The night ABC13 met with her was no exception.
McBryde was warming up for the stage at Billy Bob's Texas, billed as the world's largest honky tonk, in another famous place, the Fort Worth Stockyards.
Backstage at Billy Bob's, musicians' logos and signatures adorn the walls, McBryde's among them.
Catching up with Ashley McBryde before Freedom Over Texas
That night on the main stage, she kicked off her set with "Rattlesnake Preacher," a song long a staple of her live shows and recently released as a studio version.
It was written by longtime collaborator and beloved singer-songwriter, Randall Clay.
"A few years ago, we lost Randall. He went on to Glory and "Rattlesnake Preacher" has never left my set," McBryde told ABC13, explaining that it'd been a challenge to find the right fit for the song on an album until now.
"This year, when we started building, we kept being like, 'Does Rattlesnake belong on this? Does Rattlesnake belong here? No.' And then we got to where we're building this record, and I said, 'We start with Rattlesnake, we've got to do it. It's our song. Randall knew it from the start, and it deserves to be on the record,'" she said.
But that's not the only way Clay's presence lives on.
McBryde paid homage to the "Rattlesnake Preacher" writer in the form of a tattoo.
"Before he was a songwriter, he was a clown in the circus. I asked him which circus, and he said, 'THE (circus).' After we lost him, I went ahead and put a circus clown poet on my arm," she recalled.
Bitten by the Bug
After years playing music in dive bars across the country, McBryde's major label debut, "Girl Going Nowhere," took off in 2018.
She's since followed that up with numerous hits, including the platinum-certified single, "One Night Standards," and "American Scandal," the latter of which some fans have thought was a cheating song, but according to McBryde is open to your interpretation.
"Love song. Not a cheating song, but also that's not up to me," she said, sharing the tune's origin story. "I said, 'I kind of want to write a love song that sounds like it's not a love song. I want you to love me like it's wrong because I know how that feels. But I want to be in a relationship that is so solid that we can portray that.' When people are like, 'Look at these two, but they've been together for 20 years.' Love me that way."
The music video has an equally loving feel and authenticity as it shows some of what McBryde enjoys most: performing, family, and getting a tattoo.
"We didn't have a lot of budget at the time, and there weren't as many tattoos on my arms at that point," she begins. "And they said, 'We'd love to do a day in the life video for "American Scandal."' And so I texted my tattoo artist and said, 'Would you draw lipstick and aviators for me to get tattooed?' And she's like, 'You're going to get a tattoo to make a music video?' And I was like, 'Absolutely. I mean, I can't think of a reason not to.'"
McBryde's godchildren also made an appearance in the video, playing in the yard.
It'd be far from the only time McBryde would feature her family in her music, whether that be in the video or through lyrics.
The song "Bible and a .44" is a nod to her dad.
"He always said, 'As long as I have a rifle and a Bible, I'll be able to provide for my family.' Which is like, 'Where are you from? 1883?' But that's just Bill McBryde," she explained.
The song also pays homage to her grandfather, who despite having a gun rack on the back window of his truck, actually used it to house fishing poles.
"Light On in the Kitchen" is McBryde's family's way of saying, "I love you."
"And to this day, after I wrote the song and I sent it to Mama and Aunt Glo, we changed saying, 'I miss you' or 'I love you.' Instead of saying that all the time, we say, 'The light's on,'" she explained. "It just feels good. Somebody's thinking about you. There's a place you can go."
Her mom, Martha, appeared in the "Light On in the Kitchen" video. A reminder of her mother's love is also forever etched as a tattoo in the form of a teacup.
An Arkansas native and the youngest of six, McBryde knew she was born to make music.
She wrote her first song at age 12. Her first audience was her family, and her first stage was her grandparents' kitchen in central Arkansas.
"I came in there and said, 'I'm going to sing you this song.' It was called, "Fight the Flames." Love song. And my mom looked at me and said, 'Where did you get that song?' And I got so offended, and I was like, 'I wrote it.' And she was like, 'No, I believe you. I believe you. Where did you get that song from? Like, where did those feelings come from?' I listened to country music when I was a kid. I had the information. I didn't have those life experiences yet, but I had the information."
As it turns out, she may have had the information earlier than she realized.
McBryde shared that she would plug a microphone into her family's cabinet record player and sing her heart out. That was in addition to the bluegrass festivals she'd go to with her mom and brother, Dan.
Unlike concerts, the festivals allowed fans to actually visit with bands on the campgrounds.
"I was sitting here with my little plastic guitar and going up to people, 'Hey, hey, how do I play this thing?' And they would turn around and talk to me, and the guy that I saw play the guitar is looking at me knowing I want to play a guitar, and he's showing me. So I think it was just in here the whole time," McBryde said.
