Ballard’s ‘Life’ message connects with his fans

March 6, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

“Helluva Life” indeed for country singer Frankie Ballard.

Just a year ago Ballard was a relatively obscure artist with a self-titled album to his credit. However, that all changed with last summer’s lead single, “Helluva Life,” from his recently released CD “Sunshine & Whiskey.”

The song eventually rose into the top 10 at country radio, and so far has sold more than 300,000 digital copies. So why exactly are people gravitating to the tune?

“It’s the message,” said Ballard, calling from Los Angeles. ‘Everybody has stuff they go through, and life throws them a curve ball. At the end of the day, we need something to chalk it all up to — the bad times and good times and everything in between.

“It’s a coping mechanism; people need to go, ‘Man, it’s just a helluva life.’ That’s an umbrella thing you can say over a million different stories. It’s been fun to watch. On social media, I’ve seen other people have added their journeys and stories to the lyric in that song. People have really just made it their own. That’s what’s so cool. That’s what I hoped for. It’s so much fun to see it actually happening.”

Invariably, Ballard has been waiting for something big to happen in his career. Originally from Battle Creek, Mich., he grew up listening to Elvis Presley, Johnny Horton and Buddy Guy.

After playing baseball at Western Michigan University, Ballard’s interests became focused on making it to the big leagues of country music. The multi-instrumentalist started playing out as much as possible around the Midwest, while focusing on Nashville.

It wasn’t until 2008 when Ballard won Kenny Chesney’s Next Big Star competition for Michigan that the doors started to open. This led to his self-titled debut, which included top-30 singles “Tell Me You Get Lonely” and “A Buncha Girls.”

When it came time to record the follow-up to his debut effort, Ballard said he felt a desire to create a signature sound.

“I didn’t know how I was going to do that,” Ballard said. “So I just put as much as myself into it as possible. I play guitar on every track. I was playing Wurlitzer keyboards, shakers, tambourines and banjo, just trying to put my stamp on it with my vocal style.

“I was a huge Bob Seger and John Mellencamp fan, that Midwest rock ’n’ roll. That influenced my brand of country music big time. And sometimes the songs ‘Sunshine & Whiskey’ and ‘Helluva Life,’ I close my eyes and it feels like I’m driving up the PCH in Malibu. It’s like this cool mixture of a few different things that we created.”

A touring road dog for years, Ballard said he has plenty of fond memories of playing the Dusty Armadillo. He returns for a Saturday show at the Rootstown venue.

“I came through with John Pardi on the ‘Tie One On Tour,’” Ballard said. “I remember walking in the back door thinking, ‘Now this is a honky-tonk.’ I had a great time. People are right up near the stage. I’ll tell you, the energy in rooms like that can be just as good as any on the planet. It can get rowdy in there.”

Sounds like the Dusty Armadillo is a good place to celebrate “Sunshine & Whiskey.”

Ballard said, laughing, “After the winter we’ve had, any place is a good place for sunshine and whiskey right now.”