Ashton Shepherd Stays Traditional With Out Of My Pocket

Artist: Ashton Shepherd
Album: Out Of My Pocket
Label: Pickin' Shed Records
Release date: April 2016

Ashton Shepherd is independently releasing a brand new album entitled Out of My Pocket. Currently available as a pre-order through her website and a brand new phone app, it will be released as a digital download and physical copy in the coming weeks.

Her distinctive sound comes from her family farm in the tiny hamlet of Leroy, Alabama. More specifically, it comes from a backyard cabin called The Pickin' Shed. That's where this young wife and mother crafts her extraordinarily insightful country songs.

Unlike many country singers, who leave their small towns to create a new life under Nashville's bright lights, Ashton has chosen to remain in her home state among the people whom she has always known, continuing to write songs about everyday experiences in a simple yet powerful way.

Track listing:
1. Glass and Nails
2. Can't Tell You No
3. I Just Need A Minute
4. I Don't Miss You More Than I Like Being Single
5. With Us Tellin The Truth
6. This Rainy Sunday
7. Take It Back Real Slow
8. I Don't Know Why
9. Baby Doll
10. Come Here To Me
11. Don't Wake Me Up
12. It's You

Ashton Shepherd To Release This Is America On 8/16

Ashton Shepherd is back in the spotlight with the release of her brand new album, This Is America, on August 16. The new release will mark her first studio album in two years. This album is produced by Ronnie Rodgers and Larry Baird (Dolly Parton, Billy Dean), and includes 9 of the 10 songs Ashton wrote or co-wrote. The latest project also features the current patriotic single "This Is America."

“I’m so excited for everyone to hear this album,” smiles Ashton. “There’s even a special surprise duet with Daryl Singletary, and a surprise hidden track that I can’t wait for ya’ll to hear. It’s been awhile and I can’t thank my fans enough for all the support they have shown and for country radio and critics to welcome be back with open arms. I’m looking forward to getting back out on the road and seeing ya’ll real soon.”

Nominee for the 2011 American Country Award for Female Music Video and 2009 Academy of Country Music Award Top New Female Vocalist, this southern belle was born and raised in the small Alabama town of Coffeeville. Growing up listening and singing along with greats such as Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless and Shania Twain, Ashton’s passion for music grew stronger. In 2008, her debut album Sounds So Good produced two Top 40 hits "Takin’ Off This Pain" and the title track "Sounds So Good." Her second album, Where Country Grows, includes the Top 20 hit "Look It Up."

Ashton Shepherd Dropped by MCA Nashville, JaneDear Girls Split

Following in Lee Ann Womack's footsteps, it appears that Ashton Shepherd is off the artist roster of MCA Nashville after two albums, 2008’s Sounds So Good and 2011's Where Country Grows. According to an industry pitch sheet, she is "looking for songs for a new album, to be produced by Mike McGuire, drummer for the country band Shenandoah" and an album is “to be announced.”

Also making news is the apparent breakup of Warner Music Nashville duo the JaneDear Girls. They were expected to headline the Dogwood Festival, but were recently replaced by Steel Magnolia. Susie Brown is reportedly working on a solo album with industry veteran James Stroud at the helm. The JaneDear Girls, which also included Danelle Leverett, recorded one album for the label, which was released last year and spawned the top 15 hit “Wildflower.”

Country Music News Round-Up- Sonia Leigh, Ashton Shepherd & Cactus Brothers

• I did an interview with singer/songwriter Sonia Leigh over at Engine 145. If you’re not familiar with her yet, she’s a brand new country artist on Zac Brown’s Southern Ground music label whose voice is the second coming of Janis Joplin. Check it out HERE.
• Paul Kirby of the alt-country music band The Cactus Brothers passed away at the age of 48. The Cactus Brothers toured nationally and internationally, released two well-received albums and appeared in the George Strait movie vehicle Pure Country.
• “Country” Johnny Mathis, a recording artist and songwriter whose compositions were recorded by notables including George Jones, George Hamilton IV, Ray Price and Charley Pride, died Tuesday on the eve of his 81st birthday of complications from pneumonia.
• To be bluegrass or not to be bluegrass, that is the question. Infamous Stringduster Chris Pandolfi delivered yesterday’s keynote address at IBMA World of Bluegrass. To him, bluegrass fans must agree to disagree on the question of what constitutes bluegrass. David Morris of Bluegrass Today shared details on the event.
• Ashton Shepherd has a brand new music video for “Where Country Grows.” 

Country Music News Round-Up- Free Music From People Magazine & Six More New Music Videos

* People Magazine is doing their annual summer country music edition and accompanying this month's issue is a complimentary download of their People.com Country Playlist. Just visit Peoplecmg.com/countryplaylist for the download code and enjoy free music! Here's the playlist- the last track by Sarah Darling (with Vince Gill) is spectacular if you don't have it already.