"Mom said I was walking past the stage," she continued. "I was little and a group was playing. And when they finished their song, of course there was an applause. And she said I just stopped next to the stage and looked at the audience clapping and definitely thought that it was for me. She said, 'I knew when you were that small that you had the bug.'"
A Fourth of July First
This year's Fourth of July will be one celebrating at least a couple firsts for McBryde. She'd never spent a July 4 in Texas or performed at Freedom Over Texas at Eleanor Tinsley Park until now.
Still, she's no stranger to playing big stages in the Lone Star State. She made her RODEOHOUSTON debut as special guest for George Strait in 2022 before taking the reins as headliner in 2023.
"It's one of my favorite things we've ever done," McBryde said of performing at the rodeo, held annually at NRG Stadium. "80,000 people, but it still feels personal. The only way I can think that is possible is it must be the people. It must be the culture that surrounds it."
McBryde explained that the Houston rodeo experience for her is also different in that she and her team actually get to watch the event. Traditionally, the actual rodeo occurs inside the venue before performers' concerts.
"I love watching bull riding because the level of "I'm gonna" that a bull rider has and that bronc riders have, and knowing that it may not work out. There's only going to be one person at the top of the board at the end of this, and it's that way in what we do for a living, too,' McBryde said, adding that, like many rodeo fans, she also loves mutton busting.
While McBryde told ABC13 watching the fireworks finale at Freedom Over Texas will be "mandatory" for her, the days of her actually lighting them are likely in the past.
That's in large contrast to what she and her brother, Dan, used to do.
"We would go and buy grosses of bottle rockets, and we would put on baseball helmets, and we would have bottle rocket wars, and how we have all of our fingers and our eyes and we have no lasting injuries, I have no idea. I'm thankful that bottle rockets are so small. I thought we were the coolest people on the planet," she said.
Joan of Arkansas
Along with being a gifted singer and songwriter, McBryde is also known for her colorful tattoos.
"If you saw pictures of me as a kid, you'd never think that that girl grows up to be covered in tattoos. But she does," she told ABC13.
McBryde described one piece of ink that's particularly notable, an image of a girl with a blindfold on that says, "Be Brave."
"I moved to Nashville when I was 23 years old. I didn't know anybody and I was just walking into it blind thinking it'll be OK," she explained. "And that's what she (her tattoo artist) drew for me. I had no idea at the time I would end up all the way tattooed."
As her star rose, McBryde started to attend more red carpet events, so she needed to figure out how to dress for the occasion.
"I'm Joan of Arkansas. I've always been in a T-shirt and boots. I have no idea how to walk in heels, no idea how to function in a corset or a long line bra or with bone. Not a clue," she said.
That's when she turned to her tattoo artist Nancy for a little extra help.
McBryde explains that she maps her tattoos across her body as a way to show her history, similar to the way a sailor would.
For a sailor, a ship's wheel means you've been to certain locations, but McBryde describes herself as a "highway sailor."
"'So at this point, what would go across my chest?'" McBryde said she asked Nancy. It was between an eagle or a ship.
"And she said, 'It should be an eagle. If you were to walk into a bar full of sailors, and you saw a man with an eagle across his chest, you would know that he has walked every inch of every mile that he has been. So it was only fitting. And what was strange about that was after it was finished, it was like I looked more like me," she said.
According to McBryde, her tattoos include a little bit of everything, from one she got in Dublin, Ireland, because a friend lost a bet but didn't want to get a tattoo by herself to the one depicting her first Grammy.
And despite the time she's spent in Texas, she hasn't gotten a tattoo in the Lone Star State.
"There is a shop in Denton, Texas, that I wanted to visit, actually," she said, pausing thoughtfully. "Maybe we should do that for the Fourth of July."
Girl Going Somewhere
The song "Never Wanted to Be That Girl," a duet with Carly Pearce, earned McBryde her first Grammy win.
And as McBryde described, teaming up with Pearce appeared to be a match made in heaven.
"My publisher asked me, 'What female artist do you want to write with?' And I said, 'Carly Pearce.' Turns out, they had asked her the same question and she said my name," she recalled.
The song would go on to be the first Grammy win for Pearce as well.
McBryde had been nominated six times and was shocked when she heard her name.
"My face still feels like, you know, when you fall backwards in an office chair? That's what it feels like when they say, 'And the Grammy goes to...' It feels like somebody's just dropped you in an office chair. How romantic," she laughs.
When McBryde, who was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in December 2022, isn't recording, you can call her "Dr. McBryde," now that she's received an honorary doctorate of music from her alma mater Arkansas State University.
"I really wanted to have that degree in my hand. My path just was different," she said. "I knew I wanted to do this for a living, but I also had such a heart for music education, and I thought in my spirit, I'm definitely responsible for creating other musicians. It just turns out I do that in a different way than I thought."
Not bad for a girl going nowhere.
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