aSHLEY MONROE - DEAR NASHVILLE

Dear Nashville | Ashley Monroe

Ashley Monroe has spent nearly 25 years building a life and career in Nashville, writing songs, making records, and earning the respect of her peers. But even with all she’s accomplished, Monroe has often felt invisible in the very town she’s devoted her life to. On her surprise-released album Dear Nashville, she puts those conflicted feelings front and center.

“I had a writing session on the books with Luke and I’d woken up that morning with a storm in my heart, like, ‘My gosh, have I done this all for nothing?’” she says. “When I got to Luke's house that day, I knew I had to address my hurt feelings and get it out of my system. I told him the idea of ‘I Hate Nashville’ and he loved it. That song put everything into motion. We felt the window of all the muses open, and decided that I’m going to say what I feel and make it a whole project.”

What started as one song quickly became something much bigger.

Together, Monroe and Laird co-wrote and co-produced all eight tracks, building an eight-song concept album in sequence, and the fastest record she’s ever made.

“I've proven myself in Nashville. I was born to do this, and I show up and deliver. But something hit me all at once. I thought, ‘Oh, they’re never going to see me,’” Monroe says. “I realized that my feelings had been hurt.”

Dear Nashville isn’t bitter. It’s an artist speaking up, honoring what she’s built while still reaching for more.

As she writes in an open letter to Nashville accompanying the album: “If someone is hurting us, and we don’t let them know, isn’t that on us?”

“There’s a lot of things that happen in this business that can take an emotional toll on you,” she says. “People will tell me, ‘You're my favorite singer in Nashville.’ But then you’ll also have a new artist, who you poured your heart and soul into, go on to dump you when they start making it and don’t need you anymore.”

Those emotions come through immediately in “I Hate Nashville,” a title that masks her deep love for the genre. “Country music is the reason I’m alive,” she declares.

“I hate Nashville/‘cause I’ve tried and tried and tried/You give and break/and it just takes/the best years of your life,” she sings. “Paul Franklin playin’ steel/God knows I love Vince Gill/But I hate Nashville.”

The song that started it all set the tone for the entire project, with Monroe and Laird writing the album in sequence from that first session forward.

“The music is what brings most songwriters to this town, but when it comes to the business, that’s when people can get burned out,” Laird says. “Ashley and I talked that day about our love for country music, the songs, and the people. We had such a good day talking about all of our favorite Nashville memories and what led us both here. I love how honest Ashley is in her writing and just how pure her singing is. She really is the triple threat: artist, songwriter, and producer.”

While Dear Nashville is a concept record about Monroe’s professional relationship with Nashville, it also doubles as a romantic record, one that probes the timeless topic of unrequited love. “The bottom line of the album,” Monroe says, “is I wish you loved me like I love you.”

The album closes with “Quittin’,” but the title is a feint. Monroe isn’t going anywhere.

She’s not asking for anything. She’s just finally saying it, and letting the music carry the weight of it.