Deconstructing Songs

The ballad “Love Is a Cowboy,” which Ballerini wrote with Jesse Frasure and Parker Welling, underwent the biggest change from demo to final. “It was originally an uptempo, live banger,” she says. Producers Julian Bunetta and Shane McAnally “listened to it and were like, ‘This song is special, but we are not able to really hear it.’ We stripped it and felt every instrument needed to add something to the story. It’s one of my favorite production moments.”