Ashley McBryde chatted with Billboard on the red carpet of the 2023 CMA Awards.
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00:00 We are here with Ashley McBride.
00:01 How's it going so far?
00:02 Good, good.
00:03 Nerves are fully set in.
00:04 We're good.
00:05 Great, we love that.
00:06 You were just saying, so last night, everyone is complimenting your performance last night.
00:09 You were saying that, you know, there's only one other time you've been as nervous.
00:13 Yes, there's only one other song I've been as nervous to tackle, and it was a Marty Stewart
00:18 song, but last night it was "Wrong Side of Memphis."
00:21 And how were the nerves then?
00:22 You managed to conquer them.
00:24 It was okay.
00:25 Yeah, after the performance I felt a little better, and now I only have to be nervous
00:27 about performing my song.
00:28 There you go.
00:29 Much better.
00:30 Yeah.
00:31 So I want to talk about "The Devil I Know."
00:33 Yes.
00:34 Beautiful album.
00:35 I love the album art.
00:36 Tell me about the inspiration for that, and also how you shot it, because it's a lot of
00:40 you.
00:41 And what was interesting was I was trying to get a shot of the full band in that cool
00:45 space, and while we were doing that, we were also shooting several different looks of me
00:49 throughout the day.
00:50 But as we went, the photographer, Katie Koss, said, "You know what?
00:53 Let's put you in each position where there is going to be a band member.
00:57 I'd love to have each look just for us to look back on."
01:00 And then when we got done and we go to picking selects, and she's like, "Oh, here's the one
01:05 of you doing all the things."
01:06 And I was like, "I love it.
01:08 I think that's the cover."
01:10 It's really striking.
01:11 Do you feel like when you look at it, it's like, "Yep, that was me then.
01:15 That was me."
01:16 It's like versions of you that make up the you today?
01:18 Absolutely.
01:19 Especially when it comes to a title like "The Devil I Know," when there's the glam version
01:22 of you, and then there's the Blackout Betty version of you sitting there balancing a shot
01:27 glass on her face.
01:28 I remember being that.
01:29 I remember being the other me, kind of looking over there in the corner going, "I don't know
01:33 what she's up to."
01:34 It was wonderful.
01:35 It was wonderful to capture so much personality in one shot.
01:38 And now, how does it feel to not be Blackout Betty?
01:42 What has that done for you creatively?
01:44 You're just standing here in sort of a power pose, like I said, and I just feel like I
01:47 see it on your face, this happiness and this confidence.
01:51 But in your own words, how does it feel?
01:54 I was worried about stopping drinking and what it can do to your reputation and all
02:01 of that, because it was such a big part of my identity.
02:04 And I thought, "What's going to happen to songwriting?
02:06 What if I can't write as good?"
02:08 Turns out, I had it backwards.
02:11 And everything has just been, "What if my skin feels better?
02:13 I sleep better.
02:14 I sing better.
02:15 I make lots of better choices."
02:18 And I still do many, many of the things I used to do.
02:20 I still go to bars and I still drink.
02:22 The only thing different is what's in the cup.
02:24 There you go.
02:25 I think that's such a misconception, is like, "Ugh, we're never going to see them again."
02:29 It's like, "No."
02:30 Yeah, I know.
02:31 I didn't just suddenly take up only knitting or something like that.
02:33 Plus, knitting, I'm sure, is fun.
02:34 I still do all the things.
02:35 You can ask Jelly Roll, being on tour with him.
02:37 He said, "You're still the same homie.
02:38 You just don't drink the same thing everybody else drinks."
02:41 Right.
02:42 Yeah.
02:43 Jelly Roll is right next to us.
02:44 He may come by.
02:45 Do you have a favorite memory with that man?
02:47 I know you guys are such good friends.
02:49 Working together for the first time.
02:51 And we sat there and talked for like two hours before we ever wrote a single word down.
02:55 And it just felt like, you ever meet somebody and instead of getting to know them, it's
02:59 like remembering that you know them?
03:01 That kind of sounds weird.
03:02 But yeah, it was sort of like we'd always been friends and we finally got to realize
03:06 that.
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