Songwriter Radney Foster, known for penning hits for artists like Keith Urban and Sara Evans, is always pushing himself to grow as a writer. For his next project, he’s taking that ambition to a new level: writing short stories.
Videos by American Songwriter
Foster’s forthcoming album For You to See the Stars will be released alongside a companion short story collection of the same name. Each song on the 10-song collection, which was recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium with Will Kimbrough, will have its own accompanying short story.
One of those songs is new cut “Greatest Show on Earth,” a track Foster co-wrote with fellow Nashville mainstay Jay Clementi. The laid-back tune celebrates the good ole days of singing country songs on the porch with family. Accordingly, Foster reveals that the song’s accompanying short story is “part memoir, part fiction.”
“When I was a kid my dad played guitar and sang,” Foster says. “My folks often had friends over on Saturday night, and it would usually end of with everyone singing and playing on the back porch. That really was my musical education. It’s where I heard Fats Waller, Hank Sr., Lefty Frizzell. It’s where I discovered Merle Haggard, Frank Sinatra, and Patsy Cline. They didn’t care what genre it came from, as long it had a great melody — and they could figure out the chords. That has informed my songwriting more than anything, before or since.”
For You to See the Stars is out September 15. Listen to “Greatest Show on Earth” below.
