Kelsea Ballerini Debuts New ‘Drinking Song’ During Amazon Showcase at CRS
Kelsea Ballerini has written and recorded her first drinking song, and she shared it with the country music industry, media and a few fans during Amazon's Country Heat showcase in Nashville on Wed. (Feb. 19).
The five-artist showcase was part of CRS, the country music community's annual conference that brings radio programmers from all over to the Omni Hotel for different panels, conversations and showcases. Record labels and artists use the event as a chance to preview what's to come in the new year, which for Ballerini is a new album.
The "Homecoming Queen?" singer headlined the show, mixing older hits like "Miss Me More" and "Peter Pan" with new songs like her current Top 20 single, "Club," and a new song called "Hole in the Bottle."
"I was like how much longer can I call myself a country artist and not have a drinking song?" she shared to introduce the pop-country rocker. "So meet my drinking song."
Per ASCAP, Ballerini co-wrote the song with Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorely, Stephenie Jones and Hillary Lindsey. Look for it on the Kelsea album when it drops on March 20.
Prior to Ballerini's headlining set the Cadillac Three performed four songs from their new Country Fuzz album, including "Hard Out Here for a Country Boy." This set was a bit more stripped down than the performance they gave for a recent Taste of Country RISERS performance.
Gabby Barrett also shared new music with CRS attendees. "Rose Needs a Jack" is a song she's played before but not often with a full band. The "I Hope" singer's performance comes one day after it was announced she would be opening up for Brad Paisley's world tour in 2020.
Jon Langston and Nico Moon also performed on Wednesday. See photos of the event below, courtesy of Amazon.