Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose POLL

I love how easily Ashley can turn on a dime from such broad country performances to absolute unshaded vulnerability. What strikes me about her is her simultaneous range and control, every performance feels utterly suited to the song it inhabits.

i think i've been playing this a lot (too much?) lately, i just heard my 3 yr old muttering "she's a little fuller/you're a lot shorter" while playing with his train set.

The title track for me by hair over You Got Me. Both are spectacular.

Gave some support to "Two Weeks Late," but the duet with Shelton is the only track on the album that I don't care for.

Overall, I prefer Like a Rose to 12 Stories, but not by a huge margin-- both were in my top 5 on my Nashville Scene ballot last year. I love what Monroe does with narrative voice and how she's built a singular POV as an artist, whereas I generally prefer Clark's economic use of language and her singing
voice.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

My pick won!

Great! That's my favourite as well.

http://uverse.com/music/artist/ashley-monroe-country-deep?play=genex-drm___GX_CD2886_ASSET

new song!

Old song, but great song. Saw her perform it on the Ten Out of Tenn tour in 2010 (?), and she blew everyone else off the stage.

how she sings the lines...

I know I'm not some bright and shiny
Polished up
Car that's sparkling new
Right off the salesroom floor

...is just next level, idk.

but really, that whole song

I love the new single, co-written with Luke Laird. It's a better "Lotta Love."

http://tasteofcountry.com/ashley-monroe-on-to-something-good/

yeah thumbs up for this!

bit obsessed with this now actually, what a brilliant song

"the winding of the road is steadying my soul" <3

That line stood out, more so with that quasi-disco backing.

it gives me the kind of rush that i don't get from eg the new carly rae

that's very nice. I like hearing a song as upbeat as this from a woman; feels like taking something good from bro-country without conceding its topical vices. Vince Gill is producing the record too!

she's on to something good, you might say

This is great! Love Ashley so much.

Vince Gill is producing the record too!

! Hope he plays on it! Vince Gill underrated/overlooked/not cool but usually great.

not Ashley related but Vince Gill's performance at George Jones' funeral is devastating

This Ashley Monroe interview is from a couple of years ago, but i don't see it posted anywhere. It's utterly fantastic and gives a great insight into her lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G05f5nsvh7k

only just caught up with the two new pre-release songs and holy shit this album (THE BLADE) is going to be good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFD-YevcEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HO86LNKx7c

24 july!

Re "The Blade" – now here's a way to invigorate a tired metaphor with an unexpected spin (unlike, say, most of the Musgraves album).

great album title, right? and even better when you hear the metaphor

"i buried your love alive" - never thought ashley would be interested in the gothic side of country but here we are and it's excellent

new album streaming. it's MAGNIFICENT

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/15/422555795/first-listen-ashley-monroe-the-blade

"dixie" is especially whoa

"If Love Was Fair" is my jam. Sounds like early eighties Fleetwood Mac.

Yeah this is v good. Better than the first probably.

sounds good so far, little sleepy

It's not better -- this one has two duds.

going to try to figure out which

yeah i heard no outright duds, "mayflowers" might be a bit inessential (or maybe i'm just skipping it bc i'm itching to get to "i'm good at leavin")

(i love how it starts and ends with ashley leaving, and in between are mostly the reasons why)

"From Time to Time" and "Bombshell" are the duds imo.

I knew w/out looking at the credits that Lambert had a hand in writing "I'm Good at Leavin'."

"Bombshell" are the duds imo.

the goddamn hell

and the chorus melody of "from time to time" is gorgeous

I'm going to wait to hear this until I have the record in my hand. The only new records I ever buy these days are women country singers. Was Bandy Clark's 12 Stories released on record? I wish that Angaleena Presley's 'American Middle Class' had been released on record.

i hope the vinyl is a decent pressing. i'll probably buy this on CD first, though. 'like a rose' has yet to leave heavy rotation in my car cd player.

the two pistol annies albums are both on vinyl. i should buy those.

"From Time to Time" and "Bombshell" are the duds imo.

no no NO these are not duds!

yes yes yes!

They are so not duds---"Bombshell" is where she shifts from an initial impression of a tendency to stasis---where you get it all, and maybe get hooked, in the first verse and chorus, then stick around, to increasingly, if vaguely, diminishing returns, as the mind starts to wander---shifts to a more dynamic, moody yet sufficiently gravitational speculation: drop it on him now? How, "It's never a good time for a bombshell," but she's still checking her options...haven't heard a song about this situation, so in that respect, as well as the actual sound, I make a mental note for my future mix, The Great Lost Pistol Annies Album.
"From Time To Time" (like several on here)might be another one for the same destination, although in this case, the multiple Monroes have more of a post-Beatles/Fleetwood Mac/Dixie Chickc/Courtyard Hounds/multiple solo Maines/Mona Lisa: real friendly and slightly exotic (which is a friendly warning not to take friendliness for granted).
Despite her turning the pages in the stylebook--without trying to hide it---this set is more emotionally and/or sensually involving than Like A Rose.
Her debut, Satisfied, is also engaging---it's uneven, but the best tracks, written when she was a teen and maybe even a tween, are adolescent adventures in the best sense.

