How Ashley McBryde’s Breakthrough Story With Eric Church Isn’t As Simple As It’s Played Out To Be

Ashley McBryde’s discovery via Eric Church is a great story… but it wasn’t as easy as it’s made out to be.

The great Ashley McBryde joined the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about coming to Nashville and grinding as a young artist before getting a record deal at 30 years old, growing up in Arkansas with a father who was a doctor and a preacher, how Eric Church played a roll in her success, concept albums, getting sober, her new music and when fans might expect a new album and much more.

Speaking of Eric Church’s roll in the rise of Ashley McBryde, the story that’s often told is the talented artist’s big break came when the Chief brought her up on stage during his 2017 Holdin’ My Own Tour stop in Chicago. Church referred to her as his “favorite artist out right now that’s not out yet,” and her performance of “Bible and a .44” rocketed her to instant stardom.

Was it really that easy? When we asked Ashley McBryde that very question, she responded by saying this:

“It’s a lot more scars on knuckles than that.”

McBryde’s origin story as a country music star is often surmised with that one fateful night. However, it wasn’t that black and white, and Ashley even sarcastically said to us, “All you have to do is go to an Eric Church concert!” In reality, that moment was years in the making:

“Building all of the relationships that led to going and being with Eric on that night is a long time coming. And it’s not like I said, ‘I’m gonna move to town and I’m gonna sing a song with Eric Church.’

But he did run across my songwriting. And the whole trail up to that… bars upon bars upon bars, and waking up in people’s basements. I think being just naive enough to think it was possible and not knowing any better when it was so hard. I just thought that was how it was.”

Obviously the appearance at the Eric Church concert helped McBryde’s career tremendously, but it can’t all be attributed to a “right place, right time” explanation. It’s more so a “right amount of work put in over the years, right result of finally earning the breakthrough.”

And Ashley McBryde simply refused to not let that breakthrough happen, as she explained:

“I didn’t know how to run a PA system. I learned, and I made enough money to purchase a PA system. And I didn’t have a good guitar. So I figured out how to make enough in tips to save up and buy a better guitar. I thought that was how it worked, and back then, it was. Not the same landscape now.”

Nope… not the same landscape at all.

If you want to hear more from Ashley McBryde, make sure to download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here.

We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts.

Cheers, y’all.

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And here’s that memorable performance from Chicago’s Allstate Arena, way back in 2017:

The post How Ashley McBryde’s Breakthrough Story With Eric Church Isn’t As Simple As It’s Played Out To Be first appeared on Whiskey Riff.