Jerry Foster grew up poor on his father’s farm in Missouri, where his father put the first guitar in his hands. After high school he joined the U.S. Marines and formed a band there. Out of the service, he played on WSAV television in Savannah, Georgia, then moved on to KFVS in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
In 1966 he came to Nashville and took a job spinning records at WENO radio. Soon he teamed with Bill Rice, and the two began turning out hits. Charley Pride took “The Day the World Stood Still” and “The Easy Part’s Over” up the chart in 1968. Jeannie C. Riley’s “The Back Side of Dallas” earned a Grammy nomination in 1969, and in 1970 Mel Tillis hit the top 10 with “Heaven Everyday” while Pride went to No. 1 with “Wonder Could I Live There Anymore.”
At the 1972 ASCAP Country Awards, Foster & Rice took home ten trophies in one night and were photographed hauling them away in a wheelbarrow. By 1974 they had eleven songs on the chart at the same time, including Mickey Gilley’s Grammy-nominated “Here Comes the Hurt Again” and Hank Williams Jr.’s top 10 “I’ll Think of Something,” which Mark Chesnutt took to No. 1 in 1992. Foster’s ASCAP awards eventually numbered more than sixty.
Foster never stopped being a performer. He cut singles for Back Beat, Mercury, Cinnamon, Hitsville and Monument, charting with “Copperhead” and “I Knew You When,” and in the rockabilly revival of the early ’80s he released records in Britain and played Wembley in 1982. “I’m a rock’n’roller,” he said at the time. “For me the music never got out of the fifties.”
Foster & Rice were inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994. Foster has also worked as a publisher, producer and studio owner. As an actor he has appeared in films including Hannah Montana: The Movie and Management, and in Carrie Underwood’s “Temporary Home” and “Two Black Cadillacs” videos. He told his own story in the 2015 memoir An Ol’ Rebel Still Rockin’.
Jerry turned 90 on November 19, 2025, celebrated by nearly 35 fellow musicians at Nashville’s Commodore Grille. His life and musical journey are the subject of Blue Collar Holler, an upcoming TV series produced by Myron Nash. He performs every Sunday night at The Commodore Grille. After 60 years in the business, he remains one of Nashville’s most beloved and enduring creative voices.
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Jerry Foster wrote dozens of country hits with partner Bill Rice, recorded by Charley Pride, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mel Tillis, Hank Williams Jr., Mickey Gilley and Mark Chesnutt. A Missouri native and former Marine, he came to Nashville in 1966 as a radio DJ. Foster & Rice won ten ASCAP awards in a single night in 1972. Now 90, Jerry is the subject of the upcoming TV series Blue Collar Holler.
