Making her major label debut with 2023’s Shot in the Dark, Ashley Cooke has wasted no time leaving her mark on country music. The 28-year-old Florida native has performed with artists like Jelly Roll and Nate Smith. She also recently released the Joe Jonas collab “All I Forgot.” Two years before she would headline her own tour, Ashley Cooke joined country superstar Luke Bryan for his 2023 Country On Tour. Recently, the “Your Place” singer opened up about the gift she received from Bryan when their time on the road came to an end.
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Ashley Cooke: “This is Such a Luke Bryan Story”
It takes so much more than a headlining artist to put on a successful tour. The opening artists are every bit as important, helping “warm up” the crowd and setting the mood for a night of country music. It’s customary for the headlining artist to offer a token of their appreciation after the tour ends. And Ashley Cooke says the “funniest” end-of-tour gift she has ever received came from Luke Bryan.
“If you know Luke Bryan, this is such a Luke Bryan story,” she told Taste of Country Nights.
When Country On Tour, which also featured guest artists like Chayce Beckham and Hailey Whitters, came to an end in October 2023, Bryan’s tour manager invited Cooke onto the “Play It Again” crooner’s bus.
“So we all were hanging out and he walked up there and he was like, ‘Thanks for being on the road with me, Ash, love ya,’ and I was like, ‘Love ya, too,’” she explained. “And he just hands me an envelope, and I’m like, ‘What is this?’”
With the five-time Entertainer of the Year standing there expectantly, Cooke tore open the envelope to find “a wad of cash.”
“He goes, ‘Don’t spend it all in one place,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, thanks Luke, love ya, see ya later,’” the “Never ‘Til Now” singer recalled.
She found herself saying out loud, “This is the iconic end-of-tour gift, just a big old wad of cash.’”
Featured image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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