Frankie Ballard Celebrates First No. 1 Hit

Frankie Ballard raised a toast in Nashville earlier this week, and with good reason. The singer celebrated his first No. 1 hit with his single, 'Helluva Life,' from his 'Sunshine & Whiskey' album.

"My favorite thing about the song is how true it is for me and my life," he tells Rolling Stone Country. "Ups and downs, curve balls. Everyone goes through those moments where they say, 'Man, it couldn’t get any better, or worse, than this.' Saying, 'it's a helluva life' is a way to chalk it up. I just knew the way it made me feel was how it was going to make everybody feel."

The tune, which was written by hit tunesmiths Chris Tompkins, Josh Kear and Rodney Clawson, is the debut single from his sophomore 'Sunshine & Whiskey' record. The 31-year-old says that, after his first two singles ('Tell Me You Get Lonely' and 'A Buncha Girls') failed to break the Top 20, this song came at a fortuitous time in his life.

“It was incredibly parallel with what was going on in my life," he acknowledges. "I thought my first single was gonna come out and, ka-pow, be off to the races, but that didn’t happen ... It took me somewhere. It’s such a cool message -- that you’ve got to appreciate what you have in your life."

While Ballard was thrilled with the party thrown in his honor, he says he has yet another goal he hopes to accomplish soon.

“It’s a big risk to give a song to a punk from Michigan and let him wrestle it to the top," he conceded (quote via Country Weekly). "Thank you. I hope to be standing here as a songwriter some day.”

Ballard will spend much of the summer on the road, performing songs from the new album. See a list of all of his shows here, and purchase the album here.