Bailey Zimmerman is apologizing after a warrant for the country singer’s arrest was issued following an incident at a New Mexico hotel.
Last week, an arrest warrant was issued in Bernalillo County for Zimmerman, who’s facing a felony charge of criminal damage to property and a misdemeanor charge of falsely obtaining services after the “Holy Smokes” singer allegedly caused more than $16,000 worth of damage to a room at the Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque.
The 26-year-old country singer was scheduled to perform at the resort May 27 and 30 but abruptly canceled the show the day of the performance.
“I have not been feeling well and have tried to power through, but I’m not able to give you all the show you deserve,” Zimmerman wrote on Instagram at the time.
According to an affidavit reviewed by People, hours before the singer was slated to perform, he appeared inebriated and volatile during a sound check.
The document alleged Zimmerman stumbled onto the stage around 4:30 p.m., smashed a guitar on the ground, threw cymbals, kicked a drum set, pushed a guitarist and threw a microphone before he stormed offstage. At one point, he tripped and fell backward.
The affidavit further alleged that the country singer “spit toward a Sandia security officer standing nearby.”
A representative for Zimmerman emailed The Times a statement on Tuesday.
“First things first, I want to apologize to the Pueblo of Sandia and to everyone at Sandia Resort & Casino. I never meant for any of this to come across as disrespectful. I am deeply sorry for my actions that transpired. I respect your community and the hospitality and appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to perform on Native Land. I take full accountability for everything that happened and I am sorry to anyone who feels hurt or disrespected,” the statement read.
“To my fans who bought tickets and showed up expecting a performance, I am so sorry, you deserved better from me,” the statement continued. “I understand that being a musician comes with big responsibilities, both on and off stage, and I know that I fell short that day. I am reflecting on the disappointment and concern that I caused.”
Zimmerman wrote that he was taking the legal matter seriously and was committed to doing the “work necessary to learn and grow.”
“Thank you to my fans for holding me accountable and for understanding that I am human. I do not take your support for granted,” the statement added.
After a brief reprieve following the end of Coachella, we find ourselves in the desert again for Stagecoach — hot, dusty and eager to be amused. The first day of the weekend offered plenty of top-tier country performances including Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, and Bailey Zimmerman along with a dose of nostalgia courtesy of ‘90s stars Counting Crows and Emo Nite featuring Ashlee Simpson. Let’s also not forget that Stagecoach is a place to catch celebrity cameos—we’re looking at you, Sydney Sweeney. Here’s our recap of all the fun we experienced on Day 1 of the festival.
Jessie Erickson, of Anchorage, Alaska, sings “more than my home town” by Morgan Wallen at the SYRN Saloon during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at Empire Polo Club, in Indio, CA on April 24, 2026.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
I found a karaoke bar at Stagecoach — but it was Sydney Sweeney’s lingerie pop-up
En route to the press tent this sunny Friday, I saw a spot with saloon doors boasting karaoke. It didn’t click that the air-conditioned pop-up was a bar connected to Sydney Sweeney’s Syrn brand until I was inside and saw the lingerie hanging from the bar.
It was early in the day, so not much karaoke was happening, but you could scan a QR code and sign up via a Karafun link. I contemplated doing “A Long December” from the Counting Crows since they’re playing the Mustang Stage this evening, but thought it would No.1 bring down the mood and No.2, not really fit in with the Coyote Ugly vibes.
However, I saw dartboards on the wall and a sign to ask the “brand ambassador” about darts and I immediately thought — the hard drinkin’ Stagecoach crowd should probably not have sharp objects. They don’t. I found a “brand ambassador” and he showed off the darts, which were magnetic. It still might not be the best idea to let people throw projectiles as the night goes on, though. (Vanessa Franko)
Emo nite featuring Ashlee Simpson performs at Diplo’s Honkytonk during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at Empire Polo Club, in Indio, CA on April 24, 2026.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Emo Nite with Ashlee Simpson and 3OH!3 made Stagecoach dance with their feelings
How is the giant country festival channeling the SoCal-born traveling punk festival, you ask? The popular Emo Nite DJ set was booked at Diplo’s Honky Tonk. (Emo Nite is no stranger to the Goldenvoice desert fests, by the way. They played the Sahara Tent at Coachella a few years back, too.)
