‘Can’t Go Back’ w/ Frankie Ballard

'Can't Go Back' w/ Frankie Ballard: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

'Can't Go Back' w/ Frankie Ballard: this mp4 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Ken McMullen:
Frankie Ballard is a country blues rocker, which is right up my alley if I was actually you see, I got a lot of guitars here. If I actually knew how to play them, I would try to play like like he does. I'm a fan, actually. Went to one of his concerts here recently over the winter in the Detroit area. He released the album El Rio to critical acclaim, and Rolling Stone named it one of the best in country music. His previous album had three consecutive hits. You probably remember A hell of a Life, Sunshine and Whiskey and Young and Crazy. He's performed with Bob Seger, Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and others. And currently I just think I follow him on. Social media seems to be all over the place. Welcome, Frankie Ballard. Hey, thank you, Ken. Appreciate it.

Frankie Ballard:
It's nice to be here.

Ken McMullen:
I'm glad. I'm glad you took the time. Appreciate it. Here's what I thought we'd do. Hopefully no one's done this before. I know you've done tons of interviews, and they. They probably all kind of get to be the same. This is sort of like, this is your life. Except I changed it. But it's. These are your quotes. So, yeah. So there's this website I ran across. I know if you've seen it before, it's called Brainy Quotes and they must mean they have quotes like people from like Einstein and all this kind of thing, but they, they must just pull quotes from interviews or something. You'll let me know if these are real quotes from yours. But they actually had a Frankie Ballard page. A Frankie Ballard quotes.

Frankie Ballard:
Wow.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah. So I'm going to we'll go through. I have no questions prepared other than things you've actually said, and then you can respond to them. Wow, this is sort of nerve wracking.

Frankie Ballard:
Yeah, a little bit. No.

Ken McMullen:
It's not as bad as this is your life. I'm not going to pull any old elementary teachers out or anything like that.

Frankie Ballard:
That's good.

Ken McMullen:
These are your quotes. Actually, I prepared a little riff, so let's find that. There we are. These are your quotes. I'm a Detroit Tigers fan through and through. Frankie Ballard.

Frankie Ballard:
Yes. That will never change. That will never change. Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, where Tony the Tiger was born. Also. So I went to the old Tiger Stadium a few times with my dad back in the late 80s and early 90s, and he was always a Detroit Tigers fan. My dad actually went to 80 home games in 1968. When they won the championship. So he brought me up and brought me into the fold. And even though I live in Nashville now, even if there was a professional baseball team here, there's no way I could ever leave. My allegiance to the Tigers. That's right.

Ken McMullen:
This next quote actually goes along with that one. I probably would have never made it through college without baseball, so I'm thankful for that. I really am proud that I got to play at that level. Frankie Yes. Yeah, Like you played college ball.

Frankie Ballard:
I did. I went to Mott Community College for my first year in Flint, Michigan, and had a pretty good season and then was recruited to Western Michigan and became a Bronco to finish my career. And I like to say that I went to college to play baseball and accidentally graduated.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah, well, what position did you play?

Frankie Ballard:
I came in as a middle infielder, but I ended up playing a lot of right field at Western because our middle infielders were future big leaguers. One of them was Adam Rosales, who ended up playing ten years in the major leagues. So I ended up playing a lot of outfield, a little bit of second base as well. Kind of a utility player.

Ken McMullen:
What'd you graduate in?

Frankie Ballard:
Educationally speaking. Yeah. Not communications. I, um. I tried to take. I try to take a path that I knew I could be successful at, but it was all a means to an end, which was playing baseball. I just had to keep a 2.5 GPA in order to stay on the field. So my focus was never academic as much as it was athletic, but I'm very, very grateful for the education now. It feels. It feels great to know I have that in the bank and they're finished. Something I started. But baseball's really the reason why the first place.

Ken McMullen:
All right. Another quote. Moving on. I'm a huge Travis Tritt fan and I'm a big Southern rock guy.

Frankie Ballard:
That sounds like it was an old quote. You know.

Ken McMullen:
I don't even know if these are real. So is that something you would have said at some point?

