Ballard streams tonight

EI Rio

The rough-edged, soulful vocalist Frankie Ballard certainly receives some high-powered songwriting help on "El Rio." Chris Stapleton, considered country music's savior by some, contributes to a couple of songs, and hit makers Chris Janson and Kip Moore also each have co-writing credits on the release. Perhaps most telling inclusion of all, however, is Ballard's cover of Bob Seger's love song, "You'll Accomp'ny Me." Much like Seger before him, Ballard ...

Sunshine and Whiskey

Upon first glance at the track list of Frankie Ballard's sophomore release, "Sunshine and Whiskey" you might think you're in for 40 minutes of upbeat party anthems. Nearly half the songs have unsubtle titles like "Drinky Drink," "Sober Me Up" and the standard, "Don't tell Mama I Was Drinking." But behind some of the clichéd titles are deeper themes including introspection, death and regret. "It Don't Take Much" is autobiographical. ...

Frankie Ballard

As country music's latest "triple threat" (singer/songwriter/guitarist), Michigan native Frankie Ballard puts a blues/soul spin on his country music, and that resulted in a video hit with Tell Me You Get Lonely. While his major-label debut EP does play to his strengths on some songs, all too often he ends up getting lost in the already-crowded batch of new wannabe country stars. A good example of the best and worst of the album are in Ballard's two singles to date. ...