With 2023’s *Rolling Up the Welcome Mat*, Kelsea Ballerini signaled the start of a new era. Then four studio albums into her career, the country singer-songwriter had long since proven herself, and took a chance on rawer, more personal material in the wake of her 2022 divorce. As this follow-up attests, that heightened vulnerability unlocked new creative depths for Ballerini. Her most sonically diverse release yet, *PATTERNS* is also the fullest embodiment of Ballerini’s capabilities. Ballerini co-produced the album alongside previous collaborator Alysa Vanderheym, a songwriter and producer who has worked with a bevy of Nashville artists, including Jelly Roll, Little Big Town, and The Cadillac Three. The record opens with its title track, a gauzy, pleading midtempo ballad that makes use of more traditional country instruments like mandolin and dobro alongside prominent synthesizers, for production that’s reminiscent of Kacey Musgraves’ *Golden Hour*. “Sorry Mom” is especially potent, with Ballerini confronting a laundry list of filial indiscretions—a “lack of stickin’ to the Bible,” an abandoned college degree—before acknowledging, “I turned out all right.” “Beg for Your Love” is gentle but confident, as Ballerini takes stock of what she deserves in a relationship, like “a kiss” or “a morning call.” Other highlights include the Noah Kahan collaboration “Cowboys Cry Too” and the moody and melodic “Deep.”
The inspiration for *Nashville Canyon, Pt. 1* struck the former Y2K-pop It Girl while celebrating her daughter Maxwell’s birthday in Music City: Instead of “Happy Birthday,” the 11-year-old requested that her mom sing Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light,” and something clicked. The 44-year-old musician relocated from Los Angeles to Nashville shortly after, where she branched out from the label-driven pop formulas of her past hits. Instead, she embraced Americana for her first record of original material since 2008’s *Do You Know*. From the steamy roots rock of “Sunday Lover” to bluesy breakup anthem “Blame Me,” Simpson sounds grittier—and freer—than ever. You might consider the chorus of “Breadcrumbs” as something of a thesis statement: “Remember who you are/Forget who they told you to be.”
When rock singer Dorothy Martin started thinking about her fourth album, she struggled to come up with a title. “I had no good ideas for what I was going to call it,” she tells Apple Music. “I was really beating my head against the wall. And the title is such an important part, so I prayed about it.” As many of her fans know, Martin became a person of faith while in rehab in 2020. “It’s very much tied to my recovery journey—doing a 12-step program and believing in a higher power,” she says. “One day I was reading the story of the Road to Damascus in the Bible, and it said that Saul was persecuting those who belonged to ‘the way.’ When I read those words, they just popped off the page. I got chills, and I even teared up. It just sounded so powerful.” She immediately texted her producer, Scott Stevens, and her trusted group of songwriters known as the 4 Horsemen—Stevens, Blair Daly, Marti Frederiksen, and Zac Maloy—who have worked with the likes of Mick Jagger, Carrie Underwood, and Aerosmith. “I said, ‘Guys, I want to name the album *The Way*,’” she recalls. “‘I know we don’t even have a song yet, but that’s my final answer and I’m sticking to it.’” The result is an album that’s a little bit country and a little bit rock ’n’ roll—with plenty of religious fervor and a cameo from Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash thrown in for good measure. Below, Martin discusses each track. **“I COME ALIVE”** “The first rock ’n’ roll piece of music I remember hearing as a child was ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ by Pink Floyd. There’s this epic, powerful, gospel-sounding female vocal in the beginning where she just lets loose. That’s what I was feeling here. When Scott isolated the strings on this song, I wanted to take people to church. I’m just wailing—there are no lyrics. I just let it rip for several bars, and Scott pieced it together. I don’t know if I can do it live. I’m going to give it the old college try, but we’ll see what happens.” **“THE DEVIL I KNOW”** “This is one of the heavier songs on the record. We put sirens and gunshots and chaos in the background because it’s about being in a fight—a spiritual fight. The first lyrics are, ‘It’s spiritual warfare, it’s a living nightmare,’ and I think everyone can relate to that in some way. You never know what someone’s going through. Everyone’s trials and tribulations are different, but we’re all in this human body having these experiences. It’s tough when you’re in that spot, but if you dig down deep inside yourself, there’s something that won’t let you fall all the way. