Best Definition of Country Music: (Tie) Brad Paisley, "This is Country Music"; Ashton Shepherd, "Where Country Grows"

We forget what a slippery concept country music can be. John Rich just made a reggaefied country album, and Music Row takes cues from Def Leppard. It's no wonder country acts feel the need to reaffirm their music's distinct identity. Brad Paisley took an anthemic approach with "This Is Country Music." His point? For its audience, country music bears the weight of reality. And Ashton Shepherd charmed with "Where Country Grows." Her down-to-earth imagery emphasized the groundedness of the music. JEWLY HIGHT

Leroy, AL, has a population of less than 1000 people but it’s where Shepherd feels most at home. “My life in Leroy is of course very different from the Nashville scene,” she says. “It’s very country and very laid back.”

“Being a country music star was very dream like; coming from such a rural area where everybody had their ideas of what they wanted to do when they grew up. I tried to learn what I should do and I was a little scared of having a record deal,” says the songwriter who began writing songs before she could even spell the words. A self-financed 3-song demo eventually fell into the hands of Universal Music chief Luke Lewis who offered her a recording contract.

“It’s still surreal when you hear her on the radio or see her on the Internet,” says Shepherd’s sister, Tara. “You can type her name in Google and there she is but to me she’s just sis.” Seems that her sister is not the only one that finds her sister’s success a bit surreal; Shepherd’s five-year-old son James humorously interprets his mom’s success in the special and is seen enjoying some down time with her as they pick mulberries and enjoy a cookout.

Viewers will be treated to family photos and videos that date back to Shepherd’s first talent contest at age eight and a half when she performed two Patsy Cline songs and received her first standing ovation.

Shepherd’s success is especially sweet because she’s sharing it with her family. “There’s a happiness that I don’t even know how to describe,” says her husband, Roland Cunningham. “You feel it for someone that started as an underdog and then you hear her on the radio and it’s like, ‘Yes!’ And she did it with a smile on her face.”

Shepherd has even more to smile about following the birth of her daughter, Raden Delilah, last week.

(Ashton Shepherd, son James, husband Roland Cunningham:)

Country Music's Gutsy, Modern Traditionalist

By BARRY MAZOR

Ashton Shepherd, at 25, is expecting her second child in September; the doctors say this one will be a girl. And she's just seen the release of her second album, "Where Country Grows," the follow-up to her much-praised 2009 debut, which earned the Leroy, Ala., singer-songwriter serious, heady comparisons to Loretta Lynn for her smarts, distinctive vocals and charming, undiluted down-home style. The early hit single harvested from this new album, "Look It Up," is a spirited kiss-off to a clueless, drunken cheater, so that comparison is unlikely to stop now.

It's another new Shepherd song, though, the pointed weight-of-the-world ballad "I'm Just a Woman," that most directly reveals her as a gutsy 21st-century traditionalist primed to respond to what's come before in country—in the form of a rejoinder to one of the most debated lyrics in "Stand By Your Man."

Zina Saunders

Ashton Shepherd

"I knew that would just be sweet," Ms. Shepherd noted, with the relish her generation can put into that word, during a phone conversation as her tour bus was leaving Lancaster, Pa., after a show. "As soon as I thought of the line 'I know that you're just a man,' I knew it had to be 'and after all, you're just a man,' tipping my hat to Tammy Wynette. Because my mind and my heart feel as strongly as they do for country music, sometimes that all just comes out. . . . I've always been aware of the music of Tammy Wynette and George Jones and Loretta; theirs are classic songs that should never die, whatever age you are."

At a time when new country acts are so regularly culled from prime-time talent contestants, the ranks of pop or film stars, or aspiring business majors, Ms. Shepherd's route to recognition has itself been more traditional—singing at county fairs, rodeos and local competitions; opening for John Conlee, Charlie Daniels and Ronnie Milsap by the age of 10, with an early repertoire heavy on Patsy Cline material learned from the record collection of her aunt, a beauty-shop operator. A self-made record at age 15 led to an invitation to make demos in Nashville, the trip financed by a loan from a neighborhood bank. She was soon signed as a writer and singer. She arrived on the scene with a love and knack for understated traditional country, despite coming of age in the era of Shania Twain and Garth Brooks pop theatricality.

"I was always a little behind my time," she notes, "because I had a couple of big brothers 10 and 12 years older than me, and they listened to older country music from George Jones and Keith Whitley. And when I was in school rawer country from Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless and Pam Tillis were still pretty present on the radio." (With the unmistakably greasy, R&B-influenced Deep South tinge to some of Ms. Shepherd's vocals, it will not be a surprise to learn that she's also spent time taking in the music of The Black Crowes, Etta James and Elvis Presley.)

The rural references in Ms. Shepherd's songs are unsurprising in the sense that she and husband Roland Cunningham routinely return home to Alabama and cows that need milking, but they're not the core content of many of today's pop country records. Neither is a native twang as rich as hers, and for today's radio that can sometimes be raised as an issue in itself.

"It has been," she admits. "There's so much politics and so much business that go into the music business, and sometimes I think that can water things down too much. I can't go into Nashville and make a record and not think about whether it's radio-friendly; doing that's just smart business. But you don't give up any of your music because of it. I definitely don't believe in sacrificing who you are, or how you want to sing—or anything like that. So I'm proud that I can go, 'You know, this really is my own sound, and these songs really don't sound like anybody else's.'"

It's pleasing to picture Ms. Shepherd at home on the porch with a guitar, writing her songs, solo, and many of her slow, personal ballads were born right there. But she's recently found Music Row style co-writing, working with such proven hit-making veterans as Dean Dillon and Bobby Pinson—an energizing alternative, especially for the faster songs on her record.

"I was a little leery of it, but it really ended up being pretty cool, and I've learned some things off of it. Bobby and I sat down, and I said I had some ideas, but I didn't need another ballad. Well, he's a genius for melody, and he starts humming this little ol' melody right there, and it's real kicky. I knew this was going to work out. And we sat there and wrote 'Where Country Grows' in about 45 minutes. I like things spontaneous, and first-time kinds of things, and that was the first song we ever wrote together, which makes it a little more sparkly."

If singing the national anthem at Alabama's Talladega Superspeedway was once an unimagined milestone of recognition for her, seeing songs she's written and co-written form the bulk of two major-label albums, appearing before tens of thousands during Nashville's CMA Music Festival this year, charting singles, and appearing on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" are more recent markers—the sort that can strain the very down-home connections that lurk behind Ms. Shepherd's music. She's aware of it, and is being careful.

"I think staying in Alabama, and the fact that we're still looking for the right land to buy and the right house to build, and the financial stability to do those things, will matter. Right now, we still live in a single-wide trailer."

Still, football-stadium appearances one day, tending 5-year-old son James back home the next has some potential for personal whiplash.

"We went into a restaurant after my baby doctor's appointment the other day, to eat at the buffet, and the ladies came out and said: 'Can we fix your peach cobbler for you, dear? We saw you on Jay Leno.' They want to do little extra things now. But it's so funny, because I looked awful, totally different than I did on TV. I do stay really real at home; I don't wear make-up when I go to Wal-Mart—though some think I should."

How does her life, growing up, and as a working mother today, affect how Ms. Shepherd's own music "grows"?

"You know, it just does, because at my core I'm the person that I am. I don't know if you would call where that's pulled from 'roots,' or if it's a family-oriented thing. I know it's God-driven, too; I've always felt a force there, and it all ties together pretty soundly. My music's part of me—just like I have two arms."

