Although it’s been almost 20 years since Ashley Monroe first arrived on the country music scene, 2025 is shaping up to be one of her biggest years yet.
Earlier this month she released her latest album, ‘Tennessee Lightning’ – her first full-length project since 2021’s ‘Rosegold’ – hot on the heels of the tenth anniversary edition of her breakthrough record ‘The Blade’. She’s also currently in the UK for a run of live dates with Fancy Hagood, beginning tomorrow night in Manchester, as well as a solo set this weekend at The Long Road festival.
Laura Cooney caught up with Ashley during her trip over here to chat about the new record, revisiting ‘The Blade’, what to expect from her UK shows, new music – both alone and as part of the Pistol Annies – and more.
I guess the first thing to start with is ‘Tennessee Lightning’. How have you found the response to the record has been so far?
You know, I've just seen a lot of people say that they love it and that they feel it, which is always the point for me when I make music. It's always scary the day before. I’ve been in my own little world with Gena [Johnson], the co-producer, and my team. We've all been doing it for two years. And then you go, “Oh, no, now I've got to hear people's opinion” [laughs], which is always a little tricky.
But I googled the day before, like, “Let me look up the most famous bad reviews in history of masterpiece records, just to make myself feel better.” And someone had slammed Beethoven. Queen, of course, got bashed. So I'm like, “Ah, okay, I'm good. Even if people don't like it, I do. And I did what I felt like doing”. [laughs] But yeah, so all that to say I got prepared. And then now, all I'm seeing is people saying that it touched them. And that's the whole point. So I'm like, “whoof!”
One thing that stood out to me is how diverse the record is in terms of its musical style. What were your big influences with this project?
Well, I don't even know influences, because it's every kind of music that I've ever listened to [laughs]. And all the kinds of music that I like, I feel like are all in this, in some way, which is really music I've been listening to since I was young. I'd listen to the Eagles, and then I'd listen to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and then listen to Black Crowes, and I listen to Jim Reeves. I've just always been a sucker for music that makes you feel. So with this, I just went in and opened my heart.
And the very first song on the record [‘I’m Gonna Run’] actually was one I wrote in 2004. The same writing trip, I had written these songs called ‘Used’ and ‘Satisfied’ that were on my first record, and I recut ‘Used’ even. But all that to say, it was a magical writing trip. And with that song, Gena and I had went to East Tennessee, where I'm from, and rented an old cabin, from the 1800s, and set up a little studio in it. And one morning, I got up and started singing that song. I guess it just came back in my memory of just one that I never cut and just was still in my heart.
So, yeah, it's from songs that old to covers ofsongs I just love that touched me, to some newer songs I've written. And I had just kept seeing in my mind, chronological order. Like in the beginning, it was ‘I'm ‘Gonna Run’ and ‘Risen Road’, [which] reminds me of where I'm from. And then kind of young love, innocence, really that fire of that time period of all of our lives. Then after that came the grief section of just loss and heartbreak, that first ear-ringing heartbreak in our lives. And then the last part was just reflection on the whole thing. So yeah, I always had seen it as that storyline in my mind, too.
Did you find that process of structuring the record easy? Or were there any challenges as part of that?
Well, it's easy and hard. It was easy to record and make it and all that. But then, we have recorded probably 25 or more songs. And then I started getting into the logistics of, “I've sent this link to people, and I don't want them to be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I've got to listen to a 25 song record’.” [laughs] But at the same time, other people do it. So I was trying to kind of squish a little bit and find the meat of the of the story. And so I wouldn't say it was hard. I just say it took time. I mean, this whole process has been over two years and between us going to Tennessee some and just recording at [Gena’s] house and just kind of letting the spirits kind of run through. And then we saw what we had and trimmed a little bit.
You’ve also got several collaborations on this album. Were there any of those that particularly stood out for you?
Yeah, I've always said, the song is like a patchwork quilt of all the pieces and songs of my life. And it's also the people. After I was finished, I was looking at my co-writers and my people that are featured on this, [and] I'm like, “These are my people”. It's so cool to have them share it with me.
But Marty Stewart – I love all my collaborators, but Marty, to hear him play that lick and to know that we wrote it together and that he is a fan of me and believes in me and all that. So that was really special to have him on it. And then, you know, I called Shelby Lynn, who is another hero of mine, and she's the one who calls me Tennessee Lightning. And we wrote a song called ‘Tennessee Lightning’, which I'll probably put on the deluxe. But all that to say, I had her come over and play bass on ‘The Touch’. So my band on ‘The Touch’ is Shelby Lynn and Marty Stewart. I'm so lucky. I get to have my heroes around me and make music with them.
