Florida native Ashley Cooke made her UK debut at C2C last March – and seemingly hasn’t stopped since! She released her debut album ‘shot in the dark’ last summer and has since been out on her own US headline tour, as well as hitting the road with the likes of Luke Bryan. Now she’s back over here supporting Jordan Davis on his Damn Good Time World Tour, which kicked off last night in London.
Accompanied by her drummer and guitar player Chauncey (who produced a couple of wicked solos during her set), Cooke opened her 30 minute slot with ‘getting into’. A bright, upbeat number with lots of twang that builds to a big rocky chorus, it gave her the chance to show off her sweet yet strong vocals and fully engage with the London crowd, who she encouraged to jump and “make some noise”. She also threw in a name check for the city in the lyrics – the first of many times she’d express her gratitude to how UK country fans have supported her during her performance.
One thing that particularly struck me was the range of styles that Cooke packed into her opening set. The rocky, driving ‘moving on with grace’ saw her bouncing across the stage like a ping-pong ball, whilst she got the chance to show off her dance moves on ‘back in the saddle’, a slinky ode to starting over. When we spoke recently, she mentioned that she was looking forward to showing audiences a different side of herself and she definitely delivered on that!
However, many of the strongest moments of Cooke’s performance came during the slower songs. ‘i almost do’ saw her reflecting on missing an ex with yearning lyrics layered over a midtempo melody, whilst she paid tribute to the rollercoaster ride of the last few years and thanked the crowd for embracing her before her acoustic version of ‘it’s been a year’. The crowd lit up the room with their phones as she performed the reflective, heartfelt number and it felt like a really touching moment. On a completely different note, I also loved her spin on Morgan Wallen’s ‘Chasin’ You’, which she mashed up with ‘Buy You A Drank’ by T-Pain. It’s a shouldn’t-work-but-does combination and she made it perfectly her own.
After she performed the romantic, hopeful ‘never til now’ with its soaring, spine-tingling chorus, Cooke finished off with her current single ‘your place’. For me it really summed up her entire performance, with its lush, stripped-back verses and powerful chorus that gave her a chance to show off her vocal belt, whilst also featuring a quiet strength in the lyrics as she sang about a toxic ex no longer playing a role in her life. As she walked off stage after the song, she declared “London I love y’all” and you truly believed every word she said.
In his headline set, Jordan Davis called Ashley Cooke “one of my favourite new artists in Nashville right now” – and based on this performance he’s not the only one. She’s grown hugely as a performer since her C2C shows, with bags of energy, soaring vocals and great on-stage charisma. Based on this performance, she’s absolutely destined for bigger and bigger things (maybe even a UK headline tour of her own soon?) and I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next.
Set list: 1. getting into 2. moving on with grace 3. i almost do 4. it’s been a year 5. Chasin’ You / Buy You A Drank (Morgan Wallen/T-Pain cover) 6. back in the saddle 7. never til now 8. your place Performance date: 13th February 2023
Ashley Cooke’s debut album ‘shot in the dark’ is out now on Big Loud Records.
See Ashley live on tour in the UK with Jordan Davis this February:
Wednesday 14th February – Corn Exchange, Cambridge
Friday 16th February – O2 Institute, Birmingham
Saturday 17th February – O2 Academy, Bristol
Sunday 18th February – Academy, Manchester
Tuesday 20th February – O2 Academy, Glasgow
Wednesday 21st February – Ulster Hall, Belfast
Thursday 22nd February – Ulster Hall, Belfast
