Frankie Ballard

[Kim]

Mallrat


Frankie Ballard slates debut release

Monday, April 11, 2011 – Frankie Ballard readying the release of his self-titled debut in late May.

Ballard debuted with the single Tell Me You Get Lonely and A Buncha Girls is his second radio single. The CD will be out on Warner on May 24 with 8 songs.

Produced by Michael Knox (Jason Aldean), Ballard brings a bluesy, rocking edge. Ballard will open some dates for Bob Seger on his current tour and Taylor Swift on her upcoming North American leg of the "Speak Now World Tour 2011" tour.

The Battle Creek, Mich. native won Kenny Chesney’s “Next Big Star” regional competition in 2008 and opened for Chesney at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids and Ford Field in Detroit.

Songs on the CD are:

1. A Buncha Girls

2. Single Again

3. Place To Lay Your Head

4. Tell Me You Get Lonely

5. Get On Down The Road

6. Sober Me Up

7. Rescue Me

8. Grandpa's Farm

[Kim]

Mallrat


For those who can't wait, Ballard streams CD


Monday, May 16, 2011 – Franke Ballard is gearing up for his debut album set for release on May 24 on Warner. But for those who can't wait, a full stream of the CD is available.

Hailing from Battle Creek, Mich., Ballard blends country rock and guitar skills. Ballard's current single, A Buncha Girls, is his fastest rising single to date. He will be opening for Taylor Swift on select dates on the North American leg of her tour. He debuted with Tell Me You Get Lonely, with a video of the song going Top 5 on GAC's fan-voted Top 20 Country Countdown.
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[grg_straitfan]

How to write a love song

The old saying is, "love makes the world go 'round." Without a soundtrack, though, it wouldn't be as much fun. Or melancholy, depending on your experience.

The emotion of love is likely going to be on people's minds as Valentine's Day looms. It's also what fuels many musicians in their urge to tell their stories and the stories they've heard from others through their music.

When one thinks of love songs, songs about finding or losing a special someone, one might immediately think of country music. The guy left alone by his woman, with nothing to his name but his truck, dog and guitar, is an old stereotype. It's not a fair description of the entire genre, but it persists.

"I think stereotypical country tempo and vibe, a low kind of waltz with twangy instruments, lends itself to sentimental songs or sad songs," country musician and Battle Creek native Frankie Ballard said by telephone from Nashville, Tenn.

Ballard's first single, "Tell Me You Get Lonely," put him on the national stage in 2010. He's scheduled to perform at The Intersection in Grand Rapids Feb. 16.

"It's definitely not true that all country music is sad or all about love, but it feels that way because of the way the music sounds typically," Ballard said.

Still, there are some tips to writing such songs that Ballard was willing to share. One of the first sources of inspiration for love songs, he said, is personal experience.

Ballard said "Tell Me You Get Lonely" is about a guy trying to get a girl to admit she misses him. The reality, though, is that he misses her and can't wait to run back to her.

"Tell me you get lonely and I'll come back," Ballard sings in a darkened garage in the song's video, "all you gotta do is call me, my bag's been packed."

"I recorded that song because I experienced something very similar to that," Ballard said. "I don't know that it's a happy love song, but Valentine's Day and love isn't always peaches and cream, you know?"

Ballard said, though, music created from using a metaphor to take another look at love is as true as using a personal story. One example is his song about life being like a stiff drink and needing a woman to bring him back to reality, "Sober Me Up."

[grg_straitfan]

Frankie Ballard Goes to Hollywood With “Drinky Drink”
He's Featured in Soundtrack for Reese Witherspoon/Sofia Vergara's Hot Pursuit
by samantha stephens 5/8/2015

Miranda Lambert isn’t the only country star lending a tune to Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara’s new film, Hot Pursuit.

Frankie Ballard is also getting in on that action, too, with his bluesy, intoxicating song “Drinky Drink,” which makes an appearance in the film and marks Ballard’s first big cinematic moment.

“I’m very honored that music I made will be heard in a feature film,” he says. “I’ve always hoped this song would see the light of day — and now it is!”

And although he admits he hasn’t seen the official scene where the song now lives eternally, he jokes that he hopes it’s a “sexy place.” What he does know is that it’s a pretty big moment in the film. Apparently Vergara and Witherspoon are “dancing to it,” and Ballard laughs that his “life will never be the same.”

Life has already been changing in the best possible way for Ballard lately. The singer’s 2014 album Sunshine & Whiskey was both a critical and fan-favorite album that included two consecutive gold-certified No. 1 one singles — “Helluva Life” and the title track. His latest single, “Young & Crazy,” is currently climbing the country charts.

The Drinky Drink EP officially hits Spotify next week, and Ballard hits the road this summer with Florida Georgia Line’s Anything Goes tour.

Hot Pursuit, starring Witherspoon, Vergara and “Drinky Drink,” hits theaters Friday (May 8).