Radney Foster had no idea when he released his freshman Del Rio, TX 1959 album in 1992 that the record would have such an impact, not only on him, but on country music as a whole. The record included songs like “Just Call Me Lonesome” and “Nobody Wins,” kicking off a widely successful career for Foster as a singer-songwriter. After years of making music as one-half of the Foster & Lloyd duo (with Bill Lloyd), the Texas native decided to go out on his own, introducing himself with Del Rio, TX 1959.

Foster will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Del Rio, TX 1959 with a show at City Winery in Nashville, honoring the project that became a launching pad for Foster and his music.

“It’s a cool milestone, in a way because people still talk about that record,” Foster tells Everything Nash. “In every interview I have almost, someone mentions that debut and how it came about. If I’d have known that leaving a duo and going solo would mean that I was likely to vanish from the country music planet, I probably would have taken things very differently, but I was young and impetuous, so I just did it. But I knew that when we were making that record, it needed to be something special, that we had to bring it, and it couldn’t sound like Foster & Lloyd. It had to sound like me. So I’m proud of the fact that 30 years later, they’re still playing ‘Just Call Me Lonesome’ and ‘Nobody Wins’ on the radio.”

Although none as commercially successful as Del Rio, TX 1959, Foster continued to release critically-acclaimed and widely-lauded records in the years following his first album. But it’s the Del Rio, TX 1959 record that fans still clamor to hear, and Foster is happy to oblige.

“It still feels fun to play those songs. I have to play ‘Just Call Me Lonesome’ and ‘Nobody Wins.’ Those two have to get played during a set, or they’re going to riot,” Foster says with a laugh. “They’re gonna start throwing things at me. I’ve opened with ‘Just Call Me Lonesome’ ever since my solo debut on the Opry.”

It was Foster’s Grand Ole Opry debut, when the announcer mistakenly called him Randy Forester instead of Radney Foster, which unpredictably set the tone for Foster’s live music career, when he launched into an enthusiastic version of “Just Call Me Lonesome.”

“I’m panicked,” Foster recalls. “My parents are standing in the wings. They’d flown up from Del Rio, Texas. So I walked to the microphone and I said, ‘My name’s Radney Foster, and I’m from Del Rio, Texas, and we kicked off [‘Just Call Me Lonesome’], and my band came up to me after the show and said, ‘Boss, that was so cool. We should open every show that way.’ And so we did.”

Foster is no stranger to performing in Nashville, including at the Grand Ole Opry. Tickets for Foster’s City Winery show are available here. Find all of Foster’s music, as well as a list of his upcoming shows, by visiting his website.