Ashton Shepherd Finds Her Way

By Jewly Hight

Ashton Shepherd was as big a surprise as any 21st Century major label country act. One minute she was a young wife and mother winning a tiny talent contest in Alabama, and the next she had a full-length Buddy Cannon-produced debut showcasing her Loretta Lynn-ish catalog. The making of her new album, Where Country Grows, followed a more typical course—a few years and several co-writers—but still came out sounding more down-to-earth than anything else out there.

Were you conscious of how unique it was for the label to let you do all your songs the first time around?

It was like ‘I’m getting to cut seven one-hundred-percent songs on this eleven-song record. This is insane.’ I’d have never in my dreams thought that Nashville would have liked that many of my songs enough to have… I mean, I believed in my stuff, don’t get me wrong. But I never expected that. I was pretty shocked to be able to have that opportunity.

The only co-writer you had on Sounds So Good was your brother-in-law.

Mmhmm.

Things have taken a lot longer between Sounds So Good and Where Country Grows. What caused that?

It was more of a process, but now I realize that this process is basically what everybody else does. I didn’t realize that ‘til I got involved in it, and I went ‘Oh, this is normal.’ Because I kinda got a little nervous about it personally. Just like ‘Why is this taking so long?’ …But now I look back on the whole process… and understand [it] better. Like, during it you’re wondering what in the world’s going on, and now I look back and go ‘I’m glad we did it that way,’ because it’s really made this record special. It’s made it a very good mixture of showing me writing with Troy Jones to me writing with Bobby Pinson to me writing by myself on material to cutting a few outside songs. And it really shows, I think, that Ashton Shepherd can do all these things, too.

Were you afraid that if you brought somebody you didn’t know into the songwriting equation it wouldn’t be as much you anymore?

Well, I was scared. If I had any fear it was that I wouldn’t be comfortable enough to write like I would write by myself. Because when you’re by yourself, you’re just by yourself. There’s no having to show your flaws or show your ‘Oh, I said this line but I’m going to change it to this’—your little glitches in how you write. And I thought ‘Would I be able to write the same in a room with somebody else?’ And I was able to.

It sounds like you were kind of relieved to find that you didn’t get lost in that process.

Yeah. I was just a little scared of it. It’s just like going to school for the first time, or being part of anything that you don’t know. You don’t know what to do or what to say or how does this work or anything. And writing by yourself and then co-writing is totally different—so I thought. But then I get in there and I’m like ‘This isn’t as different as I thought it was!’ And also, too, when you enter the room with people that know you’re writing songs that are for your record, they lean your direction anyway. You know what I mean? They know me, they know my old record, they know my music, they know the kind of music I sing, they know what kind of singer I am. So they’re not trying to do anything that sounds like a pop song. They already know kind of how to work with you on it. So it really ended up being a really fun process. I was walking away everyday with these new songs. And it’s really cool, too, to set up like a week’s worth of writing and have writing two times a day. And you come home that week and you’ve got ten songs in your pocket. Actually making yourself sit down and write, which is something I’d never really done either. I just wrote when I wanted to.

A couple that you wrote solo—‘I’m Just a Woman” and “That All Leads To One Thing”—are some of the strongest songs on the album.

Thank you!

They’re heart-wrenching ballads. Do you feel like that’s where you naturally head with your songwriting?

I do tend to write more ballads. Especially whenever I first started writing songs. I’ve been writing since I was a little girl, but really keeping up with my catalog probably since I was 13 or 14 years old. And I’ve always had ballad-heavy material.

Why do you think that is?

I don’t know. I think it’s just because of being a deeper thinker. And I tend to really think things out, and I feel a lot of feelings about a lot of things. To me, maybe it’s not the best word to use, but sometimes [uptempo songs] can just kind of seem shallow. You know, it’s just something simple, and I’m a deeper person. That may sound silly, because you would think the uptempos are easier to write, but I have more of a hard time writin’ uptempos because… I’m a big fan of traditional country music—ballad, heart-wrenching, Keith Whitley, George Jones, “He Stopped Loving Her Today” kind of stuff.

A lot of the time songs that have a more driving tempo are meant to get people out on the dance floor.

Absolutely. And that’s something you learn, too, as an artist and a writer is… is to look at songs that way, and to not look at it like every song has got to be this heart-wrenching story-song. You can have a few of them, but you also need something like “More Cows Than People” that’s just something fun… and it’s not a big deep meaning. It’s just something for people to smile to or clap their hands to, get ‘em into it, you know.

When did you first think about your songs speaking to or for women listeners?

You know, it’s really funny, because I’ve never sat down like intentionally thinking ‘I’m gonna write a song for the women.’ I’m writing a song about myself, and then I play it back or hear it and it sort of turns into everybody’s song. I’m writing it for myself not realizing that I’m not the only one that feels like this. And that sounds really weird, because it’s probably the exact reverse of when they hear it; they’re probably thinking ‘Wow, Ashton Shepherd feels like this. I’m not the only one that feels like this.’ That’s how I feel when they respond to it.

With a title like “I’m Just a Woman”, I was wondering where that song would go. It feels like it speaks to women’s experiences—especially women who are wives or mothers—and the unsung burdens that they bear. And a plea to be met in the middle by a partner.

And that’s exactly kind of what I was feeling at that moment when I wrote that song, was ‘You don’t understand, but I need you to. I really want you to understand that I just don’t feel like I can take it all sometimes. I don’t think you understand what I’m doing.’ …Even being a stay-at-home mom, people want to make fun of that, and there’s no reason—ever—for anybody to make light of stay-at-home moms. It is a job, because you are so invested in your children and how they feel, if they’re sick or if they’re hungry, or what they have on that day, or if their mouths are wiped. Then all the sudden you’re also [realizing] ‘Golly, I’ve got to pay this note because it’s 15 days behind,’ or ‘Oh, I spent too much on my credit card this month,’ and you’re trying to figure out how you’re gonna pay that. You’re mind is just constantly spinning, and then you’re thinking in the back of your mind ‘Am I even paying my husband any attention at all?’ You want to and you try to, but then you really feel like he’s not seeing you or paying attention to you, because he’s just kind of off in left field in his own land all the time. ‘Do you get it at all, what I’m doing? Do you understand? I think you might, but you don’t tell me you do.’ You know what I mean?

Who would you say you identify with most—contemporary or in the past—as far as singers and songwriters?

Dolly was always somebody that I just couldn’t say enough about as far as being able to sing like she does, and write the songs. I mean “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene”, “Two Doors Down”—and [she was] a hundred-percent writer on these songs. And I just always noticed people that could write by themselves. I think co-writing’s great. I want to co-write again for my third record and my fourth. I enjoy it. It’s fun. But I think you need to be able to write by yourself. I think that’s you’re best co-write, is when you put people together that can write by themselves. Toby Keith was somebody, and Alan Jackson, that I really paid attention to as a little girl, knowing they wrote their own material. And that was just always real fascinating to me. …And I love Patty Loveless. When I was a little girl I covered a lot like “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye” and “He Don’t Even Know Who I Am”. A lot of those records, when they come out in the early ‘90s, I was about eight years old. And that’s what I learned to sing on, was that kind of stuff.

