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Ashley Monroe, "Sparrow" era

Farawayhills

Farawayhills

Well-known member
This is the track list, with a strong and varied group of co-writers:

1. "Orphan" (Ashley Monroe, Gordie Sampson, Paul Moak)
2. "Hard on a Heart" (Ashley Monroe, Blu Sanders, Paul Moak)
3. "Hands on You" (Ashley Monroe, Jon Randall)
4. "Mother's Daughter" (Ashley Monroe, Brendan Benson, Ryan Beaver)
5. "Rita" (Ashley Monroe, Nicole Galyon, Paul Moak)
6. "Wild Love" (Ashley Monroe, Waylon Payne, Brendan Benson)
7. "This Heaven" (Anderson East, Ashley Monroe, Aaron Raitiere)
8. "I'm Trying To" (Ashley Monroe, Kassi Ashton, Jon Randall)
9. "She Wakes Me Up (Rescue Me)" (Ashley Monroe, Waylon Payne, Paul Moak)
10. "Paying Attention" (Ashley Monroe, Waylon Payne, Brendan Benson)
11. "Daddy I Told You" (Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley, Josh O'Keefe)
12. "Keys to the Kingdom" (Ashley Monroe, Waylon Payne)

It explores new sonic ground for Ashley, with a lusher, string based backing. Her sweet voice, combining a trembling quality with an edgy gritiness, always strikes a chord with me - and she uses it here to convey the blending of vulnerability with the resignation to learn from experience, and the determination not to be crushed. The themes lay bare family memories, some of which she's also referenced in earlier work, and the album gives a sense of drawing on a past to build a complex present which shows a willingness to move on.

The whole album can be heard on NPR's First Listen

https://www.npr.org/2018/04/12/601100251/first-listen-ashley-monroe-sparrow
 
lizcarlo

lizcarlo

Well-known member
2018 is great year in music. Carrie, Ashley, Lindi and Kacey all released/releasing music. Thanks for posting!.. Love her as artist. I'm so excited for her new cd especially after listening to all the songs.
 
DazzledByCarrie

DazzledByCarrie

Active member
I cannot wait! Ashley is one of my favorites. I remember loving her Satisfied and I Dont Want To from when she was first breaking into the country scene. Then I got The Blade when it came out and absolutely fell in love with it. I've since gone back and gotten to know Like A Rose and the (officially unreleased) Satisfied album and they are all just so good. I'm a bit nervous and this new sonic direction she is going, as countrypolitan is not a sub-genre I'm terribly familiar with, but excited to see where it goes nonetheless.
 
Farawayhills

Farawayhills

Well-known member
"Countrypolitan" was a development of the classic Nashville Sound (and therefore stylistically allied with what Carrie usually refers to as "Contemporary Country"). The main differences are probably that "Countrypolitan" makes more use of smooth string arrangements and melodic keyboard arrangements - and that "Countrypolitan" artists very often made conscious efforts to "crossover" into the General Music formats.

This was probably one of the last major label attempts to use the "Countrypolitan" style with a leading format artist, released just before Carrie and Miranda became prominent with a female "new wave" style


The main later differences are that Carrie and Miranda spearheaded a move to draw more on Rock influences, rather than lush mainstream Pop; made more conscious efforts to incorporate classic Country references from periods before "Countrypolitan"; and generally made clear that their allegiance was to Country, avoiding most deliberate attempts at cross-genre promotion.

I would say that the new albums by both Ashley and Kacey do make "Countrypolitan" references in their backing (and Kacey, in particular, probably won't object to all-genre promotion) - but these artists will retain an Alternative leaning, which will probably limit their appeal to Music Row and the mass radio format. I would think their approach could be compared to that of Alison Krauss - a mixture of Roots and General Music influence, which can win plenty of critical approval, but won't primarily be focused on mass singles markets..
 