And Brendan Benson has been a longtime collaborator and friend of mine, and I always love working with him. Waylon Payne is another gem of a human being, he sang on ‘Risen Road’ and wrote it with me and Brendan. But, you know, Brittney [Spencer], T-Bone [Burnett], Karen [Fairchild] – literally all of them, they're my friends and I'm just so thankful.
Is there anything you feel you’ve learned about yourself making this record? Or any ways you’ve evolved between your last album and this one?
What have I learned about myself? I don't really know what I've learned about myself. That's a tricky question.
I don't really think about what kind of music I do. I don't really ever overthink my records. I mean, I couldn't tell you what genre anything is. When I started doing interviews for this record, they're like, “Americana” and I'm like, “oh, great, perfect”, because I don't know and I don't care really. All I know is that if I do a lick, for all I know, it could be a Patsy Cline style lick or it could be Mariah Carey, because I would dissect both those tapes when I was a little girl. So I just let what inspires me move through me so much that I can't hardly even tell what [it is].
All I learned is that it's okay to be open and that it's affirmation that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, because I was so inspired. And the older I get, the more I'm like, “it's okay to grow. It's okay to be creative and be an artist”. Emmylou [Harris] did Roses in the Snow and then Wrecking Ball. So I reminded myself that it's okay to be free. Don't let anybody put a box around me, because this is what I was born to do.
And I love producing. I love the production side of it. Gena is such a beast of an engineer and does all the super hard work. But we would really sit there for hours and just mess around with production. And I was really inspired by that side of it. I had done it some on the Shelby Lynn record too. But I realised I had lots of ideas of just little bitty things that I heard, but I thought, “this is fun getting to be so hands on with the production of these songs too”.
You’ve also just released a 10th anniversary edition of ‘The Blade’. How did you find the experience of revisiting that record and adding a new song [‘Fight For It’] to the album?
I'm funny about when a record's out. I don't really go back and listen to it. For a while, I sang some of the songs off that record and I still do some of them. But all that to say, I hadn't sung them in a long time. So when I started rehearsing for that, my manager was like, “it's going to be 10 years and we wanted to do a little celebration thing.” And we went in and looked and I had forgotten that we had cut ‘Fight For It’, but I have always remembered that song and always loved it and wondered why I didn't cut it. So when we found that, I'm like, “oh my gosh, Vince [Gill] is singing on it too? How did I forget this?” So I was glad that got to be heard.
And then I did a show in Nashville, a 10th anniversary show. So I just sang the record top to bottom. And when I started rehearsing and singing those songs, my chin started quivering and I got really rattled on the inside because those ghosts still live in the songs and even hit me in a different way. Some of the lyrics, like “I buried your love alive”, I was singing and I was like, “oh my gosh, this is shaking me up”. But I love to be shaken up. So I loved it. And on the show, seeing everybody sing those songs back to me and knowing that that record got them through something in their life just meant the world to me. I just can't stress it enough. So I'm so glad that I got to do that.
You’re in the UK at the moment to play some live dates with Fancy Hagood and almost performing at The Long Road festival on Friday. What can people coming to see you at these shows expect?
Well, me and Fancy have a really good time. He's hard not to have a good time with [laughs]. So good music and a good time.
I'm excited to have a band. I'm actually going to rehearse with them after this interview – they’re over here in person now. So we get to rehearse [for] two days. I've never done that before. I feel like I've only done acoustic. Maybe I did a three piece once over here. But I'm excited to have a little band and rock a little bit. I've heard that The Long Road is amazing from several people. So I'm excited to play it.
The other thing I wanted to ask you about was cutting background vocals for Waylon Jennings’ recording of ‘Songbird’ for the project Shooter [Jennings, Waylon’s son] is working on. How did that come about?
So I was out in L.A. and my friend Elizabeth Cook… I don't know what we were doing, we were doing something out there. We always find some sort of local thing to do so we can go out there and hang [laughs]. But she had said, “come to the studio”. We were going to dinner or something. And she said “come to the studio before with me”. So her and Shooter are really good friends, and his wife Misty, who I love. But I thought, “okay, I'll go”. I had met Shooter maybe a couple times or in passing, but didn't really know him.
And so we went over to his studio in L.A. and I instantly just loved him and his wife. And the studio is so amazing. And he goes, “let me play you all this”. He told us a story about how he just found these 30 hours of lost tapes of his dad's unheard things. And he was trying to identify certain songs. He didn't know if Waylon had written them. It was just so cool hearing him tell me the story. I'm like, “oh my gosh, it's so cool”. And then the first one he played was ‘Songbird’. And it was like the closest I've come to levitating in my life.