Emo Nite’s Morgan Reed and T.J. Petracca opened up with Fall Out Boy’s “Sugar We’re Goin Down” to set the sing-a-long tone before blistering through a set of remixes to songs by beloved emo and pop-punk artists such as Panic! At the Disco, Paramore, All-American Rejects and My Chemical Romance. They also played some emo-adjacent and not-so-emo-adjacent tracks, such as the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” System of a Down’s “Chop Suey” and Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” (Bieberchella lives even at Stagecoach!)
Actress Sydney Sweeney takes photos with fans during the Stagecoach.
(Evan Schaben/For The Times)
Sydney Sweeney takes pictures with fans at Stagecoach
Actress Sydney Sweeney snapped photos with fans during BigXThaPlug’s set at the Mustang Stage Friday at Stagecoach. Sweeney also has a pop-up bar promoting her lingerie line Syrn at the festival. (Evan Schaben)
Ella Langley performs on the Mane Stage during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at Empire Polo Club, in Indio, CA on April 24, 2026.
(Evan Schaben/For The Times)
Ella Langley takes a victory lap
“I’m gonna go ahead and burst your bubble,” Ella Langley said about halfway through her main-stage set Friday night. She’d just teed up her brand-new single, “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” a shimmering roots-soul duet with country’s biggest star, Morgan Wallen. “Morgan is not here,” she continued. “He’s on dad duty this weekend. Can’t blame a man for being a good dad.”
And you can’t blame Langley for managing expectations. But she didn’t need Wallen (or anybody else) to show why she’s the biggest thing in country music right now: This was an effortlessly cool performance by a deeply vibey singer and songwriter who’s absorbed more than Stevie Nicks’ predilection for lightweight shawls. (“Broken” was extremely Fleetwood Mac-coded.)
Langley did bring out a special guest: the podcaster Theo Von, who did Riley Green’s part in “You Look Like You Love Me” for some reason. (Big podcaster energy is what I’ll say.) She played “Choosin’ Texas” — her dreamy pop-country smash that’s currently at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 — not last but next to last, leaving “Weren’t for the Wind” as her closer. Baller move. (Mikael Wood)
Counting Crows will perform on Sept. 3 at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park.
(Courtesy of the San Diego Symphony)
Counting Crows and the perfect Stagecoach sunset
I am very into the ‘90s alt acts playing Stagecoach 2026 (I see you, Third Eye Blind) and Counting Crows got things off to a sublime start as the sun set Friday.
While the band played its breakout hit, “Mr. Jones,” early in the set, singer Adam Duritz let the crowd take the lead and almost did some spoken word in the second verse.
“How was your first day at country Coachella? They only call it Stagecoach because Count-chella doesn’t sound good,” the singer asked the crowd before the band launched into the “Shrek 2” ditty “Accidentally in Love.”
The hits kept coming, including “Round Here” and “Rain King.”
But the perfect moment under cotton candy skies happened during the band’s penultimate song, “A Long December” off 1996’s “Recovering the Satellites.” With the crowd singing along, the sun setting behind the mountains and good feelings all around, it was nothing if not a vibe. (VF)
Bailey Zimmerman performs on the Mane Stage during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at Empire Polo Club, in Indio, CA on April 24, 2026.
(Evan Schaben/For The Times)
Bailey Zimmerman with an encouraging word
Bailey Zimmerman brought his puppy-ish energy — and an encouraging self-help message — to Stagecoach’s main stage Friday night ahead of Cody Johnson’s headlining set. “I grew up with nothing, and I worked my ass off to be where I am,” he bellowed before ripping off his shirt to punctuate the point. (MW)
Cody Johnson performs on the Mane Stage during the Stagecoach Country Music Festival at Empire Polo Club, in Indio, CA on April 24, 2026.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Cody Johnson closes Night 1 with Boyz II Men
Cody Johnson opened his headlining set Friday night by promising to “bring a little Texas to California if that’s all right with y’all.” Yet the most surprising moment of his 90-minute show actually brought a bit of Philadelphia to Stagecoach when Boyz II Men dropped in to join Johnson for a rendition of the veteran R&B crew’s “On Bended Knee.”
