Ashley McBryde released her fourth studio album The Devil I Know last September. The album saw the Arkansas native sharing stories from her life on the road an nuggets of wisdom she picked up along the way. It quickly became a hit among fans and critics alike, landing on several best-of lists at the end of the year. More than anything, it was her way of pushing back against her critics.
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Recently, McBryde appeared on Good Morning America to perform a couple of tracks from the album. While there, she discussed the spirit of the album and its title track. She also talked about how the album’s cover aligned with its content. Watch her perform “The Devil I Know” below.
Ashley McBryde on “The Devil I Know”
Before playing the song, Ashley McBryde revealed that it was her way of answering her critics. “I think it doesn’t matter what you do for a living, there’s somebody somewhere thinking they know how to tell you how to do it better than you do. It takes us a long time to learn that,” she explained.
In press materials discussing the album, McBryde laid out the concept. About critics who said she was too country, too rock, or too vulnerable, she said, “We listened to all those [critics’] opinions and said, ‘I hear you. I understand what you’re saying.’ But sadly, there’s no room on the record for your opinion. We’ll do what we want.”
Good Morning America host Michael Strahan pointed out that the cover of The Devil I Know features five different versions of McBryde and asked if it represented the different aspects of her personality. “We really didn’t set out to do it that way. But, when we realized that was one of the images we had, we realized that the whole process of making this record was we all have different aspects of ourselves. Some we love to embrace, some we do not love to embrace,” she explained. “So, this whole process has been not really coming to terms with it but learning how to fall in love with those aspects,” she added.
Featured Image by AFF-USA/Shutterstock
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