David Ball will be in Nashville during CMA Music Fest. He is scheduled to play at The Valentine (312 Broadway) at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 6.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Ball’s hit song “Thinkin’ Problem,” which was also the title track of his debut album. Ball co-wrote the song with Allen Shamblin and Stuart Ziff.
Ball said he hoped the song was going to do well, but it went beyond. He recalled that people talked about how they liked it and how the song was so different. “I didn’t think it was anything that different because I had been playing that kind of stuff…for about five or six years pretty heavy,” Ball said.
Another song that has been big song in Ball’s career was “Riding With Private Malone,” which Ball recorded on his Amigo album in 2001. ”I thought it was a great song. I thought I was very unique,” Ball said. It’s not a song that Ball had a hand it writing. “A good friend of mine wrote it and was telling me about that song before I ever heard it. I was already very interested in that song,” he said. Ball said he thought the song had a good message. “I enjoyed meeting a lot of the servicemen who came back from Vietnam,” he said.
Ball also played for the troops during his career. He said they participated in Operation Troop Aid for five or six years and also did a few things with USO. Ball recalled doing some Christmastime concerts in Kuwait for all branches of the service. He said he went over there with Mary Chapin Carpenter and Carole King and they did five shows in five days. He said it was very special doing a Christmas show over there and getting to meet all of those men and women in the service.
Ball has new music out now. He said he just finished his Come See Me album. It was the first album that Ball recorded at a home studio.” I had the most fun making it because I got to sing and do it when I wanted,” he said. Ball said the songs seemed to fit taking a simpler approach. It’s a record he says is pretty stripped down and not overproduced. There’s no fiddle on the record, and that’s something Ball says he thinks he will add to the next record.