FRANKIE BALLARD LIGHTS UP THE ROAD

[Transcendence]

Frankie Ballard may sing about bad times making the good times better on his Number One smash "Helluva Life," but the classic rock-inspired country shredder has nothing but a gilded road ahead of him: his first headlining run, that is.

 

"You go through life and you have these goals and ambitions… and that's all that you see," Ballard told Rolling Stone Country on the ethos behind the hit song — and his life. "But then thirty years have gone by, and maybe you've achieved them or maybe you didn't. That's not life. It's the every day, trying to get there. It's the trials and tribulations. That's what it's about."

Though he's opened for the likes of Jake Owen, Rascal Flatts and Bob Seger in the past, Ballard's Light 'Em Up Tour will finally have the tattooed Michigan native taking center stage, showcasing songs from this year's Sunshine & Whiskey, his 2011 self-titled debut and anything else he's able to concoct from what he joking calls "Frankie Ballard Soup."

"All my influences go into a pot like a big ole stew," he says on his style that melds both twang and twelve-bar blues, "and it tastes like all the years I spent trying to play the guitar like Stevie Ray Vaughn. It tastes like Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. And if it comes out bluesy, then so be it."

Ballard dishes out his first show in Minneapolis, hitting cities from Boston to Los Angeles. Check out the full tour schedule below:

Frankie Ballard’s Light ‘Em Up Tour Dates:

10/16 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

10/17 – St. Louis, Missouri

10/23 – Cincinnati, Ohio

10/24 – Louisville, Kentucky

10/25 – Indianapolis, Indiana

10/30 – Cleveland, Ohio

11/1 – Detroit, Michigan

11/8 – Boston, Massachusetts 

11/13 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

11/14 – Charlotte, North Carolina

11/15 – Washington, D.C.

11/19 – Houston, Texas

11/20 – New Orleans, Louisiana

11/22 – Dallas, Texas

11/28 – Orlando, Florida

12/6 – Seattle, Washington

12/11 – San Diego, California

12/12 – Anaheim, California

12/13 – Los Angeles, California