Frankie Ballard:
It might have. You know, I was starting off playing in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Battle Creek and sort of regionally. Playing in bars and honky tonks and. That was one of my go to cover artists. You know, I smell t-r-o-u-b-l-e. Yeah. Here's a quarter. You're a quarter?

Ken McMullen:
Yeah.

Frankie Ballard:
Yeah. So your songs used to use a lot of Travis Tritt songs in my honky tonk days. Um. Did you play.

Ken McMullen:
Music at all while you're been too busy? I was gonna say during college, but you could have been doing the bar scene if you're probably busy with the baseball.

Frankie Ballard:
Yeah, it's funny how that happened. You know, I. I certainly at some point realized my future was not going to be in the big leagues, and that dream was coming to an end. And at the same time, I started to meet musicians in the area and go to some of the blues jams, watch bands. And so. In one dream. Sort of coming to an end. This this other dream of playing music started to be born. And I sort of let go of the baseball and put down my glove and picked up the guitar. Um, somewhere around 20 or 21. You know, I remember asking my coach if I could bring a guitar out on the road with us on the baseball bus. And he said no. And that was mostly because we had so much other gear to take care of. But, um, yeah, Southern Rock, you know, Leonard Skynyrd and a lot of the Allman Brothers music. I really fell in love with the guitar. Um.

Ken McMullen:
Now you play it, man.

Frankie Ballard:
But but the solo guitar tones of Duane Allman and those guys really kind of took me to another place I'd never been.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah. You're not just the, you know, the chords drummer. I mean, there's videos on YouTube where you're I think Keith Urban's trying to keep up with you on some gorgeous satellite song I saw. How do you get to play at that level? Is that just from playing every day or.

Frankie Ballard:
I think my influence, my influence for for being a lead guitar player was Stevie Ray Vaughan. I remember one time my mom had on in the kitchen making dinner and the Austin City Limits Stevie Ray Vaughan performance came on and I was just mesmerized. I remember thinking I'd never seen anybody play like that before. And Stevie Ray kind of opened up my mind to, okay, there's a difference between a rhythm guitar player and a lead guitar player, somebody who plays solos and individual notes and melodies. And ever since I saw him and his command over the instrument, I've been trying to play like him. I'm still working on it. But yeah, I would just say it's yeah. Time under tension, trying to figure it out. And day after day that guitar has been a companion of mine and I'm still trying to master it. But I loved, I loved the idea of being able to step out in front and play some melodies and say some things that maybe I couldn't sing or say with my voice. This is another instrument to use. And so I love the idea of exploring that.

Ken McMullen:
My next quote. I don't really have any hobbies. Frankie Ballard.

Frankie Ballard:
It's true. It's kind of remains true to this day. I have habits, that's for sure. Um.

Ken McMullen:
That one made me laugh.

Frankie Ballard:
Yeah, the. I probably should. It's probably a healthy practice to develop a hobby. Um, but it seems like every spare minute I have, and especially now with the family. Um. It's hard to pick up a golf club or something along those lines. You know, I always go back to the guitar if I have a spare moment. It seems like I'm always looking for the nearest guitar because that's really my love and I. A hobby, maybe. Some somewhat of an exercise. You know, I've been trying to get into boxing a little bit. Really, that's been kind of a hobby because I don't I don't want to do that, um, competitively, that's for sure. I don't. But I love hitting the heavy bag and kind of learning about that sport. But exercise is a bit of a hobby. But again, that's more of a habit too, that I'm trying to create. So I don't know. I just don't have time for, for any hobbies, right?

Ken McMullen:
Um, I'd like to wrestle an alligator and fly it. Fly a fighter jet.

Frankie Ballard:
That sounds like a younger version of me as well. Um, yeah, definitely. The fighter Jet one, I think had I not got the baseball scholarship and Opportunity when I was 18, I might have ended up in the military and there was a definitely a competition, enough of a competition to me that would have got me into a fighter jet. I actually went and talked to an Air Force recruiter and a marine Corps recruiter about flight school because that was always something I thought I could do. And I still look up at the sky sometimes and wonder. But the wrestling and alligator thing. I'm not sure what that what that was all about. Maybe just me. It sounds cool talking trash. As a younger.

