Drew Baldridge Recalls Moment His Song Went Viral & No Labels Called

Drew Baldridge stopped by The Bobby Bones Show for the first time to talk about starting his own record label, his first hit song and more!

“She’s Somebody’s Daughter,” Baldridge’s first single to country radio is in the Top 3 and headed towards the number one spot. If he achieves the top spot, it will be the first time ever that a self-funded artist’s song went number one. He wrote the song six years ago when he was dating his now wife. It was a song for her father and also a message to himself to not mess up what he had with her. Now that the song is at the top of the charts, he shared it’s such a blessing to know it got there by them doing it themselves. There were no fancy strings being pulled behind the scenes, no big money put into promoting it and no record label power. The fans truly drove that song to the top.

The song is not new for Baldridge though. He first released it in 2018 when he was signed to a record label. When he put the song out then, it didn’t have much success and the label closed shortly after, resulting in him losing his record deal, agent and manager. He was about ready to give up on music, but then turned to TikTok during the pandemic and offered to play shows in people's backyards. He thought only a few people would be interested but he got over 20,000 requests. He called those backyard shows ‘Baldridge and Bonfires’ and did them for two years. At that time, everyone thought he was doing them a favor by playing in their backyard, but they were doing him a favor. It was life changing for him because it helped him continue to support his family, live in Nashville and chase his music dreams.

In 2020 when he and his wife got married, he posted the wedding version of “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” while on their honeymoon. The next day, it had more than 10-thousand views and fans were asking for him to release it. He thought for sure a bunch of record companies would start calling him, but no one did. But he didn’t let that stop him and decided to start his own label called Lyric Street Records. “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” is so special to him because he’s seen a lot of people use it for their father daughter dance at their wedding and he loves knowing his song has become a huge moment in people’s lives. Baldridge has been waiting 10 years for people to know his music, so now when he plays shows and hears people singing the words back to him, it’s a surreal feeling that he hopes never goes away.

From 2020-2024, Baldridge managed and booked himself. In his Instagram bio, he had an e-mail people could contact for inquiries and made it seem like you were contacting someone on his team, but Baldridge was the one running everything. “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” made it into the Top 10 with just him promoting it, but last month he was finally able to get a manager and booking agent to help. It’s allowed him to spend more time with his wife and son and really focus on his family. To celebrate his newfound success, he and his wife are going on vacation to the beach. He’s going to try and disconnect, but also wants to be available to people reaching out to congratulate him because people have never done that for his music before.

Baldridge just announced his headlining tour, celebrating “She’s Somebody’s Daughter” and the journey to number one. He admitted it’s nerve wracking having his own headlining tour and hopes that he sells enough tickets to be able to support his band and the venue hosting them. But more importantly, he hopes the fans show up and have a good time. He hopes he serves as an example to artists who may want to give up that if you have a song that you believe in, send it to radio and really promote it and find a way to make it work!

For more information, visit Drewbaldridgemusic.com.