Why Bailey Zimmerman ‘Pulled the Plug’ on His First Attempt at Making His New Album

A year ago, it seemed like Bailey Zimmerman had the batch of songs that would make up his sophomore album — the follow-up to his 2023 debut Religiously. The Album., which spawned a trio of No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits: “Fall in Love,” “Rock and a Hard Place” and “Religiously.”

But as he was trying to balance writing sessions for the new album and a hectic touring schedule — last year, he not only headlined his own high-energy Religiously. The Tour., but opened stadium shows for the likes of Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown and Luke Bryan — Zimmerman says that though he was getting great feedback on the songs from those in his inner circle, something didn’t feel quite right.

“We put up the tour and it sold out, and my team was like, ‘You need to put out another record,’” he recalls to Billboard. “But I was like, ‘I’m not really feeling this album. The songs are good, but it doesn’t feel personal to me.’ If I put it out, it’s out there and I can’t take it back. That’s when I pulled the whole plug on it.”

So Zimmerman recalibrated, writing more songs and digging deeper, lyrically and musically, ultimately contributing seven of the 18 songs that appear on his new album, Different Night, Same Rodeo, out on Atlantic Records/Warner Music Nashville on Friday (Aug. 8). But he also called upon many of Nashville’s premier songwriters to craft songs, such as the jangly, fiddle-laced ode of self-sabotage “Comin’ in Cold,” the driving “Backup Plan” and the sterling album closer “Happy Ever After Me.”

“I’m blessed because of songwriters,” he says. “Old-school days, everybody was so, ‘I don’t cut outside songs.’ That ain’t me. When I first started writing for my first album, I wasn’t touring, I was only writing songs. When I started touring, it does get hectic and wild. I [told writers] ‘I’ll give you some ideas and things I want to talk about, and you go write songs. If you write a song I feel like I could have written myself or I connect to it, I’ll cut that song.’ They’ll send me a verse-chorus, and I’ll start messing with it on the bus.”

Among those songs Zimmerman co-wrote is the country-rock leaning “Chevy Silverado,” which Zimmerman says he had been working on intermittently for about three years.

“When I was 16, my Chevy Silverado was everything to me,” he recalls. “I was always driving that thing, going to parties, hanging out with girls. At first the lyric was about a red Chevy Silverado, then I changed it to white. I realized, ‘Wait, this is a song about my life’ — and I started changing all the lyrics [to more closely fit his story].”

He eventually brought in co-writers Tucker Beathard, Ilsey Juber, Gavin Lucas and Heath Warren to help shape the song. “This is my story, from meeting girls to hanging out and getting my heart broken,” he continues. “Now, I still have the Chevy Silverado — but none of those girls, none of those loves. The surface meaning is that your Chevy will never leave you, but the girls will.”

The new album is scattered with collaborations, following “All the Way,” his smash teamup with BigXthaPlug that reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year. On his current hit single from the album, Zimmerman joins forces with Luke Combs on the steely-eyed ode to ambition and grit “Backup Plan,” which has reached the top 10 on the Country Airplay chart. “Luke was one of those [collabroators] I was chasing,” he says.

When Zimmerman played at Combs’s October benefit concert Concert For Carolina, which aided those in North Carolina impacted by massive flooding, the two artists found time to hang out prior to the show.

“It was a real connection — I was like, ‘I really like this guy,’” Zimmerman recalls. “It felt like he was treating me like he would treat anybody else. He gave me his number that night, and I was like, ‘Should I text him? Should I be the crazy girl on the first date and text after the first date? Or should I let it chill?’ It was about 10 days later I finally texted him, and we ended up doing ‘Backup Plan’ together.”

Illinois native Zimmerman, whose career launched after he first put up truck videos on TikTok, then transitioned to releasing videos of himself performing his own songs, has earned nominations from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association, and earned two top 10 hits on the Hot 100, the aforementioned “All The Way” and the unaccompanied “Rock and a Hard Place.”