Farawayhills

Farawayhills

Well-known member
Ashley's made some interesting comments in an article on "The Boot" (Townsquare's Country Music web portal)
Ashley Monroe 'Bawled' Watching Miranda Lambert at the ACMs

Besides saying some nice things about Miranda (they've been close friends for 14 years, since they were signed together in John Grady's reign at Sony Nashville), Ashley also gives a hint on further progress of the new Pistol Annies album - besides the bout of writing we've heard about, she says they're going into the studio soon, in preparation for a hopeful release later this year.

Ashley also mentions how they're cheered whenever they appear - and that is certainly the case (The fans go wild when they come out on Miranda's tours, as they've been doing recently, and that is probably because the band represents some of the qualities many of her fans love about Miranda - the female camaraderie, the sharp satire, the implied snub to Mainstream conventions.) But what Ashley doesn't mention is what some of us find rather disappointing in the relative failure of some (not all) of those fans to carry support for the others into their solo work, when they're not appearing with Miranda. This is clearly not at the same level, and, while Ashley does at least get a significant amount of media attention at home, Angaleena seemingly has to go to England to get award nominations, benefiting from the more Roots tastes prevailing in sections of the Country market here. That's why I'm delighted that a new album is coming - they need the trio to get the notice they each deserve in a large fan base.

Finally, Ashley has a significant riposte to the "style wars" that sometimes plague this format, which I think is worth quoting:

Monroe says she's excited about the direction in which country music is headed, but that she likes to think of it as a broad format with room for a wide variety of artistic styles.
"I do get excited about the future of country, and I also think sometimes people can get nitpicky about genre," she explains. "I honestly don't care. If a song moves me, I don't care what it is. You know, I've got people and peers and heroes from a lot of different genres, but the thing we have in common is that we all love music, and that's what keeps us going."
 
lizcarlo

lizcarlo

Well-known member
Farawayhills said:
Ashley's made some interesting comments in an article on "The Boot" (Townsquare's Country Music web portal)
Ashley Monroe 'Bawled' Watching Miranda Lambert at the ACMs

Besides saying some nice things about Miranda (they've been close friends for 14 years, since they were signed together in John Grady's reign at Sony Nashville), Ashley also gives a hint on further progress of the new Pistol Annies album - besides the bout of writing we've heard about, she says they're going into the studio soon, in preparation for a hopeful release later this year.

Ashley also mentions how they're cheered whenever they appear - and that is certainly the case (The fans go wild when they come out on Miranda's tours, as they've been doing recently, and that is probably because the band represents some of the qualities many of her fans love about Miranda - the female camaraderie, the sharp satire, the implied snub to Mainstream conventions.) But what Ashley doesn't mention is what some of us find rather disappointing in the relative failure of some (not all) of those fans to carry support for the others into their solo work, when they're not appearing with Miranda. This is clearly not at the same level, and, while Ashley does at least get a significant amount of media attention at home, Angaleena seemingly has to go to England to get award nominations, benefiting from the more Roots tastes prevailing in sections of the Country market here. That's why I'm delighted that a new album is coming - they need the trio to get the notice they each deserve in a large fan base.

Finally, Ashley has a significant riposte to the "style wars" that sometimes plague this format, which I think is worth quoting:

Monroe says she's excited about the direction in which country music is headed, but that she likes to think of it as a broad format with room for a wide variety of artistic styles.
"I do get excited about the future of country, and I also think sometimes people can get nitpicky about genre," she explains. "I honestly don't care. If a song moves me, I don't care what it is. You know, I've got people and peers and heroes from a lot of different genres, but the thing we have in common is that we all love music, and that's what keeps us going."
Click to expand...

All three of them are so talented as individuals. Pistol Annie's is why I like their music so much as individuals (I mean Angaleena and Ashley. I have been fan of Miranda since the beginning). I had to look them up after seeing how they write the songs together. Liked their voices. After checking out their solo music I become such fan. I do wish Miranda could get more support at radio and Ashley more support in mainstream in general. Its sad how Angaleena doesn't get any attention well not in USA anyway. She is very talented as well. Her music is so good. She is so good live.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRDsON7CBwA
 
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