ASHLEY McBRYDE EARNS THREE NOMINATIONS FROM THE ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC
Receives Nods for Female Artist of the Year, Video of the Year + Music Event of the Year for “Never Wanted To Be That Girl”
With multiple sold-out shows during the first leg of her 50+ dates on the This Town Talks Tour, including a milestone three-night headlining debut residency at Ryman Auditorium, Ashley McBryde continues her ascension in the format with three 2022 nominations from The Academy of Country Music, including her third nomination for Female Artist of the Year, Video of the Year and Music Event of the Year for “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” her chart-climbing duet with Carly Pearce.
“What an honor to be recognized by our peers and the Academy. There’s nothing better than celebrating alongside all the powerhouse female artists in this category,” shares the three-time Female Artist of the Year nominee, “and what a treat to be nominated with my friend Carly for Video of the Year and Music Event of the Year on a song we wrote together. Thank you to the fans for listening to our stories and for sharing yours in return. These moments wouldn’t exist without you.”
In between tour dates, McBryde has been writing and recording new music to be announced later this year. Dubbed “one of the most empathetic songwriters of her generation” by NPR, the Arkansas-native has been dropping hints and sharing some behind-the-scenes photos from her time in the studio with her band Deadhorse on social media, encouraging fans to get excited for the first taste of new music in nearly two years.
As the follow-up to 2018’s breakthrough major-label debut Girl Going Nowhere, McBryde’s Never Will (Warner Music Nashville) was released to critical acclaim, earning a title early on in 2020 as one of the best albums of the year to-date by SPIN, Variety, Billboard, Paste, Esquire, Stereogum and American Songwriter, and ultimately receiving the title of Best Album from Nashville Scene’s 21st Annual Country Music Critics’ Poll.
The 11-track collection also earned a spot in the Top 20 of Rolling Stone’s all-genre “Best Albums of 2020,” celebrating the record as “this year’s most adventurous mainstream country album” while landing at No. 1 on Rolling Stone’s “Best Country and Americana Albums of 2020,” proclaiming it “re-creates the trick McBryde pulled off on her stellar debut: proving that honest-to-goodness country songs can have commercial appeal.”
“Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” McBryde’s duet with fellow nominee Pearce, continues to climb the charts at Country radio, currently in the Top 15 on the Country Aircheck chart and at No. 17 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. The song was dubbed by Rolling Stone as a “spiritual descendant of Reba McEntire and Linda Davis’ classic ‘Does He Love You’” that “ditches the campy melodrama for a bracing jolt of regret and clarity,” while MusicRow sums it up with a similar sentiment: “In a word, sensational…For the love of country music, play this.”
McBryde headlined over 30 shows in 2021 along with supporting dates on Luke Combs’ What You See Is What You Get Tour. The This Town Talks Tour continues tonight at The Bluestone in Columbus, Ohio with Ashland Craft as support on the remaining shows. Additional dates and tickets are available at AshleyMcBryde.com.
