With a voice as authentic as the stories she tells, Ashley McBryde has carved her own unique path in the world of country music. Hailing from Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, McBryde grew up surrounded by blue-collar sensibilities and an unyielding love for music. Her journey to stardom was marked by relentless determination, raw talent, and a fierce commitment to her craft.
In 2017, McBryde burst onto the scene with her debut single ‘A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega,’ a poignant ode to life’s unexpected moments. The song’s success paved the way for her critically acclaimed album, ‘Girl Going Nowhere’ which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album in 2019. Known for her soul-stirring lyrics and powerful stage presence, McBryde captivates audiences with her ability to convey the complexities of life in the heartland, making her a maverick voice in the world of contemporary country music. With her fourth album, ‘The Devil I Know’ under her belt and a UK tour in January 2024 on the way we were thrilled to catch up with Ashley to talk all about them.
Thank you for speaking to us today Ashley, we always love grabbing time with you. We wanted to start by congratulating you on the success of the ‘Lindeville’ album. You must be excited on the CMA ‘Best Album’ nomination?
Thank you. It was a nice surprise to wake up to, to find out that ‘Lindeville’ had been nominated for album of the year. Not just for me, but for every songwriter on that record. All six of us wrote every track on that album and it’s fantastic to get an acknowledgment from the CMA in terms of our work and efforts with the project.
We spoke to Caylee Hammack at the Long Road festival here in the UK in August and she was so proud of that album and so effusive about working with you on it.
I love Caylee so much, I love her voice. I used to joke with her that she was a Disney princess because you will be sitting with her in her yard talking and birds will just come down and hang out with her, she’s like a nature fairy! (laughing)
Second congratulations on ‘The Devil I Know’ which has been out for a few weeks now. Was that always gong to be the title or were there others up for consideration as I feel ‘Made For This’ might have been a good title too?
It definitely was. We did think about ‘Coldest Beer in Town’ at one point. When you choose an album title you look at the songs that are most representative of the body of work as a whole. ‘Made For This’ might have come across as a little bit cocky, you know? (laughing) If you hadn’t have heard the song you might have thought, ‘Ashley McBryde, ‘Made For This’ I’m not clicking on that’, right? (laughing)
‘The Devil I Know’ hits all the right notes in terms of a title and a song. It’s really pleasant and acoustic at the beginning but then it immediately punches you in the face and then it goes to this strangely far away from the microphone sound – it covers everything we are about. If you were going to buy this album and the only thing you were allowed to listen to is the title track I think ‘The Devil I Know’ covers everything you might expect to find on all the other songs.
I also think that the title fits in with all my other records when you think about it. Ashley McBryde ‘Girl Going Nowhere’ was totally true at the time. Ashley McBryde ‘Never Will’ was also totally true at the time, I’m still trying to earn every inch of stage I stand on and then Ashley McBryde ‘The Devil I Know’? You’re damn right I am the devil you know! (laughing)
And then the title led into that superb artwork, which must have been fun to do?
It was so much fun! What is wild is that the photos on the front and back of the album were not the pictures that we had planned to do on the day of the shoot! There was a different concept and I had all of these different looks. I knew that I wanted to get a picture of the entire band and that’s on the inside of the album, which is exactly how I imagined it would be, with some easter eggs hidden in there too.
The photographer said that since I had all these other looks going on, why not go and put me in all the positions that the band had been standing in for the original shots. We were aiming to just do a collage of shots that we could use for other purposes and that ended up being the cover of the record. For the single of ‘The Devil I Know’ we had taken these pictures of me inside a confessional booth with a guy in a dark robe and those pictures turned out a little creepier than we had been expecting! (laughing) The picture that you can see on the back of the album is the lovely Dana, who we all know and love, reaching into the frame to move my hair for the next photo! I loved the look of it – her nails were already that colour and we just had to colour her arm red! (laughing)
We are used to your openness and honesty in tracks like ‘Girl Goin’ Nowhere’, ‘Bible and a .44’ and ‘Stone’ but this album ramps up the raw storytelling another level. Do you find it easier to be more open as you get older and more experienced or have you always found it easy to bare your soul through music?