Ashton Shepherd: Getting Personal

Breakout country singer flexes new songs, new strengths

By Phyllis Stark
Special to MSN Music

Ashton Shepherd was feeling the pressure when she stepped into the studio to record her second album this year. An unassuming young wife and mother from Alabama with a hardcore country voice and a gift for pouring her simple life into memorable songs, Shepherd's 2008 debut, "Sounds So Good," caught the ear of fans, radio and, especially, music critics, who hailed the album and the artist as one of the year's best.

So when it came time for the follow-up, the newly released "Where Country Grows," Shepherd by then pregnant with her second child says she and her producer, Buddy Cannon, felt scrutiny from all sides to top their previous work.

What they had to live up to were accolades like the ones from The Washington Post, which named "Sounds So Good" album of the year, and The Wall Street Journal, which compared Shepherd to Loretta Lynn and called her album "the most promising debut of 2008."

"Everybody felt the pressure," Shepherd says about the making of her sophomore set. "Buddy was more nervous this go-round, and I feel like the record label was [too]. Everybody was sort of sweating a little bit because there had been such critical acclaim and that first record, and you had no idea what the critics were looking for [on] the second one."

Shepherd, who will turn 25 next month, admits that if she'd let herself think about it too much, that pressure might have been paralyzing. Instead, she put her faith in the eight songs she'd written for the album, and the two others she found including the hilarious leadoff single, "Look It Up" and set out to make the best record she could.

The end result negated all prior worries, and so far the critics seem to agree, with reviews for "Where Country Grows" matching and even topping the previous laurels heaped on Shepherd. Rolling Stone said, "Her debut, 'Sounds So Good,' was one of the best country releases of 2008. 'Where Country Grows' is even better." The Washington Post named her as one of its five top new artists to watch in 2011.

"Now," Shepherd says, "I'm really relieved because everybody's seeming to like it."

Shepherd says the new album ended up being "more personal" than the first one, although she says, "My goal wasn't to be more personal. I [just] wanted to reintroduce Ashton Shepherd to as many people as I could."

That she felt she needed to be reintroduced three years into her professional career is a surprise, but Shepherd explains, "I think you just kind of reintroduce [yourself] each time you make a record. You're constantly telling people who you are, where you are, what you've been through at the time, and relating to people.

"People might have known [me] or got a dose of the first record and sort of had an idea," she adds, "and this is just kind of a way of closing that gap for them."

Shepherd emerged, seemingly from nowhere, three years ago with her debut single, "Takin' Off This Pain." And while it stalled at No. 20 on the Billboard country singles chart, the song established her as an artist to take seriously. Fans and critics alike were as charmed by her authenticity and unpretentiousness as her working-class anthems.

When not on the road, Shepherd continues to live in a single-wide trailer on a seven-acre family farm in rural Leroy, Ala., with husband Roland Cunningham and their 5-year-old son James, stuffing all of their belongings, including her stage wardrobe, into the home's meager three closets.

"I'm a little tired of not having any room," she says, "but we make it work.

"Eventually, if I get a lot of money, I want to build me a big house," she adds. But even with success, you get the sense Shepherd's idea of "big" doesn't mean McMansion.

She brings the family on the road with her as much as possible, particularly when she plays summer fairs and festivals, where she says young James "has a big ole' ball."

Thanks to the last three years spent largely on the road, Shepherd says, her vocals have gotten even stronger than they were when she made her debut, helping her overcome some occasional vocal problems.

"I have a very raspy voice anyway, and it's very airy," she says. "I struggle with losing my voice here and there, just getting hoarse easily and not [being] really sure why.

"But I definitely feel like my voice has gotten stronger and more developed, just more mature," she says of her time on the road and in the studio. "I've learned how to not use my voice as strong as I used to. I used to kind of over-sing a little bit. Now, I've learned I can kind of let back and still get the same thing out. You just learn from experience the more you do."

Along with her vocal seasoning, Shepherd says her already impressive songwriting has improved as well.

"I've got a few more years on me now, and my second child [due in September], so my writing definitely evolved with where I'm at in my life, for sure," she says.

The songs on her first album were mostly things she'd written, by herself, between the ages of 16 and 21. Now, her songwriting has taken on a maturity evident on the new project with songs like "I'm Just a Woman."

She also tried out co-writing for the first time with some of Nashville's most seasoned songwriters, something that not only netted some great results, but also opened the young star up to new ways of thinking about the process.

"I've learned how to write different kinds of songs," she says.

As a fledgling songwriter, "I wrote a lot of the same kind of songs & a lot of heartache, a lot of hurt. At 15, 16 years old, [its about] going through your boyfriends and breakups sort of the Taylor Swift kind of feel and riding dirt roads with your fella," she says. "Then I evolved into being a mama and being a wife, and I was writing songs about that and still growing up, as I am now."

Co-writing also gave her the opportunity to get some welcome outside feedback on her tunes from her fellow writers.

"All your songs feel like your young'uns," she says in her distinctive low drawl. "You would just love to put them all on a record, but you've got to have people there to kind of help you situate."

Even with all the maturity a 24-year-old can muster, Shepherd still retains a refreshing "gee-whiz" attitude about her success. She recently tweeted a grinning photo of herself sitting next to her own likeness in an ad for her album covering a Nashville bus stop bench, a sign that she remains grateful for the opportunity to turn her talent into a real career.

"It's very gratifying, because there's so many people on the streets of Nashville and in the bars trying to make it," she says.

Even now, Shepherd says she often wonders, "Is this really happening?" and tries to absorb every moment. "Sometimes I don't think you can think about it deep enough for it to sink in," she says. "It is a little bit too surreal."

LOOK IT UP: ASHTON SHEPHERD
BEING CALLED ‘THE REAL DEAL’

South Alabama singer/songwriter making waves in Nashville but stays firmly planted at home

By Jim Hannaford

When describing Ashton Shepherd, writers and fans often throw out such words as “clever,” “Sassy,” “prolific” and “witty.” Another common phrase is “the real deal.” She’s used to such compliments and is able to laugh many of them off, because here’s another one that’s appropriate: humble.

When asked what has been the funniest thing that someone has written about her, she mentions a website called The Southern Drawl that listed the Top 10 Sexiest Women in country music. The Alabama singer-songwriter came in at number 9.

“She may not be the curviest woman there is,” a blogger wrote, “but what she doesn’t have in curves, she makes up for with a classically beautiful face and her immense musical talent.”

Ah, the talent. Her singing and her songwriting are really what’s been turning heads since Shepherd signed with MCA Nashville just three years ago. Since then had a trickling stream of hits, including this year’s “Look it Up,” which cracked the Top 20. Her voice is such a pure country one that the esteemed Grand Ole Opry host Bill Anderson, after Shepherd’s performance there in 2007, quipped, “She’s so country she makes Loretta Lynn sound like she’s from Liverpool.”

Anderson actually borrowed that line from Shepherd’s producer, the legendary Buddy Cannon.

“Aw, they were just being funny,” Shepherd said in her down-home drawl. She was talking by cell phone while making an umpteenth drive to Nashville from her home in Leroy, in Washington County. The single “Look it Up” was released on an advance digital-only EP and is featured on her second full-length CD, “Where Country Grows,” which came out July 12. The accompanying video, in which she’s gleefully selling off all of her no-good ex’s belongings at a garage sale, shows off plenty of that sass that they talk about.

“This could be her biggest one yet,” Said Bill Black, program director of WKSJ-FM in Mobile. “It’s really a healthy sign for her career. It’s consistently been one of our top requested songs since we started playing it.”

