Frankie Ballard Says ‘No’ to Chart Topper Party- the Reason Will Warm Your Heart

Around this time last year I went to Canandaigua to see Dierks Bentley and one of his opening acts was Frankie Ballard. Frankie took the stage and impressed the crowd, but the personal story I heard about him left me speechless.

While Frankie was on stage in Canandaigua, I took a photo and posted it to Facebook. Almost immediately, my friend Krista commented on the picture that she knew Frankie's family and had even worked with his sister at a Starbucks in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Intrigued, I asked if she could give me any insight into the kind of person he is and what she told me next blew me away.

According to Krista, the story goes like this: right around the time Frankie's song 'Helluva Life' was climbing the charts, his sister found out she would be welcoming a little boy into the world.  'Helluva Life' made it to number one on the country charts and Frankie's camp wanted to throw him a huge party to celebrate the awesome feat. But Frankie said no. Why? Because his parents were torn. They wanted to be at the party to celebrate their son's success, but they also wanted to be around to see the birth of their grandson who was due right around the time the party would be thrown. Frankie allegedly nixed the party because he didn't want to put his parents in a situation where they had to pick. He told them the birth of their first grandson was way more important than a number one on the chart party and that he'd have other number ones and other parties they could attend.

I can't wait to straight up ask Frankie about this when he comes to Binghamton to headline the Toyota Country Lights Festival on Friday, July 10th at NYSEG stadium!