MusicRowPics: Veronica Ballestrini

Veronica Ballestrini visit

At age 12, artist Veronica Ballestrini‘s musical ambitions blossomed while watching entertainment legend Dolly Parton deliver her songs to an ardent crowd. “I loved how she played with a full band, and then did a beautiful delivery during her solo acoustic portion of the show,” says Ballestrini.

Fast forward to 2014, and Ballestrini is a full-fledged artist-songwriter herself. She co-wrote all 11 tracks on her latest album Flip Side (produced by Brandon Metcalf), which released June 17 through iTunes and other digital retailers. She is the sole writer of her current single, “Cookies and Cream.”

Fresh from a six-week radio tour, Ballestrini visited the MusicRow office to perform a trio of songs, including “Lonely Alone,” Wishing Wondering Waiting,” and “Cookies and Cream.” “It’s funny, when you are going through a breakup, you just want to eat that whole pint of Cookies and Cream ice cream, but when you are on a first date, you can barely eat anything because you are so nervous,” she says of penning the song. “This kind of blends the two.”

They recently filmed the video for the song at wholly appropriate Nashville’s Elliston Place Soda Shop, under the direction of Carl Diebold.

Ballestrini was recently named a brand ambassador for Davy Crockett’s Cookies & Cream Whiskey. The Gatlinburg, Tenn.-based distillery chose to partner with Ballestrini as she visits radio stations across the country. “I’ll go play the single for radio stations, and I’ll bring some Davy Crockett Cookies & Cream Whiskey with me,” she said. “They started making the whiskey a few months ago. When our song came out, someone sent me a tweet of their Cookies and Cream whiskey, and I was so surprised and excited that it shared the title of my song. So we partnered with them.”

Ballestrini has spent much of the year touring the US and currently Asia with band Secondhand Serenade.

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