Shepherd’s back story is irresistible: After singing in talent shows in and around Chatom since she was a little girl, she took top prize at a contest in Gilbertown in 2006 and won the opportunity to open a show for country star Lorrie Morgan. At the concert was a representative of MCA Nashville, who signed her to a contract and quickly realized that she had already written or co-written nearly 150 songs.

Since then, Shepherd’s had two other hits (“Sounds So Good” and “Takin’ Off This Pain”) hover around the No. 20 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Charts, along with “Look it Up.” All this at the age of 24 and while still living in Leroy, balancing one life as performer and recording artist with another as wife and mother. (Her son, James, is 5 and a second child is due in September.)

As always, though, there’s a desire for greater success.

“A No. 1 song or even a Top 5 hit would really change the face of what we’re doing,” Shepherd said. “The audience would increase so tremendously. It would be through the roof, just millions of more listeners.”

The record company has not pressured her to change her sound or her image, she says, but the MCA executives have encouraged her to work with co-writers, something she had done only with Adam Cunningham, her brother-in-law and bassist. She said she was abit nervous and unsure about working with seasoned, outside writers, but is now glad that she did. The new CD features songs written with hitmakers Bobby Pinson and Troy Jones as well as five that she wrote herself.

In recent reviews, Rolling Stone magazine gave the album four stars and Entertainment Weekly rated it an A-. Both magazines picked Shepherd as an artist worth paying attention to in 2011.

“It’s really a great piece of work,” said Black of WKSJ. “There are tons of great songs on there, including two or three that directly reflect life in lower Alabama.”

A Birmingham audience witnessed Shepherd’s concert skills and down-home charm at the Bama Rising concert on June 14 at the BJCC Arena. She sang “Look it Up” and “Sounds So Good” at the star-studded benefit, which raised money for tornado recovery in the state. Shepherd joked with the crowd, but also made is clear she was eager to help tornado survivors in her home state.

Shepherd said she has no plans to leave Leroy, though she would like to have enough success to afford a second place in Nashville rather than staying in hotels when she’s there on business.

“I really feel like I’m an example of how dreams can come true for real people,” Shepherd said. “The good Lord has been good to me, and I feel extra-fortunate.

“I mean, it is a job. It’s a really cool one, but it’s a job,” she said

WHERE COUNTRY GROWS

Ashton Shepherd opens up about her new album, her growing family and writing her most personal songs yet.

The release of Ashton Shepherd’s flippant tongue-in-cheek single, “Look It Up,” marks the end of a long wait for fans of this unabashed country traditionalist. “It’s different,” Ashton says of the tune. “I was very drawn to the song’s sass and the catchy lyric. It almost leaves you wanting more.” While her debut single, 2007’s “Takin’ Off This Pain,” found Ashton playing the part of the neglected wife who threatens to put aside her wedding ring for a night or two of fun, the video for “Look It Up” finds Ashton taking things one step further—she packs up all her wayward man’s belongings and makes a wad of cash off of them at a yard sale. She even sells his dog. To film the video, this Southern-bred girl packed her bags for Los Angeles. “I got a little nervous,” admits Ashton. “That is a little outside of my element, for sure. I just told [ video director ] Michael Salomon, ‘Just tell me what to do today.’ I’m not the best actress in the world, but I can do my best. I kept thinking, ‘Does this motion look silly? Do I look OK?” In one scene, Ashton, spruced up in a shiny dress, torches her man’s letterman jacket. In another scene, she uses some of her man’s possessions as targets for working on her golf swing. “At that point, it was later in the day. I felt a lot more comfortable. We’d gotten the first of the day shoot done, and I felt really pretty in my dress, so my confidence had boosted and you can tell in that scene. They were like, ‘Can you hit some stuff with a golf club?’ I was like, ‘Yeah! I’ve got a good golf swing.’ It was a very cool experience.

Ashton’s 2008 debut project, Sounds So Good, cracked the Top 20 on the Billboard country sales chart, while the album’s two singles, “Takin’ Off This Pain” and “Sounds So Good,” hit No. 20 and No. 21, respectively, on the Billboard airplay chart. The then-21-year-old wrote nearly every track herself—a rarity in today’s music market. Ashton tweaked her corn-fed country sound for her second release, Where Country Grows, by adding outside writers to the mix. Bobby Pinson helped pen the title track, while Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark co-wrote “Tryin’ to Go to Church.” “When you have a debut album that people kind of like, you can’t help but feel a little pressure,” Ashton admits. “cutting outside songs isn’t a risk when you are dealing with Nashville songwriters, because they are so talented, but for me it felt like a risk because of the acclaim I got as a writer after my first album. It doesn’t seem as odd now that I’ve finished and released the record. I’m already asking people to send me stuff now for the third record.”

Ashton credits producer Buddy Cannon (Kenny Chesney) with polishing her sound. “We’ve got a good relationship,” she says. “It’s like a father-daughter relationship. He’s got a special presence in the studio.” Ashton points to the song “I’m good” as an example. “Buddy was able to hear a different production on this song. He just nailed what he told the band to do. I can hear something like, ‘I want this to sound simpler or slower,’ but it’s neat for me to watch him. He’s the relayer of my music and does a wonderful job.” To make sure that not only Buddy but also Ashton’s full stable of songwriters got a good feel for her music, Ashton invited several of her creative cohorts down to her home in Alabama, to a music-filled hangout on her property that she calls the Pickin’ Shed. “I brought Buddy down a couple of years ago and we wrote songs. I made him pork chops and collard greens. [Songwriters] Troy Jones and Brice Long came down last summer and we cooked ribs for Troy and passed the guitar around and drank a few cold ones.”

Fans shouldn’t see the plethora of co-writes on this album as warning signs—Ashton was the sole writer on two of the album’s most intimate tunes, “I’m Just a Woman” and “Rory’s Radio.” “’I’m Just a Woman’ can be an anthem for so many women out there,” says Ashton, “whether you have children or you don’t. A lot of the ladies get discouraged out there. They want their man to understand them better. I get discouraged, too, but then I think, ‘You know, if I’m getting discouraged and I had somebody doing my hair and makeup this morning and I’m doing a photo shoot or being interviewed by people, what do all these women that don’t have all these pizazzy things feel like?’ That’s why I feel like this album really is the people’s album,” says Ashton. “I’m real just like they are.”

“Rory’s Radio” shows just how real Ashton can be. The song is written about her experiences growing up with her brother, Jeff, and his best friend, Rory. “My brother was killed in a car accident when I was 13. When I say Rory, I kind of say Jeff in the same sentence because they were pretty much attached at the hip as best friends. If you saw one, you saw the other one,” Ashton explains. “Jeff was 23 when I was 13, so I grew up wanting to be their age.” It helped that tagging along with her older brother and his friend allowed the teenage Ashton to get away with things. “I’d tell my mom and dad that I’d be out past nine o’clock, but I’d be with Jeff or Rory, so that was acceptable to my parents because I was being looked after. We’d buy a bag of crawfish and sit under the bridge and eat crawfish, or they’d take me to get ice cream, or sometimes we’d go to a little gathering.” After her brother’s death, Rory was a source of comfort to Ashton’s family. “He’s a part of Jeff to us. Sometimes I’d go riding with him and his girlfriend at the time, or we’d all go over to his house, and sometimes we’d talk about Jeff. The song is about looking back and remembering that time and place. I feel like when the public listens to it, they will picture someone’s radio.”

