Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

My thanks as always for clicking and listening along.

Got a really good one for you this week with a country star who has crossed over to big mainstream success.

Her name is Kelsey Ballerini.

She's out now with her fifth album. This one is called Patterns. It comes on the heels of her previous Grammy-nominated album, rolling up the

Welcome Matt, which very personally detailed her divorce a couple of years ago. She has come up from Knoxville, Tennessee, where she fell in

love with music at a very young age, started writing songs when she was 12 years old, moved with her

mother to Nashville when she was 15 years old, and began what she describes as kind of a slow burn

career, a rise up through the music industry. She feels like, as she puts it,

she's in this puberty phase, which is she's not really new anymore. She's been in,

first album came out in 2015. She's ready to make that leap and catch the wave, and she feels

like she has. And in many ways, she got the Grammy nomination for her previous album this year

that happened. And now

she has sold out Madison Square Garden. She's played an arena show at her hometown in Knoxville,

but this feels like something different and special. Feels like she's on the brink of superstardom.

She talks about how Taylor Swift became a mentor, kind of took her under her wing very early on,

offering her support and guidance in how to navigate all of this.

And so she has had success over her five albums.

She has won awards in the country community.

She was nominated for this Grammy, but now on to bigger and better things, she hope.

So I hope you enjoy getting to know

Kelsey Ballerini as much as I did. So sit back, relax, and enjoy Kelsey right now on the Sunday

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