Ashley McBryde Compares Choosing Songs to ‘Celebrity Death Match’

Ashley McBryde said in a recent interview that when she and her band got together to pick the right songs for her upcoming album, The Devil I Know, it was a bit like an old MTV show. She said that they wound up with 30 to 90 songs for the album out on September 7. She whittled that number down to 11 songs for the album.

Ashley explained that she and her band get together in the "purple building in East Nashville," where they listen to iPhone work tapes and begin to "chart" what they have. McBryde said picking songs is similar to MTV's Celebrity Death Match from the late 1990s and early 2000s. She noted, "It was like Claymation celebrities fighting. That's what we do with my songs."

In the same interview, Ashley shared how she has stayed "herself" through the music business in Nashville. She said that everyone around you is telling you who to be and how to act, and the most important thing is to be yourself. McBryde said, "That's when you go, 'I'm just gonna do what I do.'"

Ashley recently announced a new headlining tour, "The Devil I Know Tour," which will play 30 dates, including a return to the U.K. next January.

Before Ashley was a headliner, she opened for a number of country superstars, including Miranda Lambert, on the 2018 "Living Like Hippies" tour. Jon Pardi was also on the tour. It began on January 18, 2018, in Greenville, South Carolina, and ended on June 17, 2018, in Grand Junction, Colorado.

McBryde told me about the tour after it kicked off. She said of Lambert, "She was so good to us. Every night, we had a gift. The first night, we had onesies, so Jon Pardi got a dinosaur outfit, I got a teddy bear outfit, and Miranda had a unicorn."

She added, "And then the next night was flowers and candles and beer. I've never seen a headliner do that."

This could be a big week for Ashley McBryde as she attends the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards as a double nominee on Sunday (2/5). Her fifth and sixth GRAMMY nominations are for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for her chart-topping duet "Never Wanted To Be That Girl" with Carly Pearce and for Best Country Album for her project Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville.

When she got the news a few weeks ago, she said in a statement, "I'm so proud to be able to share these nominations with so many friends and collaborators – for a duet we wrote and took to No. 1 with Carly and the entire cast of Lindeville, where we gave ourselves the opportunity to change the approach and make decisions based solely on serving the songs." She added, "I've always said that recognition from the Recording Academy and joining the Grand Ole Opry are the two best things that could ever happen to you as an artist, so here I stand just in awe of this moment. It's such an honor to be right here right now. And especially in such good company."

Ashley has had a few significant years in country music. She will perform "Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville Live," featuring the cast of collaborators and special guests performing songs at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on February 15 and 16.

Here, we take a look at her last few years in country music. Will she become one of country's newest Grammy darlings this week?