As for her own family—husband Roland and young son James—Ashton says a new daughter will have joined the clan by Septmeber. “We’re excited to be parents again,” says Ashton, who has already picked out a name for the baby—Raden Delilah. “James will hug me and kiss my belly. He’s recognizing [his sister] to that extent, so I can only imagine the little bond they will have.”

ASHTON SHEPHERD

Where Country Grows

On her second set, Shepherd digs into country’s roots with a traditional sound that brings to mind Miranda Lambert at her earthiest. Highlights include “More Cows Than People” and the sassy “Look It Up.” 3 ½ out of 4 stars

Ashton Shepherd 'Where Country Grows' (MCA Nashville)

3 1/2 stars = Very good

Ashton Shepherd's "Look It Up" is the kind of song that epitomizes what country has always claimed to be: direct, honest and free of pretense and posturing. It wasn't a huge hit, yet the snarling, combative tune, written by Angaleena Presley and Robert Ellis Orrall, follows trails blazed by Miranda Lambert ("Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"), the Dixie Chicks ("Goodbye Earl") and the master of that style, Loretta Lynn ("Fist City").

This is Alabama native Shepherd's second album since her 2008 debut, "Sounds So Good," which went no higher than the country Top 20. Her voice, sharp and unapologetically twangy, even salvages three generic tracks here. One is the title song, celebrating the music as Brad Paisley did with "This Is Country Music." The rural anthem "More Cows Than People" rattles off predictable imagery (fences, tractors, grain elevators). "Beer on a Boat" serves as the obligatory party anthem.

Ms. Shepherd's vocal skills are matched by her gifts as a writer, apparent on the ballad "While It Ain't Raining," written with Troy Jones. The witty "Trying to Go to Church" (penned with Brandi Clark and Shane McAnally) explores the timeless Southern conflict of wild Saturday nights versus pious Sunday mornings. Three flawless originals demonstrate she doesn't even need co-writers: the ballad "I'm Just a Woman," "That All Leads to One Thing," a dark cheating song, and "Rory's Radio," a memoir based on a friend of Ms. Shepherd's late brother.

Convenient as it might be to place her in the same musical neighborhood as Gretchen Wilson, that would miss the point. While both share a directness and a proudly country approach, between her sharp-edged vocals and skilled, nuanced writing, Ms. Shepherd demonstrates potential that merits a far wider audience.

-- Rich Kienzle for the Post-Gazette

Ashton Shepherd wastes no time showing she has lost none of the bite she displayed on her terrific 2008 debut. Where Country Grows leads off with "Look It Up," a deliciously sharp-tongued kiss-off of a wayward husband. ("The word is over. Look it up.") Shepherd's tangy Alabama drawl packs as much of a kick as the hard-country music and the lyrics.

That Loretta Lynn-style vinegar shows up in varying degrees elsewhere - "I'm Good," "Tryin' to Go to Church," "That Only Leads to One Thing." But it's not all Shepherd has to offer. She's just as strong when showing another side, whether it's a tender or more vulnerable one. "I'm Just a Woman" is one of the eight numbers she wrote or cowrote on this 10-song set that further establishes her as one of Nashville's brightest young talents. There she puts it best: "Sometimes I wanna hold you/ Other times I wanna yell at you/ And sometimes I'm happy . . . and sometimes I wanna cry."

MCA Nashville’s rising singer/songwriter Ashton Shepherd is on the road this week hitting six cities in 5 days to celebrate the release of her new album Where Country Grows. She played in front of a near capacity crowd of almost 1,500 screaming fans at Cotton Eyed Joe in Knoxville Thursday night, Thursday, July 14. The show was sponsored by Knoxville’s WIVK.

“Ashton Shepherd’s show was close to capacity at Cotton Eyed Joe and was one of the best female shows we’ve had in a long time. She’s welcome back any time,” said Gingi Bakri, Owner, Cotton Eyed Joe.

“The girl from Alabama definitely has a lot of Tennessee fans,” claimed Mike Hammond, OM/WIVK. “Ashton rocked the Cotton Eyed Joe with almost 1,500 fans last night. It’s no wonder Rolling Stone magazine has her on their ‘Artists To Watch’ list. She’s been on our list for quite awhile.”

Associated Press
Ashton Shepherd, Where Country Grows (MCA)
By: Michael McCall

On her 2008 debut, "Sounds So Good," Ashton Shepherd offered a down-home contrast to contemporary country music. Like a Loretta Lynn for modern times, she flashed a feisty attitude and an unfiltered country twang that made Miranda Lambert sound uptown. The album drew critical praise, but little radio attention and disappointing sales.

With her second album, "Where Country Grows", Shepherd merges her deep-country style with a contemporary country sound, setting a modern groove to her rural Alabama persona.

Her best new songs achieve that tricky balance. "Look It Up," the opening single, uses sharp wordplay to slice up a philandering lover, fully utilizing her steel-magnolia character. However, the influence of Music Row pros at times dampens what makes Shepherd unique _ as on "More Cows Than People," which relies too much on generic country music images and instrumentation.

At her best, Shepherd adapts to Nashville formulas without losing what makes her special. But it's telling that she wrote one of her best songs, "I'm Just A Woman," alone. Shepherd is a rare talent; let's hope the compromises on "Where Country Grows" give her the spotlight she deserves, so she can flourish in the future without making concessions to tired formulas.

CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: Shepherd co-wrote "I'm Good" with master country songwriter Dean Dillon and impressive traditional songwriter Dale Dodson. The result ranks with country anthems by Tammy Wynette and Reba McEntire. It proves Shepherd can rank among the best of her generation, when applying her strong voice to songs as powerful as this.

Ashton Shepherd returns with her much-anticipated sophomore album, and it’s obvious the Alabama native’s songwriting gift has matured. With the success of other tough country women such as Miranda Lambert and Sunny Sweeney, the timing is right, and Ashton’s songs deftly blend the spunk and vulnerability heard from the likes of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette.

In contrast to her debut, she includes several up-tempo numbers, such as the small-town nod “More Cows Than People” and the sassy “Look It Up.” While country radio typically reserves the topics of tubing, boating and, yes, drinking beer for her male counterparts, Ashton dares to pop the top on the summertime tune “Beer on a Boat.”

Ashton, who penned nearly her entire debut album solo, brought in co-writers Bobby Pinson, Dale Dodson and Troy Jones for this project, yet the songs retain her personality. Ashton grows introspective on the gems “While It Ain’t Rainin’” and “Rory’s Radio,” while the timeless feel of “I’m Just a Woman,” a ballad that finds Ashton pleading for understanding from a man, recalls the Tammy Wynette classic “Stand By Your Man.”

Ashton’s twangy songs are fearless, introspective and unabashedly country, which just might peg her as a new Loretta Lynn.

Ashton Shepherd in Entertainment Weekly: Album Receives A- Rating

Ashton Shepherd got three hits in this week’s edition of Entertainment Weekly. Shepherd’s sophomore release, Where Country Grows, hits stores June 12^th.

Entertainment Weekly July 8-15, 2011

THE MUST LIST: The Top Ten Things We Love This Week

2. Where Country Grows, Ashton Shepherd. The country singer serves up a rich, eclectic sophomore set. There’s a song to drink to, another to cry with, and even one about trying to get to church on Sunday.

