Bailey Zimmerman Reveals Text He Sent To Luke Combs That Led To Epic Collab

Bailey Zimmerman joined forces with Luke Combs on a collaboration that sends an empowering message about resilience — and it all started with a text message.

Zimmerman said “it’s crazy to think that this all started with one txt,” he wrote in his Instagram caption as he posted a few photos on Friday morning (May 2), including a screenshot of the text he sent to Combs. The screenshot shows Zimmerman’s message on January 20, reading: “I don’t know what you got going on this year as far as music but I’ve been wanting to send you this song for a while that I think me and you could crush… jam it and let me know what you think.”

Zimmerman sent Combs an audio clip of the song, “Backup Plan,” and Combs responded: “Yo! This tune rips. I’m in.”

Tucker Beathard, Jimi Bell and Jon Sherwood teamed up to write “Backup Plan.” Zimmerman, who caught up with Bobby Bones on The Bobby Bones Show on Friday morning, immediately imagined Combs’ voice on the track the first time he listened to the song. The two artists teased the collaboration and shared sneak peeks on social media ahead of its release, and commenters were eager for the collaboration’s arrival. Zimmerman and Combs teamed up to perform “Backup Plan” live for the first time during Comb’s headlining set at the 2025 Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California. The pair previously teamed up on stage during the Concert for Carolina, a star-studded benefit show that Combs organized with fellow country star Eric Church to support their home state of North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. the show took place at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Zimmerman is part of the star-studded lineup of the 2025 iHeartCountry Festival, which is slated to take place on Saturday, May 3. The festival, hosted by iHeartRadio’s Bobby Bones, will return to Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Other artists in the lineup include Brooks & Dunn, Cole Swindell, Rascal Flatts, Sam Hunt, Megan Moroney, Thomas Rhett and Nate Smith. Smith and Moroney will also perform at the free Daytime Village, taking over the Dell Technologies Plaza from 12:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m. CT. That lineup also includes Matt Stell, Tucker Wetmore and Dasha. Dasha will also appear on the main stage at the iHeartCountry Festival, iHeartCountry recently confirmed.

Hulu will be the Official Streaming Destination of the festival, with performances livestreamed exclusively to all Hulu subscribers at no additional cost. Additional information about the livestream will be posted across Hulu’s platform and social media channels. Fans can tune in to the 2025 iHeartCountry Festival to catch all of the action live on May 3 at 8pm ET/5pm PT (7pm CT) across iHeartCountry stations nationwide and on the free iHeartRadio app via iHeartRadio's iHeartCountry station. Tickets to the 2025 iHeartCountry Festival are available now via Ticketmaster.com.