On Feb. 14, Kelsea Ballerini released a salve for the brokenhearted via her surprise EP and short film release, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which chronicled the complex emotions circling the dissolution of her previous marriage and the intense public scrutiny that surrounded it. Music fans fell hard for the project’s unvarnished vulnerability and cathartic songs, singing them back boldly to Ballerini during every subsequent concert she performed.
Rolling Up the Welcome Mat followed swiftly on the heels of Ballerini’s previous project, Subject to Change, which fueled her current Billboard Country Airplay chart hit “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too).” But according to Ballerini in a press release, “There’s never been a moment to stop and talk about what the response to Welcome Mat has meant to me. Everything moved so fast after the release, and I never really got to just be in the moment with this film, these songs – but I heard you all loud and clear every night onstage, I promise! So, while Subject to Change was out there doing everything it’s supposed to do, you supported me with this project that I needed to make for me in that moment. I can’t thank you enough.”
Ballerini will soon open up about the short film and project directly with fans, when she hosts three intimate conversations and screenings for her short film Rolling Up the Welcome Mat in August.
The trio of events launches Aug. 1 at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, where she will screen the short film that she wrote and directed. Ballerini will take fans behind the scenes, through her vision and process of crafting the film. She will also discuss the writing and recording process for her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP, from the incisive opening track “Mountain With a View” to the clean-slated denouement “Leave Me Again.”
From there, Ballerini will host another screening/discussion at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame on Aug. 8, followed by a final screening/conversation at New York City’s Whitby Theater on Aug. 10.
The events will lead up to Ballerini’s Today show Citi Concert Series performance on Aug. 11 at Rockefeller Center, where she will sing her current country radio single, “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too),” as well as select songs from Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.
“Sometimes I write songs to figure out where I am, how I feel,” Ballerini, who just closed a sold-out headlining run as well as being the sole support on Kenny Chesney’s 2023 tour, continued in her statement. “I write to honor my feelings and get them out because that’s the purest way I know how. The purpose of this EP and short film was to release those very naked, honest feelings in hopes anyone feeling similar highs and lows would have a few songs to feel not alone to. Every step of this Rolling Up the Welcome Mat chapter has been a new experience, which you helped make feel not scary by being alongside me every step. Now, I need to move on now – and maybe you do, too – but before we do, these three events are all about being in one space, together, sharing all of it. I want to bring you deeper into how it all came to be and why you’re such an important piece of all of this. I want to say ‘thank you’ so, if you’re in Los Angeles, New York or Nashville, please come join me.”
Tickets will be available beginning July 20 on her website.