When Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan crossed paths at the Grammys, Kelsea couldn’t quite believe the singer knew who she was.

It was a ‘fangirl’ moment, Kelsea Ballerini describes, when she met Noah Kahan at the Grammys earlier this year.

“Immediately I was like, oh my God, he knows my songs,” Kelsea tells Smooth Country’s Eamonn Kelly. “So we just connected over songwriting.”

Fast forward a few weeks and Kelsea has already pitched the ‘Stick Season’ singer something she’s been working on.

The song? ‘Cowboys Cry Too’, of course.

“I texted it to him a couple of weeks later and I was like, you know, I don’t know if this connects with you,” Kelsea says, “but if it does, I would really, really love if you would write your perspective into the second verse.”

When Kelsea Ballerini fangirled over Noah Kahan. Picture: Getty

Despite fangirling when their paths crossed, Kelsea admits she wasn’t nervous to send the song over.

“I’m very comfortable with the idea that the worst that can happen is they say no,” the 31-year-old explains.

“The truth is, I’ve said no to artists that I love because the timeline doesn’t work out or I have another collab that would compromise me being able to show up for that one or whatever.

“So it’s it’s very okay, you know, and I would rather shoot my shot every day of the week because the worst that can happen is it doesn’t work out.”

Kelsea has just released her latest album, Patterns, which she describes as an “accurate snapshot” of her life.

Kelsea Ballerini talks about performing at Madison Square Garden. Picture: Getty

And she’s giving the album an incredible launch at one of the world’s most prestigious venues: Madison Square Garden.

Is Kelsea nervous about performing in such an iconic arena?

“Listen, I love shooting for the moon in the stars,” she says. “I’m gutsy. I’m like, let’s go for it.”

But being gutsy didn’t stop the singer from having some nerves when tickets for the one-night-only concert went on sale.

“I haven’t toured this year because I had to make the record. I was doing The Voice, all these things, and so not touring for a year and then putting up Madison Square Garden for a record that hasn’t come out yet…

“I was shaking in my boots.”

Kelsea adds: “I was like, can we pull this off? And just to see that people still care and still want to come see your show, and just trust that the new music is going to be something that they want to invest in, it means a lot to me.”