Ken McMullen:
Man. I caught an alligator once by accident in Florida. Fishing.

Frankie Ballard:
What did you do?

Ken McMullen:
What I probably shouldn't say because the end of the story is the alligator died and it's illegal, or at least it used to be to kill alligators in Florida. But as I was with a pro, I worked in television down there and I was with a pro bass fisher guy. We're fishing at this pond. And anyways, he this alligator went down and ate my lure. Swallowed it whole. And I'm like, well, let's cut the line. Well, the guy says, that's my favorite lure, so he can't. So he says, This happens all the time to me. He lives in Tennessee. I don't know where he said he lived in Tennessee, but he travels and he's like, I've had alligator problems before. He tells me what to do. Reel it in slow, but be careful. They run like 35 miles an hour. So if he starts running, zig zag. So anyways, it had two legs up on the shore and. Okay, I'm going too long in the story. But basically he grabs a piece of wood and he says, Knock it on the head just to knock it out so that we can get the lure. How hard? He says, Well, do you want it to wake up? So I gave it a good knock. So he flips it over because if it wakes up, apparently they can't really do much when they're upside down. And unfortunately, he never woke up. So I'm kind of been on the lam for, I don't know, like 25 years for that incident. But he did get his allure back. That's my didn't wrestle it. But I.

Frankie Ballard:
Think that's. Yeah, that's an animal that. I really wouldn't want to mess with. Yeah, they're surprisingly fast.

Ken McMullen:
Uh.

Frankie Ballard:
Mhm.

Ken McMullen:
I'm skipping a couple here. I see so many people living in a bubble. They want to be safe. They want. Do you think they are just coming from old interviews?

Frankie Ballard:
Like randomly like old Twitter, old Twitter, old Twitter came out. I think I was saying these things on that. Okay.

Ken McMullen:
Coming back to haunt you, Digital footprint.

Frankie Ballard:
I see so many people.

Ken McMullen:
Living in a bubble. They want to be safe. They want their kids to be safe and they want their friends to be safe. And I get that. That's awesome and really admirable. But life is not about who gets out the cleanest at the end or who's the most well preserved and healthiest.

Frankie Ballard:
Ranking. Yeah, well, I think that's true. That's true. And I would have to say now that that what that means to me more is. It's where your faith comes in, you know, because the Bible says we're all going to die someday. You know, it is appointed unto man once to die, and then comes judgment. So if you're not a believer, this is all there is, You know, life is. Here and now. And once you die, that's it. The darkness washes over and you've gone out of existence. And so I see people trying to preserve that existence as long as they can. And I guess that's a somewhat noble endeavor, but it's also a selfish endeavor. You know, it's a difficult conversation to have. You know, getting older and technology has become so amazing that we can prolong our lives to the to the absolute max, it seems. But it also begs the question, you know, which is a more noble death, you know, to go out and buy a grizzly bear or to, you know, sort of fade away and become a burden to your family. So I think there's a. There's also a different perspective, though. Now, as a dad, you know, I look at my daughter and definitely want to keep her safe, keep her protected, But at the same time, life just can't be about trying to make it as far and. Why it is possible, you know? But what is it? What is your life mean? What have you done to. You know, help others, not just help yourself preserve yourself. So I think that was still rings pretty true for me.

Ken McMullen:
And was leading to those. So I actually have some quotes that. Like, actually, this one's more current because it's your Instagram liner. While I have a life to live. Thank you, King Jesus. You cleansed me and I didn't earn it. What is brought you to this point in your faith? Um. Is it recent? Is it rekindled? Or what's your story there?

Frankie Ballard:
I'm glad you asked. It's it's definitely recent. It's more of a recent development. Um, although it's been ongoing. I was born Catholic, you know, baptized as a little baby in the Catholic Church. And then, you know, found sort of the charismatic movement. In my early 20s. Um. But neither of the Catholic Church nor the charismatic church really preaches the true gospel. And I would say. About two years ago during the. End of the pandemic. You know. Season, I discovered reformed theology. And you know, you can believe. In God and you can believe. In Jesus, but you need to believe the full truth before I think you're actually saved. And I'm not sure that I was saved. I. I had a heart for Christ and I had a longing for heaven. And I understood the virtue in the stories about Jesus. But I'm not sure that before a couple of years ago, I really understood what the gospel was. And it's the gospel alone that can save us. And. So I understood it and then believed what I understood. And I believe it's that truth that sets you free. So I really feel, um, it's a recent development, at least my salvation is. But it's been a journey, you know, God has been bringing me through. It may be.

