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Kelsea Ballerini FaceTimed Kenny Chesney After Hearing Their New Song on the Radio

"almost wrecked, cried a little, then called Kenny," Ballerini told fans via Instagram

Nearly every country artist will tell you that hearing one of their new songs on the radio never gets old, no matter how many hits they've accumulated. Kelsea Ballerini is no exception. Even though she's known for hits such as "Hole in the Bottle," "Peter Pan," and "Love Me Like You Mean It," she made it clear that it still feels amazing to hear a new song on the radio.

Kelsea Ballerini shared with fans her experience of hearing her new track, "Half of My Hometown" (which she recorded as a duet with fellow East Tennessee native Kenny Chesney) for the first time on her car radio.

"almost wrecked, cried a little, and then called Kenny," Ballerini said via Instagram Stories. She also shared a screenshot from a FaceTime chat with her superstar collaborator Chesney.

"We're just a little excited about this one," she captioned the screenshot.

Ballerini and Chesney recently performed the song together for the first time during the Academy of Country Music Awards. Prior to that performance, Ballerini told Audacy's Kelly Ford that the two artists have since developed a "brother-sister" closeness to their friendship.

“Ever since [Chesney] decided to sign onto this song and do this with me, we’ve just become like brother-sister,” Ballerini told Ford. “We have such a fun relationship. Yesterday I was making eggs and he FaceTimed me. He was like, ‘Hey! What do you want to wear for our performance?’”

She later shared just how much of a full-circle moment the song (and ACM Awards performance) represents for her. "If I could go back and tell little me driving around Knoxville, listening to songs like, ‘I Go Back,’ and thinking how crazy it was he was from the same place, if I could go tell her that we were going to sing this song about our hometown together on a stage like the ACMs, I’d just, I’d pass out,” said. “It’s very cool and very full circle.”

See Ballerini's ACM Awards performance with Chesney below:

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