Nothing about Ashley McBryde‘s path in country music was easy, but she is still grateful for all of it, even the hard times.
“I wouldn’t trade a second of it,” McBrye says. “And even in times where we were still in a 12-passenger van, and so that means multiple of us are sitting to a seat and somebody’s having to sleep on the floor, I wouldn’t trade any moment of that. And those moments when you’re miserable and in the van and then you get to the venue, and there isn’t a green room … But then you get to get on stage and do the thing. That payoff, you’ll chase it the rest of your life, and you’ll get to access it every night.
“But the only way to access that feeling is by being miserable and riding in the van and having a sweaty butt and having to wear the same sweats every night and not having a hotel room,” she adds. “And sometimes your gear gets stolen, and you have to work to get it back. But being on stage at night is the payoff.”
Ashley McBryde Recalls Heartbreaking Moment That Led Her to Get Sober
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McBryde has been vocal about her sobriety, which happened in 2022. But she recently revealed the heartbreaking moment that finally led her to get the help she desperately needed.
“I woke up at another artist’s house, another female artist, in a bed that’s not mine, in pajamas that aren’t mine,” McBryde admits on Bobbycast. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, that must have been a doozy.’ I’m thirsty. I don’t know where I am, and I don’t know where water is, so I’ll just go find water.”
McBryde may have thought it was just another night of over-imbibing. Instead, it became the start of a brave new chapter.
“When I went to find water, I found a living room,” McBryde recounts. “In that living room was my team. And they said, ‘We need you to stop.’ And I said, ‘I need me to stop, too.’ And that was when I found out that she took me to her house that night, after we’d been out, to make sure I didn’t die.”
Ashley McBryde’s New Single, ‘What If We Don’t’
McBryde just released a bold new single, “What If We Don’t.” The song is from her forthcoming new album.
“‘What If We Don’t’ came to me, Terri Jo Box, and Randall Clay sitting around a fire pit on a back porch, reminiscing on all the moments that we could’ve made a different choice and wondering if we should’ve,” McBryde shares. “It’s about the leaps of faith that you do or don’t take, and having to learn to live with those consequences either way.”