In 2014, when Kelsea Ballerini was writing what became her breakout album, the following year’s unexpected smash debut The First Time, the Grammy-nominated singer had almost zero time to sketch out its creative nuances. Having long been signed exclusively as a songwriter to the independent label Black River Entertainment, Ballerini was writing songs with the expectation they’d be cut by other artists. “And then all of a sudden I had a record deal and it was time to make an album,” she recalls with a laugh of the whirlwind months that preceded The First Time.
Read more about Kelsea’s start and the inspiration for her new album here.
