Ashley McBryde is quickly becoming one of country music’s brightest stars. She embarked on her first headline tour this fall. The Grammy winner released a new album, The Devil I Know, in September to rave reviews.
I talked with Ashley recently and asked if she felt pressure making her new album, The Devil I Know. She references her Grammy win for Best Country Duo/Group for “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” with Carly Pearce. She said, “I think going in to make the record, because we’ve been sitting on it for a year since I didn’t have the Grammy yet, that helped take some pressure off.”
McBryde doesn’t let award nominations and wins influence her music. She said, “And releasing the record, we try to keep things like that, CMAs, ACMs, Grammys… We love them, appreciate them fully, and celebrate them, but when we go into creation mode, nothing gets to come into the room. Not what radio thinks and not who thinks what I should wear or what I should say. None of that gets to come into the room; we try to keep them separate. I’m so excited for this record to finally be out.”
She also discussed how long she has been writing her own songs. McBryde was just a child when she first realized she was a songwriter. She said, “I think I must have been really small because I’ve been telling my mom that I was gonna move to Nashville, Tennesse, and become a country singer since I was really small, probably five years old.”
And the song’s lyrics and melodies came quickly to her. She said, “I would make things up. I would just come inside and sing what I had done. Like if I walked to the mailbox or whatever I’d seen, I’d come in and sing that to my mom.”
She added, “I grew up listening to bluegrass and things like that, so playing instruments and songwriters, those were things that were very accessible things. The masters of their instruments were super accessible at bluegrass festivals. So, it never occurred to me not to be a songwriter.”
As Ashley’s country music career blossoms, we gathered six of her best songs that everyone should know.