by Amy Westney

Country2Country is here and I got to catch up with one of our favourites, Ashley McBryde, before her shows to talk about the whirlwind that has been her life the past few months! From George to Grammys, we can’t wait to see what is in store for this lady!

Amy: Good morning! So… Since you were last here.

Ashley McBryde: Yeah, just a few months.

Amy: There has been lots! So firstly George Strait in Vegas.

Ashley McBryde: Yes.

Amy: What was that like?

Ashley McBryde: It was a learning experience, a good learning experience but I wasn’t aware that George Strait played in the round. So, he’s got a diamond shaped stage and he’s got microphones at all of the corners of that diamond and the band plays in a circle in the centre. We don’t have the equipment for that. So my guys couldn’t move around the stage and I could put my wireless only reaches so far and we only have one microphone and one microphone stand. So I would have to stop playing mute the guitar take the microphones to the others. It was cool, it was a cool thing to learn but they took really good care of us and then our second show or second night with him… He asked me to come have a shot with him between his last song and his encore. So there’s this little section where it’s all pipe and draped and I walked in there’s a lady with a tray of tequila and he walked over to me and said “You’re kicking ass out there, kid”. And shook my hand and we got a shot. I got to touch George Strait, right there on the hand! Really nice guy.

Amy: I love it when you end up in situations like that. There’s nothing worse than meeting people and they just aren’t very nice!

Ashley McBryde: Yeah that would be heartbreaking but it was awesome.

Amy: And also, other than the Vegas stuff, which you’ve got more of those shows is coming up, right? And they just added some more?

Ashley McBryde: Yeah, there’s going to be seven in all.

Amy: Then, outside of that, the big thing the Grammys.

Ashley McBryde: Yeh, Grammy nomination, debut record Grammy nomination. That’s a weird sentence. Yeah. Like what I would call, after we were nominated, I would call my mom every day and say we got nominated for a Grammy. I’m just gonna keep saying it until it seems real and even still walking in to the arena. My sister was my date. She looked beautiful and it still didn’t sink in until I kind of saw the floor where we were headed down to to sit behind Quincy Jones and next to Rickey Minor and so my sister’s eyes are all big and I was like, holy shit… We’re at the Grammys! This is a real thing. It was a fun night too, those performances were awesome.

Amy: I actually didn’t manage to watch it just a couple of bits but what an incredible night to be a part of.

Ashley McBryde: Cardi B just killed it. Brandi Carlile killed it.

Amy: Well here’s to many more of those nights.

Ashley McBryde: I hope so.

Amy: I’m sure of it! Right, now where are we headed.. this weekend is already making me tired!

Ashley McBryde: The struggle is real. First thing I say every morning when we get up it doesn’t matter what time we give at 7:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. first thing I say is when’s nap time?

Amy: Headline to for the UK in September.

Ashley McBryde: Yeh, we get to come back and do it! Came through with Luke and supported him and got him see all these cool places that I couldn’t wait to play again. And now I get to come play them again. Now I get to sell out Shepherd’s Bush, I hope.

Amy: Easy! So Shepherds Bush is what, 2500? I think it is… On the press release said these were your biggest shows in Europe. In terms of headline shows you’ve done in the U.S. Would they still be the biggest?

Ashley McBryde: I’m not sure what the biggest one was, it may have even been Marathon [Music Works]…

Amy: Thats what I was wondering…

Ashley McBryde: I think it’s fifteen hundred eight or eighteen hundred it’s not twenty five hundred. So, potentially the biggest headline to date, yes.

Amy: It’s been a crazy couple of years for you.

Ashley McBryde: Yeah, and it’s fitting that it would be here… Because you know I came over and introduced myself and everyone introduced themselves to me and then I got to come back and it turns out we still like each other and I’m back here for a third time and it’s it’s like watching a romantic comedy only it’s it’s me and fans and we’re just kind of falling in love with each other every time we see each other.