Where his debut album fashioned a moody, 2000s rock-oriented brand of country, his new album leans into shades of R&B, as well as brighter banjo- and fiddle-fueled country tracks such as “New To Country” and even feather-light touches of church piano sounds on the Diplo collab “Ashes.”

“I’ve been such a fan of his music,” Zimmerman says of Diplo. “One day, he just showed up at my house, and I was like, ‘I wanna show you some songs.’ It was so random. ‘They said Diplo’s on his way over.’ The song felt so fun and hype. Though it talks about, like, this girl has this guy she’s not really into and she keeps coming back to me. It kinda insinuates cheating a little bit, but I didn’t think of it like that, I just thought, ‘It’s so fun.’ It kind of talks about some deep stuff, but it’s meant to be light-hearted.”

The Kid LAROI collab “Lost” came after the two musicians spent the night on the town in Nashville after LAROI had played a private show in Music City.

“He’s like, ‘I want to have dinner with Bailey,’” Zimmerman recalls. “I’ve listened to his songs since like 2016 and had just started. We got to dinner and I was nervous — so [we] got there and he was the nicest guy ever. We get along [about] everything, and all of just what we believe in and life and our careers — it was like the Spiderman thing where I was pointing at myself. We had a wild night in Nashville, went out to Morgan’s [Wallen’s Nashville bar] — I took him to Loser’s, and the next morning he pushed his flight back because he wanted to have breakfast. On the way there, he was like, ‘Last night, you played me a song. Can you play that again?’ and I had played him ‘Lost.’ He kept asking to hear it, so I asked him to get on the song.”

Though he’s recently rolled out the collabs with BigXThaPlug, Combs and Diplo, Zimmerman says he’s judicious when it comes to collaborating. “My main thing about collaborations is I really want to be friends, and it’s not just this forced industry thing,” he says.

Some of Zimmerman’s songs, such as “Religiously” and the new album’s “Holy Smokes,” dabble in spiritual references — but he also delves deeper into emotionally raw moments of doubt and struggle, such as on “Hell or High Water.” Zimmerman says the new project follows a personal time marked by worry, and reliance on unhealthy vices, but he’s seen a personal spiritual renewal in his own life.

“God saved me from drinking and smoking all the time and all these little things that kept getting in my way,” Zimmerman says. “The uncertainty and me worrying… I’ve worried about this album, this tour. I’ve been so nervous about everything, but when I pray about it, it’s gone. [My faith] has just grown stronger over the past few years.”

As both country music and Christian music have skyrocketed over the past year, Zimmerman says releasing his own album of faith-inspired music or a Contemporary Christian music collab wouldn’t be out of the question.

“I’ve had people ask me if I would do a Christian album, but God’s calling me to do what I’m doing right now and there’s a reason for it,” he offers. “100% ,I’d do a Christian collab. I’ve thought about doing a Christian album — but my version of it, where it’s Christian-country. I’ve actually been talking to [Contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter] Brandon Lake about doing that, and I’m such a big fan of his.

“I think it’s the new age of Christian faith, because there’s been so many people not doing it for the right reasons,” he adds. “I had this lady in catering one time. I had a sweatshirt on that said, ‘Just Here to Give God Glory.’ I said something like, ‘This chicken looks good as s—t’ This lady went, ‘If you’re going to be a billboard, then maybe you should probably be a little better with your mouth. I’m like, ‘Oh, so because I’m not perfect, I can’t spread the word of God?’ That’s the worst advice I’ve heard in my life. The old-school way of learning about God and being a Christian is so outdated. No, you don’t have to take your hat off to talk to God or show up in your Sunday best. I’m so passionate about it.”

But currently, he says his country songs of love, loss, growth and his small-town upbringing are right where he feels he needs to be, and he’s excited to be playing his new music, and revealing his journey thus far, to fans on his current New to Country Tour each night.

“This music is crazy and I’ve worked so hard on it,” Zimmerman says. “I’m so glad I stuck to my guns on [the album]. I’m so proud of it. It’s tight.”