Stasis creeps back in on "If The Devil Don't Want Me," maybe some of the other second-half tracks too, but they (and the better ones nearby) are still strong enough to keep me hangin' around, if not on.

"bombshell" is a great concept executed really well, dow nails it. and it fits in really well with the overarching themes.

"from time to time" i find really powerful, as much for what's not in the song (that i've heard yet) as what's in it...there are secrets and darknesses beneath its tenderness. and as brad says it's just a straight-up gorgeous melody.

Despite her turning the pages in the stylebook--without trying to hide it---this set is more emotionally and/or sensually involving than Like A Rose.

agree with this too; it builds on like a rose so well, takes its strengths and fleshes them out, pushes them in multiple unexpected directions

And again, with the Pistol Annies-associated knack for fresh topics: considering that your love was (def past tense) "heaven," then, if the devil don't want her, where can she go? Purgatory? Celibacy? Just everyday numbnuts office bus station cafeteria reality? It's a good question, long as she can keep asking it, and putting off the answers.

http://www.spin.com/2015/07/review-ashley-monroe-the-blade/

first time through i thought it could've used a couple more tricks in the second half, but it was still lovely to hear

New album sounds great. Maybe not as good as last year's Lee Ann Womack, but still great, a nice balance of '70s tropes and more contemporary ideas, and it's nice to hear such active string arrangements.

going to see her tonight in a 160 capacity venue here in Los Angeles. pretty excited!

As well you should. We order you to report back.

Reporting back — she is phenomenally good live, and if anything her voice is even more impressive in person.

She played almost entirely songs from her new album, except for a completely perfect “Weed Instead of Roses” and a cover of “Too Much Heaven” by The Bee Gees segueing into her own song “This Heaven.” We were about twenty feet from the stage. She only played an hour since they double booked the main stage, but it was a perfect show. She played with a full band, completely confident and assured and extremely funny and charming. I feel pretty fortunate to have seen her in that setting!

i was there too and i can confirm all of that. one of my friends who was not familiar with her complained that she opened with an upbeat song ("hands on you"), closed with the upbeat "weeds instead of roses," and was decidedly not upbeat in between. i thought she was on fire all the way through, but i do get the complaint. but i loved.

Oh right on, cuz. I was near the back left hanging out. She was definitely on fire, and i gotta say that show made me wish more country artists would take a flyer and play a random small club date in L.A. like that.

I could see her throwing a couple more barnburners in there like Monroe Suede but it’s all good.

'For your consideration' bump

Apparently she's left Warner Nashville.

New album's out today and solid -- drum machines!

starting my second time through and i was really resistant to it until I got to Drive and found the whole back end engaging and now the front end is growing on me. I may need to roll with it a few times, which is hard with the new Dawn Richard out... but I'm trying!

if you only heard the instrumentals you would never guess this was the new ashley monroe album. I like it a lot so far.

first track i was like “this is a great follow up to last year’s vanessa carlton record”

Yeah, its defining quality is that it doesn't sound like Ashley Monroe so that's part of what I'm coming to terms with.

Fave track thus far - and a good representation of her new style - is probably 'Groove'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do_An3ovR5A

“silk” is the most beautiful song

'Gold' and 'See' and 'The New Me' are sort of the epitomes of what i don't like about this shift but I need to be more patient with not letting the few clunkers put me off the enjoyable tracks

what’s wrong with “see”

feels aimless and weightless and somnambulent

that chorus is from heaven tho

she sounds heavenly everywhere tho

btw, this came out last week and is on heavy rotation at chez forks. as good or better than anything on the album imo but has gotten zero attention
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT8DKJHniSI

"Gold" is actually the lamest song -- the chorus just...sits there.

I totally missed the news that she had been diagnosed with NHL a few years back, but it sounds like she us since made a full recovery and this implies (without ever quite confirming) that a new album is on the way:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/ashley-monroe-her-musical-fresh-171500939.html

I also missed the single from late last year “Over Everything” which (a) suggests a partial-but-not-total return to country; and (b) is lovely.

I found Rosegold a bit too deliberate in its shift at times; this feels a bit more comfortable while still occupying a pretty gauzy, atmospheric space.

Oh wow, didn't know that stuff either. Glad she's on the mend

https://x.com/ashleymonroe/status/1770813962164019203?s=20

New album coming in August. Looks promising.

I like the new album although sometimes her lyrics are just too cliche. But I love the moodiness of a lot of this.

Fuck, I forgot

Wow it's so long! Gave it a listen...had its moments but didn't really hang together as a whole. There's more than a bit of gospel/spirituality on this record, perhaps a result of her battle with lymphoma.

Big fan of originals "Risen Road" and "Amen Love." Of the covers, "Blown Away" and "That's No Way to Say Goodbye" were most successful for me. I like the Vince Gill co-write "My Favorite Movie," too.

New mini-album Dear Nashville out today, and on first listen it is rather what you would expect from that title, doubling down on the dreamy bits of Tennessee Lightning, slide guitar sliding into the ether. The mostly spoken-word "What Are We?" is a surprise.