[From Lelsea Ballerini.com]
Growing up means never apologizing for who you are, and what you've been through. And for Kelsea Ballerini, one of Country's new voices, growing up also meant having the courage to put it all – the loss, the love 
and the highs and lows of life – into song. The result? Unapologetically, Ballerini's sophomore LP, a collection of songs – all which she wrote or co-wrote, as on her Gold-certified debut The First Time – meant to share her experiences over the past two years like a sonic journal, inviting listeners to open the book of her story and listen along.
From the first notes of "Graveyard" to the concluding chorus of "Legends," Unapologetically is a snapshot of Ballerini's life since the release of The First Time, all told through songs that push Country's boundaries and reveal just how personal the GRAMMY nominee's writing can be. Though it could have been easy for Ballerini to just collect a loose selection of hits, she decided to make an "intentional album" instead, carefully curating tra
cks that unfolded within the record as her own musical documentary in three parts. It's not the norm to write albums this way, nor is it easy, but Ballerini goes with what is in her heart.
"I had to let myself be OK with being vulnerable," says Ballerini. "My first album, I wanted it to be an introduction, just reaching out my hand. I had a song about my parent's divorce, about being insecure – it was one song per emotion. In doing that, I wasn't really able to articulate the depth of those emotions. Now, having gotten older, having gone through a big breakup and having fallen in love in a massive way, I had to say, 'hey, let yourself feel that, let yourself write that.' The end product was this record, which is a chronological story of my life these past few years."
[From Cody Johnson.com]
"I don't want to be a blemish on country music," Cody Johnson says. "I don't want to be a dot. I'd like to be a mark."
"I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie."
Needing a fix is part of the attraction in both the rodeo and music. In the former, there's always another buckle to chase, another bull to conquer for eight seconds. In the latter, there's always another fan to win over, another song to write. And in some ways, Johnson has been chasing something illusory, indefinable, since he first arrived on planet Earth in Southeast Texas.
Cody Johnson grew up in tiny Sebastapol, an unincorporated community on the eastern shore of the Trinity River that's never exceeded 500 residents. Even today, it's more than 30 miles to the nearest Walmart, in Huntsville, 
Texas, a town best known as the headquarters for the state's criminal justice department. It's a rough and tumble area, and it comes through in the music. Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, George Strait, Billy Joe Shaver – their songs were all essential to the local clubs, and Johnson was exposed to their mysterious allure even before he was old enough to get in.
"You could hear the music from those bars across that lake," he recalls. "I'd always hear somebody singing ‘Whiskey Bent And Hell Bound' or something like that, and I always wondered what was going on across that water in those barrooms. It definitely intrigued me. I always wanted to go see what was on the other side of the tracks."