Amy: I like that! So you also have the film coming out in April, this is when you were over here last year, right?

Ashley McBryde: The very first time I came. They asked if I would appear in the film yes.

Amy: So you did like a little cameo, as yourself?

Ashley McBryde: It’s a cameo as me which really took my anxiety down about it when I was like yes I would love to be in the film. What what do I need to do? They’re like you just actually play Ashley McBryde in the film. I know how to do that. Been doing it my whole life! So there’s a scene where I meet Jesse Buckley who plays Rose and I meet Bob Harris who plays Bob Harris and you’ll see the look on all three of our faces. It’s quite genuine because they filmed us meeting each other for the first time. So, we did it a couple of times after that as well but when I when I got to see the film when I was here in October you can see our faces were all like “HI!” big eyes and hands all the way up! It’s an incredible film and I love it, not just because I appear in it, Kasey is also in it Kacey Musgraves is in it.

Amy: What is the actual basis of the film?

Ashley McBryde: Oh it’s wonderful, she is from Glasgow, Scotland. She’s had kind of a rough time. She’s just getting out of jail but she’s a songwriter and a performer and she wants to go to Nashville and see what it’s all about and really do the thing and be an artist and so it’s very much like the song ‘Girl Going Nowhere’. The whole film is.

Amy: Have you got music in the film, that song is in there?

Ashley McBryde: Girl Going Nowhere is in the film, I think almost the entire song actually, if it’s not the entire song it’s nearly the entire song. Yeah it’s weird to see your name in movie credits at the end of a film and Jeremy Bussey, you know, who wrote that song with me, I was like look! There’s his name, like I’m surprised his name is in the credits. I also jumped up when Mark Hagen came on the screen and when Bob came on the screen it was as really film to work with.

Amy: That’s real cool a nice little twist to your career!

Ashley McBryde: Yeah and just a plot twist in my life! That was cool.

Amy: So you are playing mainstage on Sunday.

Ashley McBryde: Yes.

Amy: So you went from spotlight last year to mainstage this year! What is your set time.

Ashley McBryde: We are the second of the four acts, so we’re right before Lyle Lovett. I think we can an hour for a set, it’s either a 50 or 60 Minutes set which is perfect. It’s enough time to stretch your legs. The first two songs you’re getting your jitters out and kind of soaking everything in and then by song 3 you start to figure out where your groove is gonna be. If you’re in an opening slot for for a major act you’re halfway through your set by song 3 so you need to figure out how to get through that a lot faster. With a 60 minute set, oh 50 minute set, we get plenty of time to stretch our legs out and move around the stage and I cannot wait for my band to experience these fans.

Amy: It’s gonna be crazy.

Ashley McBryde: I’ve been telling them for weeks and I am like seriously I can tell you all day long and you it still won’t prepare you.

Amy: I don’t think anyone ever comes over here and is like prepared for the way the fans are over here. It really does boil down to the fact we don’t really have country radio, you’ve got Chris Country, but other than that if you want to listen to it you have to go out of your way to do so. It means everyone listens to every song so they’ll know every album track and then people become really invested.

Ashley McBryde: Yeah, they’re discovering yet no one is forcing this music down their throat. The same song played 50 times in an hour right. They’re going to find it for themselves and I think it’s a really interesting. It’s an interesting relationship. Country music and being over here it’s pretty cool.

Amy: Finally, we will finish off. Is there any new music on its way?

Ashley McBryde: There’s there are tons of new songs there we start cutting the new record in May. There are some songs that I am 1000 percent sure are going on the new record and there are some that I really hope they have a home on this record; Then there are some that we would just be stupid not to try to get those out there. Most of them we’ve written recently too so, we’re excited.

Amy: That’s great, thank you so much for talking to us! We can’t wait for your set this Sunday and to hear all about what is going on with you in the coming months, it sounds like its all go in the Ashley McBryde corner!