Frank Robert Ballard IV (born December 16, 1982) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has released two albums each for

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

, and has charted eight singles on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

charts.

Personal life

Ballard played college baseball at Mott Community College. He then continued to pursue college baseball by playing in the NCAA with

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...

. On March 12, 2017, Ballard married his girlfriend, Christina Murphy, owner of Old Smokeys Boots, a Nashville-based shoe and accessory store. On November 7, 2019, the couple announced they were expecting their first child. Their daughter, Pepper Lynn, was born on February 8, 2020.

Music career

In the summer of 2008 he signed up for

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country singer. With 30 million albums sold worldwide, he released his debut, '' In My Wildest Dreams'', in 1994, and has since released 19 follow-ups. His albums spawned 27 singles tha ...

's Next Big Star competition. After winning the competition for Michigan in 2008, Ballard also opened shows for Chesney at Michigan venues. He signed to

Nashville in 2010 and released his debut single "Tell Me You Get Lonely." It received a four-star review from Kyle Ward of Roughstock, who praised Ballard's voice and called the song "an above average debut effort." The song debuted at Number 59 on the

charts dated for the week ending June 12, 2010, and peaked at number 33 in early 2011. On January 7, 2011, Ballard made his debut appearance at the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

. He released his second single, " A Buncha Girls", in early 2011. This song also made the top 40. Both of his singles are included on his self-titled debut album, released in May 2011. Also in 2011, he opened for Lady Antebellum. In 2013, Ballard moved to

and released his third single, " Helluva Life". This is the lead single to his second album, '' Sunshine & Whiskey''. It became his first number 1 single in early 2014. Later in the year, the album's

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

went to number 1. " Young & Crazy", the album's third single, also went to number 1. The first single from Ballard's third album, " It All Started with a Beer", was released to country radio on November 16, 2015. The album, '' El Rio'', was released on June 10, 2016. The album's second single, "Cigarette", released to country radio on August 8, 2016. On November 22, 2024, Ballard released the EP ''Dirty Church Clothes'', featuring the single of the same name.

Additional music contributions

Ballard co-wrote "I Came to Git Down" on

Big & Rich Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a sol ...

's 2014 album ''

Gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

''.

Concert tours

;Supporting * Own the Night Tour with Lady Antebellum (2011) * Anything Goes Tour with

Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line was an American country music duo founded in 2010 by vocalists and songwriters Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over ...

(2015) * Still the Same Concert Tour with Sugarland (2018)

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

*^A"It All Started with a Beer" did not enter the Hot 100, but peaked at number 2 on

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

Music videos

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Frankie 1982 births Living people American country guitarists American male guitarists American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Country musicians from Michigan Entertainers from Battle Creek, Michigan Reprise Records artists Warner Records artists Western Michigan Broncos baseball players Singer-songwriters from Michigan Guitarists from Michigan 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters