Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose POLL

guess i could do w/o "daddy i told you" but otherwise

it is ridiculous how great she is

i'm gonna fall in love with all of these songs

This album is amazing.

Ashley's voice is so distinct and so completely defines her material. Like at times I get the sense that she could keep pushing in the country-soul direction and end up having some kind of Norah Jones-like crossover success if she wanted to, but then I wonder if her voice is almost too charged for that to happen.

I hate NPR streams, so I'm just getting to this now on Spotify. A pure delight!

can y'all imagine a Trio update with Monroe, Womack, and Lambert?

this is gorgeous & I will be listening again and again and again.

I was trying to think of how she could hit & ok, maybe a Norah Jones direction could work, but yes, her singing isn't smooth exactly, she cries, in that way she's like Tammy Wynette & Tammy never crossed over (except with the KLF, lol).

oh my god album of the year

― lowercase (eric), Thursday, April 12, 2018 8:16 AM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm stiffening a little -- some songs are rote ("Keys to the Kingdom") -- and to my ears the Womack album last year does elegantly wasted over more varied subject matter than this one. Still! A fine album.

i can sort of see that re "keys to the kingdom"? but also it'd be one of my favorites for the bass alone, and the way the drums form a sort of path of stones under her is so lovely

i think "paying attention" is my favorite but i've been listening to "mother's daughter" an inordinate amount

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