Entertainment

Also Available: Albums

Ashton Shepherd: Where Country Grows

Shepherd revs up her mighty Alabama twang, calling out an unfaithful carouser on first single “Look It Up”—she wants to be invited, not be left at home by a guy with a wandering eye. (And good-time girls still love the Lord, even if they can’t always be early risers—see: testifyin’ “Tryin to Go to Church.”) Among strong, hardcore-country women, Miranda Lambert is Ashton’s only real competition. A-

--Ken Tucker

Entertainment

Who’s Playing on Late Night and Talk Shows

Friday July 8- Ashton Shepherd will be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Ashton Shepherd’s brand new album, WHERE COUNTRY GROWS, will be available on July 12th. Celebrate the album release and join Ashton at the following release week events:

Tuesday 7/12 – Mobile, AL
5PM: In-store acoustic performance & CD signing
Wal-Mart Location: 685 Schillinger Road, Mobile, AL

Wednesday 7/13 – Atlanta, GA
5PM: In-store acoustic performance & CD signing
Wal-Mart Location: 1735 HWY 27 South, Carrollton, GA
9PM: Free full band show at Wild Bills
Venue Location: 2075 Market Street, Duluth, GA 30096

Thursday 7/14 – Knoxville, TN
5PM: In-store acoustic performance & CD signing
Wal-Mart Location: 6777 Clinton HWY, Knoxville, TN
9PM: Free full band show at Cotton Eyed Joe
Venue Location: 11220 Outlet Drive, Knoxville, TN 37932

Friday 7/15 – Lexington, KY
8:30PM: Free full band show at Tin Roof Lexington
Venue Location: 303 S. Limestone, Lexington, KY 40508

Alabama spitfire matches killer voice to immaculate tunes

Ashton Shepherd is 24 years old, but she doesn’t sing like it. She has one of those lived-in country voices: hard and bright, weary but hopeful, perfect for her wise , witty, tough-minded songs. Her debut, Sounds So Good, was one of the best country releases of 2008. Where Country Grows is even better – full of kiss-offs (“Look It Up”), celebrations of the sticks (“More Cows Than People”) and backwoods-diva ballads like “I’m Just a Woman.” She can be as rugged as Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson, and sings better than each. In “I’m Good,” she belts, “I’m gettin’ better at being my best.” That’s an understatement.

Key Facts

Hometown: Leroy, Alabama

Backstory: Shepherd grew up singing in talent contests throughout Alabama. Her big break came when she won a competition at age 19 and got to open for country star Lorrie Morgan.

Twang Thang: Shepherd has one of the deepest drawls in country music – which only makes her big voice even more distinct.

Farmgirl: When not on tour, Shepherd tends her seven-acre farm, selling produce out of the back of a truck.

Artist to Watch: Hard-Nosed Country Standout Ashton Shepherd
‘You definitely know it when you hear it,’ she says of her native Alabama’s sound

By Jody Rosen
June 22, 2011 5:05 PM ET

Who: Thick-drawlin' 24-year-old singer-songwriter from Alabama with a precocious command of pop hooks and trad-country songforms – and one of the biggest, brassiest singing voices on either side of the Mason-Dixon. Her 2009 debut was called Sounds So Good, and it did. Her new album, Where Country Grows (out July 12th on MCA Nashville), is better still: 10 smart, soulful songs about small towns, big heartaches, and guzzling beer on power boats. It's a record that invites comparisons to legends like Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn, yet sounds right at home on modern country radio.

Sweet Home: Shepherd grew up in tiny Coffeeville, Alabama (population: 340), not far from the southern border of that most Deep South of states, which has bred country greats from Hank Williams to Jamey Johnson. You can hear Shepherd's 'Bama roots in her hard-bitten lyrics and her molasses-thick drawl. (And you get a pretty clear picture of Coffeeville on Where Country Grows, in songs like "More Cows Than People.") "Alabama definitely has its own sound, its own feel," she says. "It's a little more prideful, I guess. You definitely know it when you hear it."

Highest Form of Flattery: She's been singing as long as she's been walking. "My parents noticed there was something there," she says. "When I was four, five years old, they'd have me sing for people. 'Let's hear a song, Ashton. Sing 'Amazing Grace' for 'em.'" But it was the radio that made her want to be musician. "Growing up in the Nineties, Alan Jackson was super-present on the radio. To me, more real country music was present at that time. Patti Loveless was still on the radio. And Reba. Just these great voices. I can remember learning their songs and singing them with karaoke music. Even when Shania came out, I would try to sound like Shania. I think that's what made my voice: imitation!"

Write What You Know: Where Country Grows crams a bit of everything into its 32 minutes: backwoods anthems ("Where Country Grows"), sassy put-downs ("Look It Up"), lost love ballads ("I'm Good"). Shepherd gets a writing credit on nine of the 10 songs, but she's especially fond of the two she wrote by herself. "I'm Just A Woman" is a big, pedal-steel swathed weeper that nods to the mother of all country gender-relations treatises, "Stand By Your Man." "When I was trying to figure out how to tie the hook-line back around in the chorus, I got really excited when I wrote, 'And I know that after all you're just a man' – that line from 'Stand By Your Man,'" she says. "I thought 'I've got to get that in there!'" Then there's "Rory's Radio," a nostalgic ballad about teenage hijinks: night-fishing, drag racing, and listening to Hank Williams Jr. on a pickup truck radio. The song was inspired by Shepherd's older brother Jeff, who was killed in a car accident 11 years ago at age 23. "He lived a big life, and he made an impact on my life," says Shepherd. "It was a way of keeping him alive, of bringing him into a song, without writing a typical losing-someone-song. The song just takes me back there."

Family Values: Shepherd played some shows recently as the warm-up act for another hard-nosed country gal, Miranda Lambert. But she's unlikely to get out on the road again soon: she's expecting her second child in September. The pleasures and hardships of family life are a big theme of Shepherd's songs. "When you're a mama and a wife/ There ain't many things you ain't," she sings in "I'm Just A Woman." She plans to hunker down with her new child for a while but then – hopefully – reemerge in time for country's biggest awards show. "At least I want to be walking the red carpet," she says. "That'll be after baby comes, which will be kinda neat: everybody will see me try to get back in shape!"

CLICK HERE to view the article and listen to "Where Country Grows"

NASHVILLE, TENN (June 8, 2010) -- Ashton Shepherd joined the 4^th annual GAC Fan Kick-off Breakfast, held June 8th at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in downtown Nashville. The sold out event also included performances by Lee Ann Womack, Laura Bell Bundy, and David Nail followed by autograph sessions with each star.

Pictured, (l to r:) Sarah Trahern, GAC GM, David Nail, Ashton Shepherd, Laura Bell Bundy, Lee Ann Womack and Ed Hardy, GAC president.

Home-grown country: Ashton Shepherd setting sights higher

By Jim Hannaford

When describing Ashton Shepherd, writers and fans often throw out such words as “clever,” “sassy,” “prolific” and “witty.” Another common phrase is “the real deal.”

She’s used to such compliments and is able to laugh many of them off, because here’s another one that’s appropriate: humble.

When asked what has been the funniest thing that someone has written about her, she mentions a website called The Southern Drawl that listed the Top 10 Sexiest Women in country music. Shepherd came in at number 9. “She may not be the curviest woman there is,” a blogger wrote, “but what she doesn’t have in curves, she makes up for with a classically beautiful face and her immense musical talent.”

Ah, the talent. Her singing and her songwriting are really what’s been turning heads since Shepherd signed with MCA Nashville just three years ago. Since then she’s had a trickling stream of hits, including her latest, “Look it Up,” which has just cracked the Top 20. Her voice is such a pure country one that the esteemed Grand Ole Opry host Bill Anderson, after Shepherd’s knockout performance there in 2007, quipped, “She’s so country she makes Loretta Lynn sound like she’s from Liverpool.”

