Released in 1994, “Thinkin’ Problem” climbed to No. 2 on Billboard’s country chart and No. 1 in Canada and earned a Grammy nomination, turning a singer RCA had let go into a multi platinum country star with the sound he had always wanted to make.
The breakthrough did not come when he finally learned how to fit Nashville, it came when Warner heard what David Ball sounded like when nobody was asking him to change.
David Ball had spent years figuring out what kind of country singer he wanted to be. After Uncle Walt’s Band and years playing around Texas, he moved toward Nashville in the late 1980s carrying a love for the harder country of Webb Pierce and early George Jones.
The RCA Chapter That Taught Him A Hard Lesson
RCA became interested around 1988. Ball recorded enough material for an album and released several singles, but nothing broke through.
He later felt he had listened to too many outside opinions and let the music drift away from what he actually sounded like. RCA eventually let him go and Ball came away with one clear lesson, if another chance came he wanted to make the record his way.
He returned to writing and club work. One of the songs he kept was “Thinkin’ Problem” begun with Allen Shamblin and later developed with Stuart Ziff.
Singing Between The Pool Tables At The Idle Hour
Then came an evening at Nashville’s Idle Hour. Ball often went there after work to drink beer, shoot pool and sing with friends.
Producer Blake Chancey eventually brought Warner Bros. executive Dave Grau into the little bar. Surrounded by pool tables and pinball machines, Ball sang the songs he wanted to make and Warner listened.
A Dance Hall Record Made His Way
This time Ball kept the sound intact. With Chancey producing he made what he called a “dance hall record” built on fiddle, steel guitar, honky tonk rhythm and traditional country.
A dance hall record.
The first single was “Thinkin’ Problem” and after it reached the top in Canada and No. 2 in the United States, “When the Thought of You Catches Up with Me” followed into the Top 10. The Thinkin’ Problem album became a multi platinum success.
Then came the strange final turn. After Ball broke through with Warner, RCA released recordings from his earlier failed chapter, material that had gone nowhere before he became successful somewhere else.
By then the lesson was already clear. David Ball became a platinum country star not by sanding down his true voice, but by finding the right room and the right listeners who finally heard it exactly as it was.