MaRynn Taylor had been sitting on a story. “I’ve never said this,” the young country singer began in an interview with Evan Paul on Taste of Country Nights, published Nov. 9.
The story was about Kelsea Ballerini, the Tennessee singer behind hits like “Peter Pan” and “Miss Me More.” It was also about a gift Kelsea gave her when their tour together came to an end.
MaRynn grew up in Rockford, Michigan, a small town just north of Grand Rapids. She moved to Nashville at 17 and signed with Black River Entertainment in 2019. She made her Grand Ole Opry debut in June 2023, and her first album, simply called “MaRynn,” came out in August 2025.
Her big break came earlier that year. Kelsea picked her as one of the opening acts on her first headlining arena tour, a 36-date run that kicked off Jan. 21, 2025, at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. For MaRynn, that was the hometown arena.
Kelsea made her feel welcome right away. MaRynn told Country Now that she was nervous before the first show and had texted Kelsea to say so. “I started walking to stage and suddenly she came up behind me and linked arms with me,” she said. Kelsea told her, “we are gonna walk there together!” MaRynn called it “the kindest thing another artist has ever done for me.”
Grand Rapids TV station 13 On Your Side sat down with MaRynn for a long talk about her life and her spot on Kelsea’s tour.
MaRynn talks about opening for Kelsea at Van Andel Arena
When the tour wrapped, MaRynn walked into Kelsea’s dressing room and found something waiting for her. “I just couldn’t believe it when I walked into her dressing room and the big orange bags were in there, and I was like, ‘Kelsea!'” she told Taste of Country.
Inside was a denim Louis Vuitton tote with a matching makeup bag. Kelsea knew her well. “She got me a Louis Vuitton bag, like a tote bag with a makeup bag. And it was denim because I love denim. Denim’s like my thing,” MaRynn said. She has even put out a song called “denim.”
Then came a feeling a lot of people know. Most of us have something at home that seems too nice to actually carry out the door. MaRynn felt that way about her new tote.
Kelsea wasn’t having it. “‘MaRynn, I want you to use it.’ And I said, ‘It’s too pretty. I don’t know,'” MaRynn recalled.
So Kelsea explained herself, and her reason came from her own closet. As MaRynn tells it, Kelsea once felt the very same way about her own Louis Vuitton bag.
“Because she and I are similar in the way she’s like, ‘When I first got mine, I didn’t want to wreck it or anything. And now I’ve traveled everywhere with it.’ And so she’s like, ‘I want you to use it,'” MaRynn said.
MaRynn listened. The tote stopped being too pretty and started going everywhere with her. “I’ve traveled with it like crazy now,” she said.
Kelsea hasn’t talked publicly about the gift, so this is MaRynn’s side of the story. Either way, it fits with how MaRynn has described her. “Kelsea is such an incredible human,” she told Country Now, adding, “That whole tour shaped me into the kind of artist I wanted to be, and I’m so grateful for that opportunity.”
FOX Carolina also caught up with MaRynn while she was out on the road with Kelsea.
MaRynn talks with FOX Carolina about touring with Kelsea
These days MaRynn is out sharing songs from her own album. Wherever she plays next, there’s a good chance a denim tote from Kelsea’s dressing room is riding along with her, a little more worn in than the day she got it.