Ashley McBryde Live Stream 23rd March… A Little Review

If you are anything like me, you’ll already be missing the live country music scene but hopefully finding some solace in the fact that so many artists are turning to social media to share performances.
Cancelled gigs have been crossed out in my diary and replaced with reminders to tune in to Facebook or Instagram (often at silly o’clock here in the UK if it’s a US artist involved!) for some virtual music, and so far this has helped keep me relatively sane as well as often helping raise money for either the artist involved or a cause close to their heart.
And my award the most entertaining so far goes to Ashley Mcbryde, who’s talent together with her wicked sense of humour definitely helped put a smile on my face!
Having already shared one such performance with her fans last week ahead of the release of her new album “Never Will”, on April 3rd, she was back with more fun and music last night, greeting us from her sofa where she was joined by her chilled dog who had apparently been chasing her around the house all morning and dressed in a dinosaur onesie (those who know her well will understand why) in which she said was as hot as hell but she’s maybe lose some weight. Taking it’s hood down after a couple of songs (before eventually taking it off, away from the camera as she joked “it’s not THAT type of show!”) she thanked us for noticing she hadn’t washed her hair, she was totally devoid of make up too (definitely not  all faked up” as she calls it )…gotta love how down to earth she is!
Song choices were sometimes hilarious and very varied in style, one an ode to potatoes in their many guises, another a break up song which references 38 types of fish and no I didn’t count to see if she was telling the truth but was cracking up over lines such as “I lobster and never flounder, now my life has no porpoise”. Not sure who wrote those two, but it was definitely her great friend the late Randall Clay who of course she gave a shout out to who wrote the fan favourite and as yet unrecorded “Rattlesnake Preacher” (a request via twitter earlier in the day) which she performed with her usual energy even tho’ seated . Country music was further represented by an incredible cover of “Maybe it Was Memphis” ,made famous by the legendary Pam Tillis.

One particular section of the stream which I loved and showed what a versatile artist Ashley is was when she told of her many years playing in bars, when country music wouldn’t always work and she was forced to step out of her comfort zone, which she definitely did when giving us her renditions of the Motown classic “You Can’t Hurry Love” and rapper T-Pain’s “Buy U A Drank “. I tell you , Ashley can seemingly sing anything!
Jokes were thrown in along the way too… “this reminds me of what my grandfather said just before he kicked the bucket. He said ‘i wonder how far i can kick the bucket?'” ( don’t give up the day job, Ashley!) and all in all this was a great way to escape the stresses and worries that are surrounding us at the moment.
As she said after thanking us for joining her and signing off, although she is going stir crazy stuck at home we all need to make sacrifices right now so we can be here for each other in the future. So true!

Review written by Lesley Hastings (twitter.com/lesleyhastings)