Frankie Ballard:
He needed me to understand some of the false systems before I could grab hold of what was true. And that that statement, you know, I was cleansed and I didn't earn it, I think is where the gospel really needs to start. You know, I didn't really understand myself as a as a sinner, as by nature an object of God's wrath, by nature, unwilling and unable to search after God, you know. So it's coming to the cross knowing that there's no other way into heaven. It's coming to the cross and realizing I'm not worthy. I'm not going to be able to elevate myself to a place that's acceptable to a holy God. It's coming and getting on your knees, so to speak, and cry out like the publican beating his chest and saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Because without that mercy, without my sin, my life being put on the cross. Being nailed to the cross and without Christ's perfect life, being credited to my account, without that atonement, without that transaction, that justification, I'm not going to get it. You know, so. That's the amazing grace, that's the amazing grace that you would offer that to me. And so I understood that. I believed that. And that's really changed my my life, you know?

Ken McMullen:
How does that affect your career or at all? Does it affect your outlook or where you want your career or music to go? Does it mix over to your writing and your thinking and your playing, or is that kind of a separate. Thing and this is more private or can it not be really separated because that's who you are and your music is who you are, or how does that play out in your head or is it still playing out?

Frankie Ballard:
Well, yeah, definitely. All the above can be. It's an ongoing process. But it can't be separated. There is a. A very true. Since that everything I've been doing, you know, since I was a boy, has been about me. It's been a selfish pursuit. It's been an ambition of my flesh, you know, to whether it's about my baseball career or my music career, you know? I mean, hey. Check this song out. You really need to listen to this or this is important, you know? Watch this. Look at me. That is all a very it's a it's a manifestation of my own pride. And think when you come to the cross and realize. That's all garbage that you can't bring. Past the cross. And so I'm thankful that I have a career and I'm thankful that I have a job that I absolutely love. But. The music business and writing songs and putting out albums, you know, that comes with a message. So I ask myself, now, what is your message? You know, is it eat, drink and be merry? Because that's kind of what it was, you know? It's all sunshine and whiskey and it's a hell of a life. And, you know, I'm young and crazy, all of these songs and things that.

Frankie Ballard:
Like I said, I really feel convicted. Now, you don't know at the time. You know, you think that you're just giving people. An escape. And here I am, entertaining folks. And that's a good thing. And it may be a good thing on a human level, but people don't need. Anything except the gospel. They need the gospel more than anything. I think that the greatest human need is forgiveness, and that comes one way. So I've been really struggling with. What to do from here. And it when I when I understood the gospel and I believed it, I started thinking in a new way. And I started writing some songs and I actually recorded an album and I want to put it out. And its lyrical content is very much a man wrestling, grappling with his faith. So I'm hoping to get that out soon. But where to go from here as far as popular country music and what? People maybe would expect out of me is. You know, I'm not sure I can go back to promoting the party and promoting the lifestyle of a rock star and trying to, you know. Do all that. So it's it's a it's a whole new adventure, you know. But I wouldn't go back.

Ken McMullen:
You know, when I was a much younger lad, I was in Nashville and I was I had already had I was 25 and I had probably ten years of experience doing radio, DJing, television, music, DJing, and primarily in the Christian music area, pop music. And when I was in Nashville. Country music, television. Had me in queue. Cmt had just gotten started and they didn't have any host or shows yet. They were just flipping country music videos. Okay. Tnn was the big thing then the Nashville Network back in the day, and I was in queue. Believe it or not, to be the first CMT Veejay.

Frankie Ballard:
Wow.

