We recently got to chat with Ashley McBryde about plenty of things, including the holidays, her recent Grammy Awards nomination, new music and more. We also asked her 11 of our biggest — and most random — questions. Read her answers below.

1. Favorite song you didn’t write?

“Hold My Hand” by Brandy Clark.

2. If you weren’t a singer, what would you be?

I’d be a teacher or a band director. I’m finding out now, with what I do working with the CMA Foundation, and teaching band lessons and stuff … I was on fire for it when I was younger, and thought I’d be a teacher or a band director. I can transfer passion. I think whether it’s sales, education or entertainment, it’s all transferring some passion from one person to another.

3. Who has made you the most starstruck?

Reba McEntire. We were doing this thing. I call Radio Rodeo at the ACMs, and I was doing the Big D & Bubba Show. I have a little microphone in my hand, and she came walking in the booth. She said, “Hi, I’m Reba McEntire, and I’m your biggest fan.” It’s on YouTube. I made a sound.

(We found it on YouTube here, starting at about the 1:40 mark).

4. Favorite food?

Mashed potatoes with lots of butter.

5. Show you could binge watch over and over again?

Tombstone is the movie I can watch over and over and over again. Definitely. And Braveheart. And Fight Club. I’ve got this weird vibe with darkness somewhere in my personality, and the only release it gets is watching gun fights.

6. Biggest pet peeve?

Being late. Not someone else being late, but me being late for something. If I told you that we’re going to leave at 3:04 and we leave at 3:06, I’m not going to be mad at you, but I’m going to be pretty unpleasant for awhile. And not having a place to park. I’ll leave whatever the thing is, like if I’m supposed to be at lunch and here’s no place to park. I’ll leave.

7. What is one item you can’t live without?

Obviously I would say my guitar, but my boots. I was at Miranda [Lambert’s] a few weeks ago. We had a little girl’s day out. There were a few artists there. I had some beverages, and she was giving me some flip-flops to walk back to the house. And I was like, “Nope. I gotta have my boots.”

8. Favorite vacation spot?

Anywhere where there’s mountains. I love the Great Lakes. I was around lakes before I ever saw an ocean. So when I finally saw the ocean and I was like, “Okay, it’s bigger and more dangerous.” I love Lake Michigan. We didn’t take vacations much, but my mom’s family is from Michigan, so I spent a lot of time there in the summers.

9. Best Christmas memory?

I got a drum kit one time and I was freaked out. A very, very cheap drum kit. I don’t really know how my mom knew I wanted a drum kit, but I remember playing very terribly. I remember playing on my drum kit in a Tweety bird giant night shirt thing. That’s a really, really good memory.

10. What was the first album you ever bought?

The first album I ever bought with my own dollars was a Wynonna CD, and on the same day I bought Travis Tritt’s Country Club.

11. What is something people would be surprised to know about you?

I’m left-handed. And, all the labels in the medicine cabinet has to face in the right direction. I think I’m a lot tidier than people would think I am.