Ashley McBryde with The Delta Symphony Orchestra

Riceland Hall, The Fowler Center, Arkansas State University, October 27, 2024

This was not your typical Ashley McBryde concert.

There was not one cleverly penned Nashville anthem, for which McBryde is a master. No “Saloon Songs” as Frank Sinatra called them, no bad breakups, no hard takedowns. There were two “sets,” six songs each, separated by a 30-minute intermission. The orchestra alone introduced each set, Aaron Copeland’s “Hoe Down” from his ballet Rodeo opened the first section, with Elmer Bernstein’s “Theme From The Magnificent Seven,” beginning the second.

No, this was not your typical Ashley McBryde concert.

Nor was it ever meant to be.

The concert took place in the Riceland Hall at The Fowler Center, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, making McBryde’s appearance a homecoming of sorts. The singer attended the university to study music and even became a drum major for the marching band. McBryde had other than the traditional plans for making music. She did it the hard way: writing songs, singing to empty venues that included county fairs, basement dives, road houses, honky tonks, porch parties, and fish fries, becoming an overnight sensation after an extended period on the road.

In 2018, McBryde released her career-launching album, Girl Going Nowhere (Warner Music), leading the singer to her 2019 CMA New Female Artist Award, followed by New Artist Of The Year at the 53rd CMA Awards. The recording also brought McBryde two Grammy nominations. And that’s a long way from Waldron (Scott County) and Saddle (Fulton County) Arkansas.

The present event, many months in the making, this homecoming, was a labor of love for McBryde, Delta Symphony Orchestra director, Dr. Neale Bartee, and Professor Emeritis Dr. Tom O’Connor, who undertook the mammoth task of arranging and orchestrating the singer’s accompaniment for the orchestra. People made a big deal out of a country music artist performing with a symphony orchestra. While it may be unusual, it is certainly not unheard of.

The result was a very personal experience for McBryde and her dedicated audience. The singer opened her show with her valedictory, "Girl Goin’ Nowhere,” the song that summed up the pain and uncertainty of growth and the reward of success writ large in the faces of those who doubted her. McBryde performed her most intimately meaningful songs: “Light On In The Kitchen,” “Little Dive Bar,” “The Jacket.” the singer added “Stone” (from 2020s album Never Will), a song she has never performed live. Written for and about her deceased brother. It was the moral center of her performance.

This was not so much a performance as an experience, a fleeting nod between old friends. Ashley McBryde showed her love for her audience and her audience returned the same. This is love as close as a zip code and as warm as skin. Maybe everything will be okay.

Setlist: Orchestra Only “Hoe Down” from Rodeo. Girl Goin’ Nowhere; Radioland; Bible And A 44; Light On In The Kitchen; Little Dive Bar; Hang In There Girl; Intermission; Orchestra Only Theme From The Magnificent Seven; The Jacket; Sparrow; Never Will; Stone; Learned To Lie; Encore: Arkansas.

Musicians: Ashley McBryde: vocals, guitar; Matt Helmkamp: guitar; Caleb Hooper: bass; Quinn Hill: drums. The Delta Symphony Orchestra, Neale Bartee, conductor.

Thinking of my wife, Dana Shaw-Bailey, and how much of a part of McBryde’s audience she is.