Frankie Goes to Hollywood…er, Nashville!

Congratulations to Frankie Ballard, as the hometown boy makes good with a record contract with Warner Brothers. My friends and family in Battle Creek where Frankie grew up are excited for him too. In fact, they are how I heard about young Mr. Ballard in the first place.

I first saw Frankie playing blues music at Gary Fields in the Cereal City. Not long before, my aunt called me while she was watching him play there. Frankie and her son went to school together, so she’d heard him play many times. She’d been trying to get me to come over and see him for at least a year. When she called that night she said, “I’m telling you, you’ve got to see this kid. He can really play guitar — listen! And he’s just your type with long blonde hair! You’d really like him.” (No matter he was a puppy of 20 or 21 tops! Love my aunt M!) The photo of Frankie is from Clifford Babbcock’s myspace page — that’s how he looked when I first saw him. This is a show at Fields with "Those Guys," the blues band he played with there.

I finally heard him play blues at Field’s a few weeks after that phone call, with a friend who’s daughter went to school with him too. (Battle Creek is a small town!) His blues guitar was stunning. And, long hair is always a good thing on a man — even really young ones. He didn’t sing that night, but I was amazed at his guitar work.

He turned up at Louie’s in Kalamazoo a few months later — playing country music — his true calling. I’m not really a country music fan, but have been exposed to it most of my life through family and an exhusband. The thing about hearing him that night (besides surprise) was that I knew all the lyrics to the songs he covered. I kept saying, “how do I know this song?”

But, as cute as he is, his talent really is his best feature. He has a great voice that adds a lot to the country sound. He’s just one of those phenomenal local musicians you run into once (maybe 3 times) in a lifetime.

His covers of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Pure Prairie League, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the like, will have you up and dancing — or at lest singing along — if you’re an old school country/southern rock fan. His new stuff is in that style, and has me listening to country music for the first time in a very, very long time.

You can catch him before he goes to Holly…er Nashville this Saturday out in Richland. And, a special good-bye party at Louie’s is planned for April 18th. He told the Gazette that he’ll be back to play for us when he can. My guess is that could be a long way off. The kids got talent, and now more than just us hometown folks know it.

Best of luck Frankie. We’ll miss you’re holler ‘n swaller, but I’m sure we’ll see you on the radio!