I just was like, “are you kidding me right now?” I just couldn't believe it. And he was like, “you all should come back out here and sing the background on these”. And I'm like, “yes, we should.” [laughs] And yeah, we did, dang it. We went out there and I had to compartmentalise so hardcore. [I was] looking down at my thing where I'm turning up in my headphones and it's like Waylon, Elizabeth, Ashley. I'm like, “I can't even face the truth”. And yeah, it's such an honour learning his phrasing and thinking of cool harmonies and all the things. It was just a magical day. And I literally had to tell myself, “Do not think about the fact that you’re singing with Waylon Jennings” to get through the day.
I listen to that song a lot. I really do. When I get in my car sometimes, it's just so special getting to hear him sing that and to know that I'm some tiny part of it. It's just mind blowing.
Is there a song you’re particularly proud of that you’ve written? And on the other side of that – what’s the song that you wish you could have written?
I'm proud of all my songs. I know people say that, but I'm proud of ‘The Truth’ because it got me a number one. And I'm proud of ‘The Truth’ because I like that song. I like singing it still. All my [Pistol] Annies songs. ‘Best Years of My Life’ still kills me when I hear it. So yeah, those are a few.
And then a song I wish I'd written will always be ‘Always On My Mind’. It'll just always be that one. It just kills me so deep.
You’ve got to work with so many people and visit some amazing places over your career. Is there anything left on your wish list of people you’d want to work with, places you’d want to play and so on?
I need to work with Mark Ronson once, or a couple times. I want to do some fun collaborations that don't have to be in my genre. I always like aiming for things like that. David Gray is on my mega wish list. People that move me – there's so many. But I am thankful. I've worked with a lot of my heroes, a lot of people that are just unbelievably talented. So I'm very thankful for all my collabs.
What’s the rest of the year looking like for you? Is the focus still on ‘Tennessee Lightning’ or are you thinking about the next record yet?
Well, I think definitely I’ll be with ‘Tennessee Lightning’ and just let that live a second. But of course, I'm already thinking about the next project. I already have a semi-plan going. And I think I'm just gonna honky tonk people's faces off the next one. Because I can. I have a tonne of songs, new and old and probably yet to be written that, again, they're just sitting there. So why not just put them out myself? Nobody else is gonna do them. And I want to record ‘The Truth’. I've always loved singing it. So I want to do that.
But yeah, I have a few shows left in the year. I get to do the John Prine thing in Nashville. That's in October. What else do I have coming up? Aubrey Sellers, she's amazing – her and I have a song. She texted me last night. I think it's going to come out in December, which I'm like, “heck, yeah!” So anyway, there's always things coming up, but I'm just rolling it out one day at a time, I guess.
You mentioned on the Nashville Now interview you did recently that there’s some music you’ve been working on with the Pistol Annies. Is there anything in the pipeline from that side of things at all? Or is it more ‘maybe someday’?
I think it's a maybe someday for now. I don't know because there is no plan necessarily, but Miranda's busy as heck right now. I don't know if you saw that fundraiser she did, the Texas thing. I saw it raised like $8 million. I woke up this morning and saw that and thought, “oh, she just changes so many people's lives.” But all that to say, she's been opening for Morgan and doing all the things. And her and I have written a few times recently. And then me and Ange have written quite a bit recently because Miranda's not been home that much.
But, and then, like I said, too, that we have so many songs that people haven't heard. We have a shared note of a tonne of titles and unfinished ideas. So they're waiting, just if and when we have the time and all pile up together [laughs].
And lastly – do you have plans to come back to the UK after this trip?
I don't know if I do. I don't think that there are like plans per se, but there's always a plan to come back. I think this is my fourth time back this year. I came once with Little Big Town. I came again and opened for [Chris] Stapleton at the O2. Maybe this is my third time back. But anyway, I'm becoming a regular around here.
I was going to say you’re practically an honorary Brit at this point…
I better go home for a little bit or you all will get too used to me! [laughs]
Interview by Laura Cooney.
Ashley Monroe’s new album, ‘Tennessee Lightning’, is out now on Mountainrose Sparrow LLC.
See Ashley live in the UK this August:
Thursday 21 August – Band on the Wall, Manchester (with Fancy Hagood)
Friday 22 August – The Long Road Festival, Lutterworth (2 PM, The Hitching Post and 6.45 PM, Rhinestone Stage)
Monday 25 August – Glasgow, Saint Luke’s (with Fancy Hagood)
Wednesday 27 August – London, Islington Assembly Hall (with Fancy Hagood)
