LESSONS ON A COUNTRY ARTIST ON THE RISE
Up-and-coming artist Ashley McBryde turns her teacher’s well-meaning advice into a call to action.
It likely wasn’t a conscious attempt at tough love, but the high school teacher who poured cold water on high schooler Ashley McBryde’s dream of a career as a songwriter motivated more than muted her.
“When I was back in algebra class,” she recalls, “we were going around the room saying what we wanted to do when we grew up. When it got to me, I said, ‘I’m going to move to Nashville and write songs, and they’re going to be on the radio.’ The teacher looked at me and said, “That won’t happen and you better have a good backup plan.’ ”
Those words fueled the takeno-prisoners attitude she brandishes so effectively in a song that grew out of that memory, “Girl Goin’ Nowhere,” which she shared with fans at Nashville’s venerable Grand Ole Opry when she finally reached that fabled stage.
“When the lights come up / And I hear the band / And where they said I’d never be is exactly where I am. … Not bad for a girl goin’ nowhere.”
In “Fat and Famous,” she channels some of the same righteous indignation Taylor Swift tapped in “Mean” when she spits fire at a naysayer from long ago: “You got fat, I got famous / Ain’t that funny how it changes / You made fun of me for years / I get paid to play my songs.”
It’s evident that the Arkansasbred singer and songwriter throws her lot in with the school of gutsy country artists that includes Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves and Brandy Clark, among others, but which traces its lineage all the way back to “Fist City” firebrand Loretta Lynn.
She’s earned the respect of Eric Church, who has called her a “whiskey-drinkin’ badass,” and Hank Williams Jr., while scoring opening slots on tours with latterday mavericks such as Church and Chris Stapleton. She’s touring with Luke Combs and will make a couple of California stops: April 5 in Irvine and April 6 in San Diego.
Her debut album is due in 2018, under the guidance of respected producer Jay Joyce (Emmylou Harris, Church, Brandy Clark). She quickly won over Stacy Vee, Goldenvoice’s director of festival talent, who has her lined up to play at the promoter’s Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio in late April.
“I booked her as soon as I saw the footage online of her first performance at the Opry,” Vee told The Times. “You can see how much it means to her. She’s real and genuine. It’s all about her voice and the words and the songs. I’m so proud we have her coming to Stagecoach.”