Ken McMullen:
While I was doing. I was at Way-fm in Nashville. And if you're familiar on 88.7. And during that time I was, I don't know, maybe six months or a year. I was kind of in queue waiting for them to be ready and get a program together. And I'm just. Was doing and was doing like a lunchtime shift and then Saturday afternoon. But I was grappling with the same things you're talking about because I was a but I was going from I got in this to be doing like ministry. He got in it to do Christian broadcasting and to be like a Dick Clark of a Christian genre that was growing. Instead of just like churchy music or Southern gospel's like instead of something like that, there was something new and emerging and I wanted to help present that to the world. It's kind of my thing. But then I have country music television knocking at my door and they're like, Well, this is a big break, but it's not. I was going in the other direction, like getting am I going to step out of this into that? Instead of am I going to step where you're kind of at? Am I going to step out of it over into here? And I'll tell you, I made the choice to just leave and I went back. I'm in Michigan. I went back to Michigan and I just starting with youth and churches and just kind of went in, started my own little video business and just started teaching and churches and just left it all together.

Ken McMullen:
But then in retrospect, they always had in the back of my mind. What if I would have been on a national network? Introducing and talking and interviewing people like Frankie Ballard. At the time, it would have been like Reba mcEntire and Garth Brooks or whatever. And. I wouldn't have been talking about my faith. I wouldn't have been doing. However, the exposure. For what my personal life was would have been so much wider. No. So. I'm just throwing it out there as you're contemplating. I'm contemplating with you like almost had the. Reverse regret or it's not a regret. You go where you think you need to go at the time, but think, what if I would have stayed? And sure, I would have been just popular music and good times and sunshine and whiskey, however. Put of on my own time, spoken to thousands of people that wanted to hear me speak and I'd speak about my faith in private or you think about the Alice Cooper's that have found a way that they're comfortable with. And that earlier it was like Charlie Daniels. Strong faith man, and he just altered a little bit of his lyrics from his smoking weed days. Yeah. And he just kept going and he kind of mixed the two. Instead of abandoning it. Yeah.

Frankie Ballard:
Yeah.

Ken McMullen:
It's like wanting to offer you advice. I'm just throwing out there because those same thoughts in a similar way had gone through, you know, mine in the beginning and I've seen other people do it. But again. I like sunshine and whiskey. I like hell of a life. But then I'd like to hear a gospel album, too, you know? And. Yeah. From Frankie Ballard.

Frankie Ballard:
I have a tendency to overcorrect. You know, and I've come to this realization about what Christ is really offering and what salvation really is. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, I got to get out and I got to get in the church and, you know, and. That's been the last couple of years of navigating how to react. What are the implications of this? And so I think that's sound advice through telling me your own story.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah. And and frankly, if you don't mind me, just offering in this conversation is, I mean, think about what Christ himself did or where he went. He wasn't in the synagogues. Yeah. He was with. The people who needed to hear the message that would never hear it in a church or even. Even. And I'm not trying to talk you anything. I'm just throwing thoughts out there that when I think of guys like Alice Cooper, it's even hard to wrap my head around because it seems so extreme. The darkness. However, they're closest to a light that they're ever going to be just because who that man is. That putting on an entertainment show and then they'll accidentally run across him on YouTube latently talking about his faith in Christ. But if he went off and just. I started just hanging in a church. In Alice Cooper disappeared. And Vince, whatever his real name is, came back. Uh, all those millions of kids wouldn't have access. To what else Cooper now brings. You know what I mean?

Frankie Ballard:
Yeah. So I believe that there's going to be I can't look, I can't go back, you know. Sure. So either way, the message is changing the the words between the songs, the answers in questions and interviews and things moving forward, it's it's going to be true to my faith because I'm changed. The realization or the thing I have to kind of reckon is the culture's not going to like that. Right. The mainstream culture doesn't want to hear about Christ. They don't want to hear about the Bible. And that's okay. If my career gets marginalized and I'm pushed aside to a smaller audience or I can't grow into some superstar. That's okay. I. Still love to do what I know I was born to do. And I'm excited to see, you know, my wife, I think, thinks of it in the best way. She said, Honey, just imagine it's a surprise party. You know, you stay faithful. You stay true to what God has called you to do and with the message He's put in your heart and then see what happens, you know? So I don't want to run the other direction, but I also don't want to go back to where I was. So I'm looking forward to putting this new album out and being faithful to the message. And I believe God will put in front of me the people He needs. To hear that message. And as long as I'm faithful, I'll the dots will connect. But, you know.

