Artist to Watch: Ashley Monroe
Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee
Backstory: Monroe released an EP with singer-songwriter Trent Dabbs in 2008, and sang background vocals on the rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson’s 2011 album The Party Ain’t Over (produced by Jack White). That same year, she went on to form the band Pistol Annies with Miranda Lambert
Country Pedigree: Monroe is a “not-so-distant” relative of the legendary Carter Family.
No-Fuss Recording Style: “We just got the band in a circle and started playing the songs,” Ashley said in a statement about the Vince-Gill produced Like a Rose. “And once we felt like we had a feel for it, I’d do my vocal live—I never went back in to do a second vocal. Everyone put everything we had into the songs. There was a buzz in the room. We all had fun—it felt like a big old family, the way records used to be made.”
A Bed of Roses: Monroe doesn’t shy away from the seamier side of life on Like a Rose. “You Got Me” is a song about addiction in various forms. “Two Weeks Late” and “Morning After” both allude to the consequences of a “too-good time” and “Weed Instead of Roses” says it all in the title.