On February 14, Ballerini released Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, a 6-track EP, and accompanying short film.
It’s never easy to witness your daughter’s anguish, as Kelsea Ballerini’s mother Carla Denham can attest.
Denham appeared on an episode of the Got It From My Momma podcast, hosted by Jennifer Vickery Smith, and opened up about what it was like watching the country singer in her short film Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, released alongside a heart-tugging EP of the same name.
“When she’d email me those songs when she’d write them… I’d just bawl,” Denham said to the show. “The songs were difficult to listen to, but I know it’s cathartic for her. That’s her way of processing sadness and pain… she’ll go write it, and it’ll be out of her system.”
Ballerini, 29, wore her emotions on her sleeve in the short film, giving audiences an intimate peek at her divorce from Morgan Evans.
“I saw that movie and the pain on her face… I’ve seen pain. It’s excruciatingly painful “Denham stated.
Denham was surprised by her daughter’s bravery when she initially realized the “Peter Pan” singer would be shooting the picture.
“‘God, how are you going to do that?’ I wondered. There’s no way I could do that “She stated. “That would’ve killed me to watch if she had paid an actress to do it, but to watch her playing out what she truly felt and experienced was just… it’s that blend of I’m in utter amazement, and I just wanted to grab her and put her in a plastic bubble and let’s just go away somewhere away from the world.”
“That was a difficult day for her,” she added.
The whole Got It from My Mama with Denham episode is accessible here.
On February 14, Ballerini released Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, describing it as the next chapter of her most recent album, 2022’s SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
“I hear a lot of self-reflection and turmoil when I listen to SUBJECT TO CHANGE. This is the deep dive into the chaos “She stated at the time in a statement. “I wrote by myself for the majority of the project, and it felt good to trust myself again.”
She went on to say that her musical inspiration came from writing therapeutically through difficult times. “When I was 12, the only way I’ve been able to deal with my life has been to write about it. Paradoxically, I began writing music after my parents divorced; it served as therapy for me “Ballerini’s comments were extended.
“These are the six songs I wish I’d known last year. It’s about the nuances of your sentiments amid a huge transformation at a young age “She spoke about the project. “I processed everything by rolling up the Welcome Mat. It’s how I got my sentiments out of my body and heart and into music – the purest way I could’ve dealt with it.”
After nearly five years of marriage, Ballerini filed for divorce from Evans in August, and their divorce was finalized in November. Since then, she’s been linked to Outer Banks star Chase Stokes.
