Ashley McBryde and Her Grammy-Nominated Songs and Albums: The Stories Behind the Music
Ashley McBryde doesn’t just write songs; she tells it like it is. Who else has written about their journey to sobriety and even created a persona, “Blackout Betty,” to disassociate from their drunken antics? …
Ashley McBryde doesn’t just write songs; she tells it like it is. Who else has written about their journey to sobriety and even created a persona, “Blackout Betty,” to disassociate from their drunken antics?
Over the past few years, she has become one of country music’s beloved songwriters who offers a different perspective and a unique spin to her songs, earning not only the respect of her peers but also the love of her fans. With multiple Grammy nominations (and a win!) under her belt, her songs prove you don’t have to play it safe to play it big.
Her songs are honest, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, and always unapologetically real, just like her. So, what is the secret behind the hits that got the Recording Academy’s attention?
Girl Going Nowhere: The Breakthrough Album and Title Track
Nominated for: Best Country Album, 2019 and Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance, 2020
Let’s start with the album and song that introduced her to country music fans. Her 2018 major studio album, Girl Going Nowhere, and title track, “Girl Goin’ Nowhere.”
The ballad is an “in-your-face" song to everyone who ever doubted her and a love letter to her younger self who dared to dream big anyway. The chorus goes, “But when the lights come up and I hear the band/And where they said I'd never be is exactly where I am/I hear the crowd, I look around and I can't find an empty chair/Not bad for a girl goin' nowhere.”
The album earned McBryde her very first Grammy nomination, not bad for a girl who was told by her algebra teacher that wanting to write songs was stupid and wouldn’t get her far. Garth Brooks also covered the song and revised the title to “Guy Goin’ Nowhere.” He included the track in his Triple Live album.
Never Will: Continuing the Grammy Recognition
Nominated for: Best Country Album, 2021
By the time she released her sophomore album Never Will in 2020, McBryde was done proving herself. Instead, she did what she does best: telling uncomfortable truths through her lyrics. Case in point: her song “Shut Up Sheila,” which she sometimes skips at certain tour venues because it includes the word “godd—n.” Yet she has no problem singing her 2022 song “Gospel Night at the Strip Club” from her album Lindeville, which features the lyric: “Jesus loves the drunkards and the whores and the queers.”
Never Will earned her another Grammy nomination for Best Country Album, and her song “Stone” even got her compared to country music icons Loretta Lynn and Reba McEntire.
"Never Wanted to be That Girl:" The Grammy-Winning Collaboration
Nominated for and won: Best Country Duo/Group Performance, 2023
And then came the song that finally got her on the Grammy winners’ stage, Never Wanted to Be That Girl, McBryde’s collaboration with Carly Pearce, won Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 2023 Grammy Awards. And it’s easy to see why.
This heart-wrenching ballad tells the story of two women who discover they’ve been deceived by the same man. Instead of turning on each other (like what we’ve seen countless movies and TV series do), they sing from two sides of the same heartbreak, and guilt, each realizing they’ve become “that girl,” the one they swore they’d never be.
McBryde co-wrote the song with Pearce and Shane McAnally. It’s arguably one of the most powerful duets country music has heard in years. In an industry where women are often pitted against each other, Never Wanted to Be That Girl showed how it eats women alive to find themselves “the other one when there’s another one” — and how there are no winners in situations like that, because one person’s happiness always comes at the expense of another’s.
Winning the Grammy for this performance was not just a personal milestone for McBryde; it also highlighted her music: honest, unflinching, and deeply human, making her stand out all the more. She and Pearce were also the first women to win the category.
Final Thoughts: Ashley McBryde, The Girl Who Did That
From her first nomination to her first win, Ashley McBryde has proven that honesty, wit, and just the right amount of attitude never go out of style. She’s not showing any signs of slowing down soon. After the release of her latest album The Devil I Know in 2023, to critical acclaim, it feels safe to say we will see more Grammy nominations and wins for McBryde in the future.