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” **“MUD”** “That’s the first single we put out. It’s got a trap beat in there. Scott took his sweet time showing it to me because he wasn’t sure if I’d like it. But when he played it for me, I loved it. It’s the wild card of the album. It’s the craziest beat, but it somehow works. And the vocal delivery is all about swagger. It’s a hype-you-up kind of song. If I was on a sports team, I’d want to listen to that before I went out and played a game. It’s also the first time I’ve ever done a metal-type scream on a record. It was a magic moment in the studio, so we ran with it.” **“TOMBSTONE TOWN” (feat. Slash)** “I’m so glad Slash agreed to do this. I sent him several songs and said, ‘Take your pick.’ But I was hoping he’d choose this one because it just felt like the right fit with his aesthetic and his playing. The song itself is based on a true story about a really crappy betrayal. I’m a pretty forgiving person, but I got to channel my frustration into this song. When we shot the music video, you can tell the song is pretty angry. There’s another scream in there, too, because it’s all about revenge. But the bigger message is, ‘He’s not worth your time. Keep your head up and walk away.’” **“BONES”** “This is a personal favorite of mine. We were walking around the studio singing the chorus because it was stuck in all of our heads. So, it’s very catchy, but the message is beautiful. It’s about baptism and being reborn. And I love the way Scott was able to create this Southern Gothic landscape—you can see it in your mind when you’re listening to the music. I already have an idea for a video.” **“UNHOLY WATER”** “It’s very similar to ‘THE DEVIL I KNOW’ in the messaging. It’s got a real Southern rock feel with the slide guitar. It’s about a very traumatic experience from my earlier years in LA, when I was in my early twenties. When I look back at how I was feeling when I sang that, I can see that it’s basically another spiritual warfare type of song.” **“HAUNTED HOUSE”** “I wrote this with Kylie Sackley, Danny Myrick, Marti Frederiksen, and Scott Stevens in Nashville. It’s got a little more of a country twang to it, and it’s about deliverance. It’s about struggling with your personal demons. It’s about saying, ‘I know I messed up. I know I have issues.’ And it’s a cry for help. It’s like your head is the haunted house, and you can’t get out. Sometimes we tell ourselves scary stories, but I’ve learned that feelings are not facts, and this too shall pass. I’ve learned to take it one day at a time. Had I not gone through the things I had gone through, I wouldn’t be able to write a song like this.” **“PUTTIN’ OUT THE FIRE”** “I wrote this in Nashville with Scott Stevens and the awesome country singer Gavin Lucas. We wanted something with a little more of a Southern rock or country flair to it, and we did this in a day. I feel like it’s got a little bit of a pop element to it, but it’s still got those great guitars. I guess I’ve taken a page out of Taylor Swift’s book because I’ve been writing a lot of breakup songs, but hey—maybe they’ll help someone. It’s for the greater good.” **“SUPERHUMAN”** “It’s one of the first songs we wrote, and it has one of my favorite guitar riffs on the record. To me, it’s total ear candy. Again, I teamed up with the 4 Horsemen and Scott Stevens. It feels really big to me. It’s about being empowered and filled up with the Holy Spirit and being on a high that’s supernatural—that no drug, no person, and no worldly thing could ever give you. It’s got to come from a higher power, and that’s why it’s called ‘SUPERHUMAN.’ It’s like a love song to the creator of the universe. It’s another personal favorite of mine, and it feels good to listen to.” **“THE WAY”** “This song was a gift from Blair Daly. I didn’t have to do a dang thing. I gave him the title of the record, and he sat down at the piano and this came out. I started crying when I heard it. It feels like a love letter to our fans. It feels like I’m reaching my hand out to people who are struggling. They could be walking around looking completely normal, like nothing’s wrong, and you have no idea what they’re going through. And sometimes they need to hear a song that gets them to break and be vulnerable. It certainly did that to me in the studio. I’m glad it worked out, because it would’ve been strange to not have a song called ‘The Way’ on an album titled *The Way*.”
