Kelsea Ballerini Shares News At Fan-Forward Event At Grammy Museum

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At her first of three intimate fan gatherings Kelsea Ballerini is holding to discuss and screen her lauded Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP and short film, the star revealed that she will release a new project, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good), on Aug. 11.

With the first event held at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, Ballerini will head to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in her adopted hometown of Nashville on Aug. 8 followed by a final screening and conversation at the intimate Whitby Theater in New York City on Aug. 10.

Kelsea Ballerini pictured with noted director Julie Anne Robinson at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles

The evening was built around a conversation with noted director Julie Anne Robinson, a British-born, UK- and American-based filmmaker who was on-hand to do a deep dive into the writing, process and reckoning that drove Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (A Short Film).

Looking at where she was last year and where she’s heading, Ballerini knew the only way to close the door on Welcome Mat was to write the final chapter and resolve the reality of a marriage dissolving with the solidity of moving on. The East Tennessee creator expanded Welcome Mat, updating a few songs, adding a new one and announcing it all at the gathering.

Though Rolling Up The Welcome Mat was originally written and recorded with long-time collaborator Alysa Vanderheym, Ballerini didn’t want to leave the story in a place where so much was at stake and so little resolved. During the intimate fan event, the Black River artist treated the audience to the new “full” version of “Interlude” and performed “Penthouse (Healed Version)” for the full house.

“Having shared everything with my fans, I knew I wanted to tell them first—and I wanted to tell them,” says the painfully honest writer. “I wanted to be in an intimate space, with them, walking through everything that happened, explaining some of the artistic decisions and letting them know how much their reaction to this music has meant to me.”

To mark the occasion, Ballerini created special, limited-edition t-shirts that are available in each market that reveal a new lyric from “Interlude.”

Lorie Hollabaugh
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