If we’re being honest, the vocal mix was … not the evening’s finest. But the selection was appealingly unexpected from a down-the-middle country star like Johnson, who spent much of the rest of his set recounting his long music-industry come-up and urging folks to see past their differences in the name of unity.
He also lamented the three months he had to take off the road after busting his eardrum last year — “I was depressed about it,” he said — before acknowledging that the unanticipated break meant he got to be home for the birth of his youngest child. (MW)
Bailey Zimmerman performed Friday night at Stagecoach, where his set mixed post-grunge country hits like “Religiously” and “Where It Ends” with a cover of Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” and an appearance by BigXthaPlug on their duet “All the Way.” Before Zimmerman’s set, I met with the 26-year-old singer inside a denim-bedecked pop-up presented by American Eagle, for whom Zimmerman serves as an official spokesbro.
Did you only agree to become an American Eagle ambassador because you thought you might be able to meet Sydney Sweeney? I would understand why you would think that. But honestly, no — it was a full circle moment in my life. Before my American Eagle deal, I had all the American Eagle underwear. They couldn’t send me new ones — I had ’em all.
Do you get free jeans? They give me everything for free.
Could you get me some free jeans? Maybe? I could do one of those things where I’m like, “Oh, it’s for me,” but it’s really for you.
By my count, this is your fourth Stagecoach in a row. Yep.
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You never miss this, bro. It’s my favorite time of the year — it’s sick. I come out here the whole weekend. The first year, I brought my best friends, and we’ve done it every year since — all my friends and their fiancees now because we’re getting older and they’re getting married. So it’s just a big party all weekend. It’s something I look forward to.
Speaking of getting married, last year you you told me you were looking for a wife. Any progress? Well, you know, honestly, I’m still just kind of doing my thing. I’m on God’s timing, truly —I’m just letting it roll.
You’re a Justin Bieber guy. Beliebe it.
“Swag” or “Swag II”? I was hesitant to want to listen to “Swag II” because I love “Swag I” so much. But then once you get into “Swag II,” it’s like, Dude, this is so fire, bro. Both albums are so fire — I’ll listen to either one.
What did you think of the YouTube of it all? I thought it was really cool. I loved it — it was just something way different. I’ve never seen that done like that. Iconic — I would call it iconic. That’ll go down in history.
Bailey Zimmerman on Stagecoach’s main stage.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
You have a current radio hit, “Chevy Silverado.” What was your first truck? A 2005 white Chevy Silverado. That’s what the song’s about.
Yes, of course. But I didn’t know it was true to life — I thought you were using writerly inspiration. No, true to life, man. My grandpa had a 2005 crew-cab short-bed Chevy Silverado, and I bought it off of him. I had to borrow money from my bank in my hometown, and I bought it of him because times weren’t good at the time. When the used car dealership was going good, maybe he would’ve given it to me, but at that time, it wasn’t going good, so I had to borrow money and have a payment at the bank. Adult things.
You know where that truck is now? I still have it. Honestly, I didn’t think anybody would resonate with the song — I didn’t think anybody would listen to it just because it was so personal to me. Every single line is a real life story from my life, so to see it resonating with everybody and seeing it do what it’s doing — it’s so cool, man.
Choosin’ to stay home instead of trekking out to Indio for this weekend’s Stagecoach festival? Don’t worry, you’ll be able to listen to all the country music your heart desires. You can get your country heartbreak on with Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman and Cody Johnson, and then rock out with Counting Crows. If you prefer EDM, you can catch Diplo and Dillstradamus (Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus) as Friday’s closing acts.
The festival will be livestreamed on Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video and Twitch beginning at 3 p.m. On Sirius XM’s The Highway (channel 56), you can listen to exclusive interviews and live performances along with a special edition of the Music Row Happy Hour. The station Y’Allternative will also be covering the festival on Friday evening.
Here are updated set times for the Stagecoach livestream Friday performances (times presented are PDT):