Ken McMullen:
You're not appreciate what you appreciate about you, Frankie, is what you're saying is pretty common when somebody's career is done and they're like 70 years old. It, meaning that they've lived it. They did it in the back of their mind. They knew they need to get their life straightened up or get right with God and this and that and. They live all the fun for some decades. They kind of like. Playing a little Russian roulette of hoping they live long enough and. And then when the career is over and nobody's paying attention anyway, there's not much in front of them, then they really get their lives right and they settle down and they. I appreciate that. Really. You're in a prime and you're willing to make that adjustment. And and that's that's real faith. To be able to go.

Frankie Ballard:
Thank you for saying that, man.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah. Oh, for sure.

Speaker4:
So. No, no. Whatever you come.

Ken McMullen:
Out with, come back on. Well, we'll highlight it.

Frankie Ballard:
Yeah, I'm excited. It's a. But if nothing else, the past few years have taught me. That tomorrow's not promised. And, you know, if we wake up tomorrow and are able to put our feet on the ground, that's a gift from God. God is giving you the day to. Make choices and have conversations. And I just want to be faithful with those moments that God gives me to help my family, to lift other people up, to do what I do to the fullest of my ability, and in a way that honors God and honors the grace He's given me. So I'm a happy man. It's it's a. It's a funny place to be in. You know, you see. Your momentum from this dream and this career that you've started, you see it waning and you see the young crop of Tiktokers taking over the place that you used to have in mainstream music and. You would think that, you know, I'd be in despair. But the truth is, is I'm happier than I've ever been. And I'm just proud that. I still have, you know, a voice and I still have a guitar and I still have a life to live. Lord willing. So I want to sing and play about the truest passion and write songs about the truest passion in my heart. And that's truly God. Now, you know, God has taken up residence in my spirit and my soul, and He's my greatest treasure. Christ is my greatest treasure. So I can't help but sing about that and come what may, you know. We'll see what we'll see if certain people don't ever want to come and see me again because they don't want anything but sunshine and whiskey. Well. I don't know what to say because, you know, I'm a new man and thank God for that.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah. And it's it's great timing, too, for you, for your daughter to grow up and to have a dad with that perspective.

Frankie Ballard:
Um, yeah. If I have to be gone, as much as I certainly will have to be gone to to be a musician and play live and make records. I don't want to have to answer her question, which is inevitable when someday she looks at me and says, Dad, why were you gone so much? I don't want to have to say, Well, because I was out there shaking my tail feather and yeah, trying to get, you know, attention from everybody. You know, I want to be able to say, because I had a message in my heart from God to give people hope and give people joy and share the gospel and share my faith and, you know, give give her an answer that I can stand by, you know, and be proud of. So it's a whole new it's a whole new ballgame, but I'm just happy to be in the game.

Ken McMullen:
Good. Well, it sounds like you're in a good place and won't keep you. I'll let you get back to her and. And your wife. But you're welcome back anytime, sir. I'll keep a track on your career, whichever. Whatever happens with it. Well, I'm.

Frankie Ballard:
Going to put that album out, and I think you're going to like it as a fellow believer. Yeah, I'll come back on and we can talk about songs or see what you think. I'd love to know your opinion. It's got some good guitar playing on there, I'll tell you that, man. You got. You're going to love. You're going to love the production.

Ken McMullen:
Awesome. All right. Thanks a lot, Frankie.

Frankie Ballard:
You got it, Ken. God bless you.

I'm going home to. Since I laid my. Burning down. I'm going home to. Live with Jesus since I've laid. The God.

Speaker5:
Glory. Glory.

Hallelujah. Since I laid my burden down. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Since I've laid. Is burdened down. Counted among the.

Speaker1:
Outlaws. He said, Come, follow me. People from all walks of life since.

Have been becoming outlaws.

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