Ashley Campbell has put a lot of focus on building a fanbase in the UK. She’s performed at C2C: Country to Country before and last year she was part of the bill for the free Country music festival Nashville Meets London in Canada Square Park. Over the last few years she’s put out occasional singles including Remembering, which was taken from the soundtrack of Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me, which followed the late Country legend on his last ever tour with Ashley playing banjo in the band. To kick off 2018, Ashley released new single A New Year and yesterday she released her debut album The Lonely One.
Originally announced as a Main Stage artist, Campbell was moved to the Spotlight Stage when Sugarland revealed they would be performing. That meant her set was considerably shorter than it would have been and honestly I think that was a disservice to her. Her performance was billed as a tribute to her late father Glen Campbell and with only 10 minutes to perform, she didn’t get to pay him the homage he deserved.
Her first song was a medley of Campbell’s most popular songs including Gentle on My Mind, Galveston and Wichita Lineman. Campbell has been playing these songs with her father for years, and as part of her own sets, so she performed them with conviction. Her takes are lighter than Campbell’s but they pack plenty of emotion.
For her second song Campbell performed Remembering, from I’ll Be Me. That song packs a real emotional punch and it’s one of her finest original songs to date. It’s a shame that it wasn’t included on The Lonely One.
The audience booed as Campbell finished her set, not because she wasn’t good but because they wanted to hear more. Unfortunately it was announced that due to time she couldn’t plauy any longer and the audience continued to loudly boo. Campbell gave a great performance, it’s just a shame she didn’t get the slot that she was supposed to meaning her chance to pay a real tribute to her father was taken from her and that’s hugely disappointing.
[brid video=”208458″ player=”531″ title=”Ashley Campbell Remembering (Single Version)”]
Set list: 1. Gentle on My Mind / Galveston / Wichita Lineman 2. Remembering Performance date: 10th March 2018