I think that music has been the only way I’ve been able to figure out how life works. Music is the lens that I see life through and how I make it make sense – it keeps us all from jumping out of the window!
I didn’t realise that I had done it to another degree on this record until someone pointed it out to me when they commented that it was even more, raw, no frills Ashley McBryde and I was, like, ‘Is it?’ (laughing) Every song on this record was just what I wanted to do and what I wanted to write about and I didn’t care who thought that I shouldn’t! (laughing) It came as a nice surprise to know that people thought that I upped the ante without me intentionally trying to do that or set out to be ‘more’ McBryde than I had previously been! (laughing)
I know people have talked to you about songs like ‘Light on in the Kitchen’, ‘Leanred to Lie’ and ‘6th October’ which are the real heavy-hitters on the album. Is there a song that you feel is a bit of an unsung hero that people like me aren’t talking to you about enough?
It would probably be ‘Cool Little Bars’ or ‘Coldest Beer in Town’. That song (‘Coldest Beer in Town’) has kind of snuck up on us in terms of the live show. We play it in the final third of the show but we weren’t sure what form it would take, whether it would be energetic or a feel good song, you know? But to me, right now, it feels like that moment at the end of a movie where the good guy comes in and saves the day! (laughing)
What’s really interesting, from the songwriting part of things, is that myself, Nicolette Hayford and Autumn McEntire had already written the title back in 2016 and I was just a few days away from making the ‘Devil I Know’ record, in fact, Nicolette and I were at John Osborne’s house singing some last minute parts for the ‘Lindeville’ record and I said, ‘Hey, remember that ‘Coldest Beer in Town’ song idea we had? I really love that idea that not every bar has the coldest beer in town. We should call Autumn and have another go at writing it.’
We got some food and messed around with it on my couch and decided it needed a complete rewrite. Next to nothing that we’d originally done ended up being part of the final song! (laughing) I had a $150 guitar shoved in the back seat of my truck which I went out and got and I said that if we rewrite this today, I’ll put it on my record tomorrow! We nailed it and I was so happy! (laughing) It’s not an advice song – we’re not saying, ‘by the way, sweetheart, bless your heart, every bar doesn’t have the coldest beer in town,’ right? It’s about that moment of discovery, inside yourself, where you realise something was bullshit, right? It was all ‘used car salesman’ meets snake oil lies! We wrapped it up with the sentiment that ‘not every bar has the coldest beer in town, and that’s Ok, kiddo!’
I freakin’ love the song and I hope it gets more attention down the line. That was an excellent question, I’m so glad you asked that.
We can’t wait to have you back in the UK in January, you have such a special relationship with your UK fans. What is it about our relationship with you and yours with us that resonates so much, do you think?
For me, now, when I look back at it, I came onto the radar in the United States and the UK at the same time. I was a slow burn and a slow star rising in the States, which you fully expect. However, the embrace that I got from the UK was immediate and full. You guys went fully in straight away and the loyalty and love I could feel, even back in 2018, was palpable. I took that very seriously and was grateful so I feel the same, that, just like you guys, I will always show up.
What separates the UK crowds from any other audience is your love of the art of songwriting and how much lyrics and listening matters to you. It can be a little unnerving, that listening, at first because we are used to fights and bar stools being thrown across the rooms but I think that……..how can I say this without upsetting anyone else in the industry? Some shows you go to to see the pyrotechnics and the fights and you go there to be seen seeing a show but when we’re in the UK, everyone is there to see the show. They are there to see good musicians play their instruments well and to see singers use their instruments well too.
In the USA we’re kinda spoilt for choice when it comes to shows and Country music. I mean, I love us, but we’re all just brats when it comes to taking in live music! (laughing) I can’t wait to bring the ‘Devil I Know’ tour across the pond. All 11 tracks from the album are in the show and so are the older songs you still want us to play as well!
Check out tickets for Ashley McBryde’s UK tour right here.
