Battle Creek's Frankie Ballard to Open for Bob Seger at the Palace, 5/24

The Detroit Free Press reports that 27-year old country singer and guitarist Frankie Ballard from Battle Creek is tonight's opening act for Bob Seger at the Palace.F Ballard has broken into the music scene with impressive speed and in the company of some high-profile acts. 

On Tuesday Ballard will celebrate the release of his self-titled Warner Bros. debut album with a headlining gig in Grand Rapids, and then he'll join Taylor Swift on some dates of her upcoming tour. Ballard, who originally wanted to be a professional baseball player, broke into the music industry in his late teens.  

Ballard is not shows little intimidation about opening for superstar Seger.  "I think about who's gonna be in the crowd, and it's no secret they're there to see him and I'm fooling myself (to think) otherwise,", the singer tells the Detroit Free Press.  "It's my job to get them excited, to tease them about Bob. I get 'em worked up, and as long as I put energy in the room and really give 'em everything I got, I hope I get their attention.

Ballard cites Merle Haggard, Johnny Horton and Elvis Presley amongst his earliest influences, yet credits blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan for changing his life. "At the end of the day I'm a country artist through and through, but as a guitarist I'm a blues player and that's all because of Stevie. He opened up this world of blues to me" he asserts.

Frankie Ballard will open for Bob Seger at the Palace at 8:00 pm May 24.  His has a free CD-release performance on Monday at Coyote Joe's in Shelby Twp. Doors 7 p.m., show 8:30 p.m. He will be signing and briefly performing at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Walmart, 6020 B Drive North, Battle Creek.

His official CD-release performance is Tuesday at the Intersection in Grand Rapids. Doors 7 p.m., show 9 p.m. His self-titled debut album hits stores on Tuesday.

For more information, please visit: http://www.frankieballard.com/