UP AND COMING UP AND COMING
KATIE KESSEL
UP AND COMING
Ashley McBryde
A
sk Ashley McBryde to describe her music and you’ll hear some pretty entertaining answers. In one interview she describes it as “Bonnie Raitt and Loretta Lynn getting into a fight at Waffle House,” while when Tidal asked what animal her music would be, she chose stray dog, “because it can make its home almost anywhere but if you give it a place to land, you won’t be sorry you did.” Welcome to the colorful, no-holds-barred world of country’s latest badass, Ashley McBryde. The Mammoth Spring, AR, native moved to Nashville in 2006 and began writing and honing her sound while trying to land a record deal. Playing any dive bar, biker joint and restaurant she could offered plenty of
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NASHVILLE ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
ALYSSE GAKJEN
By Lorie Hollabaugh
inspiration for McBryde, who was able to test out her material on a regular basis and find what clicked. “I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” McBryde told The Fader. “It was an education, it was dues being paid and it was me doing something I loved. It was a really good way to hone my craft as a songwriter because there’s nobody in a suit across a desk telling me if the song I wrote this week was good or not. If I
could get people in a noisy bar to listen to it, then I was going in the right direction.” When SiriusXM began playing her song A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega, it became an instant hit and made the Nashville labels finally take notice. McBryde wrote the song the day one of her heroes, singer Guy Clark, died, and it became her debut single on Atlantic Records/ Warner Music Nashville. Working with producer Jay Joyce, McBryde fleshed out the rest of her debut album, Girl Going Nowhere, in two and a half days. The collection of autobiographically tinged tunes included the title track, penned as a response to a former math teacher who belittled her musical aspirations. It’s an example of the grit, heart and soul that McBryde infuses into her songs. It’s a sound that has clearly struck a chord with listeners. It didn’t hurt that people like Eric Church were pulling McBryde onstage to sing and loving what she was doing. So when she stepped into the hallowed circle at the Grand Ole Opry last year to perform, it was no doubt a vindicating bucket list moment for a girl whose teacher had told her she was dreaming too big all those years ago. And if McBryde is any indication of where females in the format are going, country is in for one fun ride the next few years. “I was lucky to grow up in the ’90s, when we had just as many strong female artists as male artists,” she told Billboard. “That’s a world I would like to live in again. There’s this whole new class of chicks on their way that are just powerhouses. We’re pulling up extra seats at the table, and if you don’t want to sit by me—move down.”