Anderson actually borrowed that line from Shepherd’s producer, the legendary Buddy Cannon.

“Aw, they were just being funny,” Shepherd said recently in her down-home drawl. She was talking by cell phone while making an umpteenth drive to Nashville from her home in Leroy, in Washington County. This time she was headed to Music City to rehearse with some new band members in preparation for a series of shows that includes opening slots for Miranda Lambert and an appearance this Saturday, just 20 miles or so from her home, at the In the Pines Music Festival in Chatom.

The single “Look it Up” was released on an advance digital-only EP and will be featured on her second full-length CD, “Where Country Grows,” due for release on July 12. The accompanying video, in which she’s gleefully selling off all of her no-good ex’s belongings at a garage sale, shows off plenty of that sass that they talk about.

“This could be her biggest one yet,” said Bill Black, program director of WKSJ-FM in Mobile. “It’s really a healthy sign for her career. It’s consistently been one of our top requested songs since we started playing it.”

Shepherd’s back story is irresistible: after singing in talent shows in and around Chatom since she was a little girl, she took top prize at a contest in Gilbertown in 2006 and won the opportunity to open a show for country star Lorrie Morgan. At the concert was a representative of MCA Nashville, who signed her to a contract and was blown away that she had already written or co-written nearly 150 songs.

Since then, she’s had two other hits (“Sounds So Good” and “Takin’ Off This Pain”) hover around the No. 20 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Charts, and the current single is expected to go higher. All this at the age of 24 and while still living in Leroy and balancing one life as performer and recording artist with another as wife and mother. (Her son, James, is 5 and a second child is due in September.)

As always, though, there’s a desire for greater success.

“A number-one song or even a Top 5 hit would really change the face of what we’re doing,” she said. “The audience would increase so tremendously. It would be through the roof, just millions of more listeners.”

The record company has not pressured her to change her sound or her image, she says, but the MCA executives have encouraged her to work with co-writers, something she had only done with Adam Cunningham, her brother-in-law and bassist. She said she was a bit nervous and unsure about working with seasoned, outside writers, but is now glad that she did. The new CD will feature songs written with hitmakers Bobby Pinson and Troy Jones as well as five that she wrote herself.

Black of WKSJ has heard an advance copy of the CD and is very excited about it. “It’s really a great piece of work,” he said. “There are tons of great songs on there, including two or three that directly reflect life in Lower Alabama.”

Shepherd has no plans to leave her home in Leroy, though she would like to have enough success to afford a second place in Nashville rather than staying in hotels when she’s there on business.

“I really feel like I’m an example of how dreams can come true for real people,” Shepherd said. “The good Lord has been good to me, and I feel extra-fortunate.

“I mean, it is a job. It’s a really cool one, but it’s a job,” she said.

COUNTRY MUSIC’S TOP-SELLING SUPERGROUP ALABAMA

ANNOUNCES “BAMA RISING: A BENEFIT CONCERT FOR ALABAMA

TORNADO RECOVERY” AT BIRMINGHAM’S BJCC ARENA

ON JUNE 14^TH

Tickets Go On Sale To General Public This Friday, May 20th at 11:00am CST

BIRMINGHAM, AL (May 17, 2011) -- On Tuesday, June 14th, the country music

community will unite to assist victims of the tornados that ravaged Alabama on April 27th.

“BAMA RISING: A Benefit Concert for Alabama Tornado Recovery,” presented by

Verizon, will take place at Birmingham’s BJCC Arena. It will feature performances by

ALABAMA, who is spearheading the event, Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Sheryl Crow and numerous other artists. See below for a list of performers and special guests who have been confirmed to date.

ALABAMA’s Randy Owen, speaking on behalf of the group, states, “My hope is that

this will bring happiness and help to my fellow citizens in Alabama. I believe it's extremely important that we do this benefit, and I want everyone in the state to feel like they are part of it. I hope we all can pull together to help get through the worst natural disaster I've ever seen in Alabama. I appreciate my friends in country music, everyone that's been involved, and anyone that's helped in any way.”

The Bama Rising Fund has been established at the Community Foundation of Greater

Birmingham to support long-term recovery statewide in the wake of the April 2011 tornadoes that devastated Alabama. Decisions about how to deploy Bama Rising concert proceeds and gifts to the Bama Rising Fund will be made by an advisory committee including representatives of the artists, promoters and the Community Foundation.

Kate Nielsen, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham : “We are

pleased to serve as the philanthropic partner for the talented artists who are committed to our state’s recovery through the Bama Rising concert. A sell-out crowd will help the Bama Rising team raise significant dollars for long-term recovery efforts across Alabama and show our citizens that we are committed to their future.”

Jeff Mango, president – Georgia/Alabama Region, Verizon Wireless : “The

community’s response to the devastating tornadoes in Alabama has been truly inspiring, and we know that a natural disaster of this magnitude requires that response be sustained—so that the people in the community can thrive and in some cases, rebuild. That is why we are so proud to be involved in Bama Rising. Thanks to the generosity of so many who want to help, this unforgettable event will bring together people from across the great state of Alabama and beyond to support their friends, business associates and neighbors as they work for a common cause – to rebuild.”

In addition to ticket sales, funds will be raised through corporate sponsorships of the

event. For information on becoming a corporate sponsor, please contact Jay Wilson at Red Mountain Entertainment – 205.585.2531 or jay@redmountainentertainment.com.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday, May 20th, at 11:00AM CST

at www.ticketmaster.com. Ticket prices will range from $25 to $150. VIP packages will also be available. Visit www.bamarising.org for more details. Bama Rising is presented by Red Mountain Entertainment and AEG Live/The Messina Group. Corporate sponsors include Verizon, Bravado, Zeekee Interactive, Bill Young Productions, Tour Design and Ticketmaster.

“BAMA RISING”

Confirmed performers (in alphabetical order):

Alabama

Rodney Atkins

Dierks Bentley

Bo Bice

Luke Bryan

Sheryl Crow

Sara Evans

Taylor Hicks

Little Big Town

Martina McBride

Montgomery Gentry

David Nail

Jake Owen

Brad Paisley

Kellie Pickler

Darius Rucker

Ashton Shepherd

Confirmed special guests:

Jay Barker –University of Alabama (former football player and current radio personality)

###

About The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham:

The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham is the oldest and largest community

foundation in Alabama, dedicated to driving positive change through grants, leveraging donor giving to meet community needs, and works with other organizations to collaborate and bring resources together. The Community Foundation has experience in distributing donations in previous disasters, including tornadoes in 1998 and 2002 and following the evacuation of survivors of Hurricane Katrina survivors to the Birmingham area in 2005. For more information, go to www.foundationbirmingham.org.

About Alabama (the group):

With a career to date that has resulted in 21 gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums, 42 number one singles and over 73 million records sold, Alabama has received over 150 industry awards including 8 country music "Entertainer of the Year" honors, 2 Grammys, 2 People's Choice Awards and their very own star on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame." The band most recently received the Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award in 2003 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Members Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, and Jeff Cook all hail from Ft. Payne, Alabama and have enjoyed more than 30 years of unprecedented success.

