Initially a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Foster made his debut in 1986 alongside Bill Lloyd in the duo Foster & Lloyd. Between then and 1990, the duo recorded three studio albums for RCA Records and charted nine singles on the country charts.
Foster began his solo career in 1992 when he signed to Arista Records, Although his first release for the label (1992's Del Rio, TX 1959) produced four consecutive Top 40 hits, Foster saw his commercial success waning with the release of his second and third albums (1995's Labor of Love and 1999's See What You Want to See, respectively), and by 1999 he had exited Arista's roster. He then signed to the independent Dualtone Records label, for which he has recorded three more albums to date: 2001's Are You Ready for the Big Show?, 2002's Another Way to Go and 2006's This World We Live In.
Overall, Foster has charted thirteen singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the Top Ten hits "Just Call Me Lonesome" (#10, 1992) and "Nobody Wins" (#2, 1993); in addition, he has written singles for other country artists, including Sara Evans, Keith Urban and Jack Ingram.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Radney Foster was born July 20, 1959 in Del Rio, Texas, as the second of four children. His father was a lawyer who also sang and played guitar;[3] by age twelve, Foster himself began playing guitar as well.[2]
After graduating high school, Foster attended University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He dropped out in 1979 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in pursuit of a country music career. However, after finding no success in Nashville, he returned to college to finish his degree, while playing at various local venues in his spare time.[3]
[edit] Musical career
[edit] Foster & Lloyd
Foster then moved back to Nashville after graduating college. By 1985, he had found work at MTM Publishing Company as a session songwriter. There, he befriended Bill Lloyd, with whom he wrote a song entitled "Since I Found You"; this song would become a Top Ten hit when it was recorded by Sweethearts of the Rodeo.[2] In 1986, Foster and Lloyd decided to perform as a duo. This duo, Foster & Lloyd, received a recording contract with RCA Records Nashville that year; between 1986 and 1990, they would record three studio albums and charted nine singles on the country charts. The two parted ways amicably in 1990, as Foster felt that their songs were not suitable for being recorded by a duo.[2][3]
[edit] Solo career
 |
Please help improve this section by expanding it with: more info on each individual album. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] 1992-2000: Arista Records
Two years after the disestablishment of Foster & Lloyd, Foster signed to Arista Records' Nashville division as a solo artist. His first album for the label, Del Rio, TX 1959 (named for Foster's birthplace and year of birth[3]), produced two consecutive Top Ten hits in its first two singles: "Just Call Me Lonesome" and "Nobody Wins", which respectively reached #10 and #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. Two more singles, "Easier Said Than Done" and "Hammer and Nails", also reached Top 40, peaking at #20 and #34, respectively.
In 1994, Foster began work on his second album for Arista. Tentatively titled Never Say Die,[4] the album was re-titled Labor of Love, a title under which it would ultimately be released. After the first single (which was the title track) failed to make Top 40, Arista delayed the album's release twice so that it would not compete with a compilation album entitled Mama's Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard, to which Foster (along with Pam Tillis) had contributed the track "The Running Kind".[4] Steve Ripley, lead guitarist and vocalist for the country band The Tractors, was then brought in to remix "Willin' to Walk" — the second single from Labor of Love — for radio, before the album was finally released in April of 1995.[4] Ultimately, neither "The Running Kind" nor any of the three singles from Labor of Love reached the Top 40 on the country charts. Shortly before the release of Labor of Love, however, Foster and his wife of twelve years separated, ultimately filing for divorce.[4]
Foster's third and final album for Arista, 1999's See What You Want to See, featured a more pop-oriented sound than his first two albums did. This album produced one minor single on the country charts in the #74-peaking "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" (which would later be recorded by the Dixie Chicks in 2003). Also included on this album was "Raining on Sunday", a song which Keith Urban recorded for his 2002 album Golden Road and released as a single in 2003.
[edit] 2001-present: Dualtone Records
In 2001, Foster signed to Dualtone Records.[2] His first album for the label, Are You Ready for the Big Show?, included a re-recording of the song "Texas in 1880", which Foster had originally recorded while a member of Foster & Lloyd. This re-recording, which featured Pat Green, peaked at #54 on the country charts. Foster followed this album with 2002's Another Way to Go. One of its tracks, "A Real Fine Place to Start" (another collaboration with George Ducas), was later recorded by Sara Evans as the title track to her 2005 album Real Fine Place, from which it was released as a single; Evans's rendition of the song became a Number One hit in 2005. Foster's third album for Dualtone, This World We Live In, was issued in 2006; unlike his previous two albums for Dualtone, however, this one provided no chart singles.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | Label | US Country | US Heat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Del Rio, TX 1959 | Arista | 46 | 11 |
| 1995 | Labor of Love | 61 | 36 | |
| 1999 | See What You Want to See | |||
| 2001 | Are You Ready for the Big Show? | Dualtone | ||
| 2002 | Another Way to Go | 39 | ||
| 2006 | This World We Live In |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | US Country | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | "Just Call Me Lonesome" | 10 | Del Rio, TX 1959 |
| 1993 | "Nobody Wins" | 2 | |
| "Easier Said Than Done" | 20 | ||
| "Hammer and Nails" | 34 | ||
| 1994 | "Closing Time" | 59 | |
| 1994 | "Labor of Love" | 58 | Labor of Love |
| "The Running Kind" (w/ Pam Tillis) | 64 | Mama's Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard | |
| 1995 | "Willin' to Walk" | 54 | Labor of Love |
| "If It Were Me" | 59 | ||
| 1998 | "I'm In" (w/ Abra Moore) | See What You Want to See | |
| 1999 | "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" (w/ Emmylou Harris) | 74 | |
| 2001 | "Texas in 1880" (w/ Pat Green) | 54 | Are You Ready for the Big Show? |
| 2002 | "Everyday Angel" | 43 | Another Way to Go |
| 2003 | "Scary Old World" (w/ Chely Wright or Georgia Middleman) | 52 | |
| 2005 | "Half of My Mistakes" | This World We Live In | |
| 2006 | "Prove Me Right" |
[edit] References
- ^ Foster's solo works were on the Arista and Dualtone labels; his work in Foster & Lloyd was on RCA Records Nashville.
- ^ a b c d e Huey, Steve. Radney Foster biography. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
- ^ a b c d Radney Foster biography. Oldies.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
- ^ a b c d Mansfield, Brian (April 1995). "Willing to Walk: Radney Foster's Soul Searching Labor of Love". New Country 2 (5). ISSN 1074-356x.
