In 2019, Ashley McBryde had her first Top 20 hit, with “Girl Goin’ Nowhere”. The song, written by McBryde and Jeremy Bussey, is the title track of McBryde’s debut record.
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McBryde debuted the song at the Grand Ole Opry in 2017, revealing that she wrote “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” while dreaming of performing at the Opry. She also shared the heartbreaking moment that inspired her to write “Girl Goin’ Nowhere”.
“I was in high school, and somebody asked me… it was a teacher of mine… asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up,” McBryde recalls from the Opry stage. “The first point of business is, don’t grow up. And I said, ‘I want to move to Nashville, and write songs, and sing them.’ And she said, ‘That’s stupid. That’ll never happen. … You’d better have a really good backup plan.’”
McBryde then launched into “Girl Goin’ Nowhere”, earning a standing ovation. Five years after performing “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” at the Opry, she became an official member.
The Message in “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” by Ashley McBryde
“Girl Goin’ Nowhere” says, “I get these calls, out on the road / Heard your song on my radio / We always said you’d make it big / And I tell all my friends, I knew you back when / So don’t forget all us little folks / And when you crash and burn / Remember we told you so / And then the lights come up / And I hear the band / And where they said I’d never be is exactly where I am / I hear the crowd / I look around / And I can’t find one empty chair / Not bad for a girl goin’ nowhere.”
McBryde used her teacher’s careless words to write one of her signature songs. She reveals the teacher’s response to the emotional tune.
“That teacher emailed my mom and told her that she was my biggest fan,” McBryde tells The Boot. “And, ‘Oh, we’re behind Ashley 100 percent. We wish her all the best for achieving her hopes and dreams.’ And really, that’s helped more than anything else has. It’s hilarious. There’s no better example of a fair-weather friend than this woman. But I will say that she has never apologized for saying that my dreams were dumb and that I wouldn’t ever amount to anything.”
An emotional song, McBryde penned “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” in 2016. It was written on the day her songwriting and musical hero, Guy Clark, passed away. When she and Bussey wrote the tune, she had yet to be invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
“[Bussey] said, ‘Well, then all we have to do today is write what you want to say the first time you play the Opry,” she remembers. “And we have to write it in such a way that Guy Clark wouldn’t be upset if he had to listen to it.’”
Photo by: Janice Yi/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
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