About Verizon Wireless:

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest and most advanced 4G network and largest and most reliable 3G network, serving more than 104 million total connections, including 88.4 million retail customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 85,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

For more information about “BAMA RISING,” contact:

Jules Wortman

Wortman Works Media & Marketing

jwortman@wortmanworks.com/615.451.7781

Robin Oliver

Big Communications

robin@bigcom.com

or visit: www.bamarising.org

On May 8, 2011, MCA Nashville singer/songwriter Ashton Shepherd gave a sneak peak of her upcoming album, Where Country Grows, by sharing the acoustic performance of “I’m Just a Woman” for you, your website and audience in honor of Mother’s Day.

“I’m Just a Woman” focuses on the challenges and unique perspective of females. Some have already said that it is reminiscent of Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” but with a modern feel and a powerful exploration of the female point of view. Shepherd is a working mother – she has a son, James, who is five and is due with her second child in September.

“I wrote that one by myself,” Shepherd says. “I opened my diary, and I got to an entry where I was writing about feeling kind of bad, empty and sad. Right after that, I’d written, ‘Well, I guess I’m just being a woman.’ When I read that, I underlined it.

“The song doesn’t bash the man,” she says. “It’s kind of saying, ‘Buddy, I understand you pretty much 99 percent of the time. I need you to understand me, too, sometimes because I know I can be hard to deal with. I need you to work with me, here, because I feel like I work with you.’ I think it gives women a lot of credit. I think about our mommas, and it makes me get chill bumps. Because I feel like I’ve written an anthem for them.”

Where Country Grows will be released July 12. Its debut single, the sassy “Look It Up,” is currently a Top 20 hit and rising.

Click HERE to watch the video.

Shepherd’s current single, "Look It Up," from her upcoming sophomore album Where Country Grows has become the fastest-rising hit of her career. It currently sits at No. 21 on the Billboard country singles chart. It’s the much-anticipated follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, Sounds So Good, which garnered spots on many publications’ "Best of" lists.

The Wall Street Journal has called her "a potential Loretta Lynn for a new generation." She appears poised for stellar accolades for "Where Country Grows." The Washington Post has already named her one of five new artists to watch in 2011, noting, "… Shepherd has a voice that is instantly recognizable - a sharp twang that she brandishes like a weapon."

Ashton Shepherd: Attitude to Burn on 'Look It Up'

Monday, March 28, 2011 05:14 PM

Written by Rich Kienzle

MCA Nashville signed Ashton Shepherd over three years ago. The Alabama native's debut album Sounds So Good received its share of acclaim though it only reached No.16. on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart. The album's two singles, "Takin' Off This Pain," and "Sounds So Good," peaked at No. 20 and No.21, respectively. I found that surprising, since her no-bull voice, sharp and unabashedly twangy, allows her to hit a lyric head-on, as she does on her current single, "Look It Up." So far, it's reached No. 23 on the Billboard charts. Frankly, given the quality of her work, she deserves better.

Admittedly, Shepherd's sharp, in-your-face delivery might be disconcerting for those accustomed to softer voices or to Taylor Swift's broader, more diverse approach. Gretchen Wilson and Miranda Lambert fans, by contrast, should be quite comfortable with Shepherd, who some equate with a 21^st Century Loretta Lynn. Such assessments from critics, of course, have always been a dime a dozen. I've done it myself. Just pick the iconic artist for the comparison—Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson, Dolly, Reba, etc. and you're set. In Shepherd's case, however, the Loretta analogy has credence.

In anticipation of her upcoming sophomore album, MCA Nashville has issued a four song EP including "Look It Up." The song, co-written by Kentucky native Angaleena Presley and Robert Ellis Orrall, feature lyrics that gush righteous indignation; Shepherd's acerbic delivery is solidly in tradition of the Loretta standards like "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin'." It takes a certain voice and demeanor to render such tunes believable, and Shepherd's more than up to the task. Her second full-length LP, Where Country Grows, is due out June 7.

Country’s Ashton Shepherd Releases ‘Look It Up’ EP – A Sign of Great Things To Come

Written by Greg Victor in Entertainment, Music, toparticles

Ashton Shepherd – Look It Up EP
***½ (out of 4 stars)
Label: MCA Nashville

Ashton Shepherd has released a digital EP of four songs, including her current hit, “Look It Up.” It’s a four-track preview of the album yet to come, and from the sound of it – we are in for a spectacular full-length release. She has a powerful voice, a strong presence and a refreshingly rural attitude. She is bound to make a huge impression on country music this year, as more and more true country music lovers discover her.

To preview Ashton Shepherd’s new EP, Click Here.

The EP includes “That’s Where Country Grows,” the title track of her upcoming 10-song album, which will be released on June 7. It’s the much-anticipated follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, Sounds So Good, which garnered spots on several country music critics’ year-end “Best Of” lists. Ashton Shepherd received praised for that debut album, but it never quite brought her a hit single. But now she’s back… and she’s a country artist whose gifts are more than welcome on the scene.

Here’s what’s on the new EP release…
“Look it Up” (Angaleena Presley / Robert Ellis Orrall):
One of my favorite new country songs so far this year… As Ashton had said, “This song is a real-people song. People go through it every day and people want to be over it. Even the people that aren’t over it and are still clinging to something, this is the song they need to hear to lighten their minds.” This one has “hit single” written all over it. More importantly, it provides a strong introduction of Ashton Shepherd to any country music lovers who may not be familiar with her yet. The lyric gets stronger and clearer with each repeat, the guitar provides an instantly recognizable rhythm, and the message fits Ashton’s strong persona perfectly. The way the video provides a humorous interpretation of the song only adds to the song’s likeability.

Watch Ashton Sheperd’s “Look It Up” video. You’ll see (and hear) what I mean…

“That’s Where Country Grows” (Ashton Shepherd / Bobby Pinson):
This track provides a steady beat, some very cool musical phrases, and a totally upfront tribute to the God that provides all those little things that make life so extraordinary (and make folks write great country songs about). What’s sort of refreshing is that, for a song that is about being grateful to God, it’s not a ballad; it’s a rockin’ groove that really celebrates what it is singing about. When a songwriter expresses something honest in their own unique way, it usually works out best. This song is an example of all that.

“Beer on a Boat” (Rhett Akins / Dallas Davidson / Ben Hayslip):
It usually takes at least two to have a good time, doesn’t it? Well, isn’t it about time that country music had a female talking about the joys of summertime – tubing and boating on the local river, and yes, even enjoying a refreshing beer on a Saturday? With this fun song that even Kenny Chesney might want to cover, Ashton “pops-the-top” on the male monopoly of having a good time in a country song. The song has a catchy fiddle intro that leads into a Jimmy Buffett pulse and suddenly we’re into a song that is just crying out to be Ashton Shepherd’s next video release.

“More Cows Than People” (Ashton Shepherd / Bobby Pinson):
This song allows Ashton to show off an ability to kick out the lyrics with precision. It’s a quick-witted song that tells it like it is about most of the places where people live who will be turning up the volume on this song when they hear it on the radio. It’s a rural love song that places its heart out there in the land of tractors, steeples and grain elevators. When Ashton goes on tour, she will probably discover that her fans like this song more than she expects.

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Ashton Shepherd and husband Roland Cunningham are expecting their second baby this fall. The new baby will join big brother James, 5.

Country music fans met Alabama native Shepherd in 2007 when her debut single “Takin’ Off This Pain” broke the Top 20 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart. And a baby isn’t Shepherd’s only new addition — sophomore album Where Country Grows will be in stores June 7. Its lead single, “Look It Up,” is at country radio now.
-Cindy Watts