Reba McEntire - When Love Gets a Hold of You
Little Big Town - Shut Up Train
Ashton Shepherd - Where Country Grows
Frankie Ballard - A Buncha Girls
Carter's Chord - A Little Less Comfortable
Sarah Darling - Bad Habit

* That Nashville Sound has already provided links or blog posts of a whopping 15 videos already this week. And that's just since Monday. But the hits just keep coming. If CMT put all these videos into their rotation, they'd never play a new video until December. Click the song title after the artist's name to watch these six new videos listed.

* Matt Natheson (with Sugarland and Little Big Town)- "Room At The End Of The World"
* Justin Townes Earle- " Slippin' and Slidin'"
* James Wesley- " Didn't I"
* JaneDear Girls- "Shotgun Girl"
* Brother Trouble- "Summer's Little Angel"
* Margaret Durante- "Maybe Tonight"

* Multiple artists including Gary Allan and Little Big Town are in Nashville this week at the 2nd Annual ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp, a week-long residential program open to campers nationwide with developmental disabilities. The camp has a dual purpose of studying Williams syndrome and other developmental disabilities and providing music enrichment through performance and education. With the camper's help, Allan wrote a song called "Harmony" along with songwriters Brett James and Odie Blackmon. He'll be performing the song with Darius Rucker this weekend at the Grand Ole Opry. Catch a cool little video of Allan at the camp and a snippet of the song in the video embedded down a little bit on this article HERE.

* Frequent Zac Brown collaborator will be releasing his first solo album on Brown's Southern Ground Artists record label. I Confess I Was A Fool will be available on all digital platforms on July 26, 2011. From the press release:

Levi Lowrey breaks out as a singer/songwriter with the release of his debut album, I Confess I Was A Fool on Southern Ground Artists, Inc. It may be tough to label, but it's bound to resonate with anyone who loves top-notch songwriting and keen musicianship. The album includes a memorable, story-telling nod to Charlie Daniels ("All American"), an upbeat country rocker ("The Problem With Freedom") and plenty of more laid-back, introspective moments, redolent of Lowrey's heroes Kris Kristofferson and Darrell Scott ("Freight Hopper" "Another Sunday Morning Hangover.") The lyrics ride the typically Southern Saturday night/Sunday morning dichotomy, with debauchery, foolishness, regret and confession in equal measure.

* In celebration of Independence Day and all the men and women who serve or have served in the military, Gloriana will release “Soldier Song,” from their forthcoming album as a free download for one week exclusively through Facebook. Today through Thursday, July 7th, fans can download “Soldier Song” by going to http://facebook.com/gloriana. The song, written by Tom and Mike Gossin and multi Grammy Award winning producer Matt Serletic, was inspired by the band’s experience during their trip overseas to perform for the troops stationed in the Middle East and Europe in November.

* Blake Shelton performed two songs on The Voice this week. Not only did he sing "Don't Drink The Water" with Brad Paisley, but he covered Tom Petty with Dia Frampton on "I Won't Back Down." You can watch that video below:

Ashton Shepherd Readies Where Country Grows For July Release

MCA Nashville singer/songwriter Ashton Shepherd will release her second album, Where Country Grows, on July 12. “Look It Up,” the album’s debut single and the first song she recorded for this project, has become the fastest-rising hit of her career and currently sits in the top 20 on the Billboard country singles chart.

Where Country Grows is the much-anticipated follow-up to her 2008 debut, Sounds So Good, and captures her impressive songwriting and singing evolution she’s made over the last few years. She wrote or co-wrote 8 of the 10 songs on the new album, which was produced by Buddy Cannon.

“I felt like I had a basic plan for this record,” she says. “You’ve got your first record behind you; you’ve learned some things. Your sophomore record – I heard from all these people – is supposed to be different. It’s supposed to be another factor and define you a little more. I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to do this?’”

One new approach was to spend time with several of Nashville’s prominent songwriters, including Dean Dillon, Dale Dodson, Bobby Pinson and Troy Jones, to see if these collaborations could inspire new sounds or themes. The strategy worked.

“I was just a little scared of it, since I’d never co-written before,” says Ashton. “Once I started, I really, really enjoyed it. I felt like we had plenty of songs to choose from. So the angle on this record was trying to define Ashton Shepherd in a different way, maybe dig just a little bit deeper and try and put some different kinds of songs on it.

“I was listening back to the record, thinking, ‘This has something for everybody on it.’ I think we’ve accomplished that,” says Ashton, who wrote by herself two of the album’s most powerful songs – “I’m Just a Woman” and “Rory’s Radio.”

The songs from Where Country Grows have already taken her live shows in an exciting new direction. “This record is more tempo-heavy. The first record was very country with all the ballads,” she says. “It made it kind of hard to do live shows, because you had 11 songs and six of them were ballads. Now, we’ve got a good little handful of spunky songs that I think people will really like to sing along with and enjoy on this record.”