A conversation with singer-songwriter Ashley Monroe
by Bill DeVille
September 30, 2018
While in Nashville just a couple weeks ago, Bill DeVille met singer-songwriter Ashley Monroe at Black River Entertainment for a conversation about Monroe's latest album, Sparrow.
Monroe is an in-demand Nashville artist. Beyond her own work as a singer-songwriter, Monroe is a member of the Pistol Annies, and she has also collaborated with artists such as Blake Shelton, Ricky Skaggs, and is part of Jack White's Third Man House Band.
Sparrow is Monroe's fourth full-length solo release, and it was recorded at RCA Studio A in Nashville with producer Dave Cobb.
Use the audio player above to listen to Monroe's conversation with Bill DeVille, and read highlights below.
Interview Highlights
On working with producer Dave Cobb
"Dave loves music so much, and he really does get it. Like he gets the feeling that a song gives, he understands that. So I think he's really good at capturing that in the artist, but he really allows space to let the artist be. … I think it's great because he really lets it be what it really is by letting you be you, in a way."
On recording her album, Sparrow, inside RCA Studio A in Nashville
"Every day when I went in there, I would just kind of get a shiver down my spine. It's like the ghosts of all the amazing records that were made there. And that room was built for recording strings, [and] it sounded like it. There was a point where the rumble was so deep in that room, I was like, 'This is kind of scary.' But it was really magical, it was."
On the perception the songs on Sparrow are "more sexy" than her other work
"Yeah, it's definitely more sexy. There were two on this record, 'Wild Love' and 'Hands On You,' which was interesting, Angaleena Presley, my Pistol Annies bandmate, pointed out I was trying to get pregnant at the time I was writing all these songs, so I guess I was in the mood, a sensual mood. But I also feel, myself, way more sexy and sensual and confident after gaining 60 pounds and having a baby, it's such an unsexy thing, but it just gave me kind of a confidence boost — I don't know how to explain it — and kind of put everything in perspective. Actually a lot of the new songs I've written, too, are very sensual."
On Pistol Annies' forthcoming album, Interstate Gospel, releasing Nov. 2
"I can't even tell you how powerful I think this record is."
External Links
Ashley Monroe - official site
Pistol Annies - official site
