Like a Rose<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\tBut still, she felt unseen by Nashville. The moment that brought everything into focus came at a Nashville music industry event last fall.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThey were celebrating people, and I honestly tried not to think about it because awards and all that doesn\u2019t really mean anything to me, but everyone likes to feel seen and valued,\u201d Monroe tells Billboard<\/em>. \u201cBut at this certain event, it was like, \u2018Man, it\u2019d be nice to be seen or celebrated,\u2019 all the things that the people there were being, and they deserve to have it. It just hit me, like, \u2018I\u2019m not on that level. I don\u2019t think they see people like me.\u2019 It caught me off guard in how much it hurt my feelings or affected me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tThose feelings resurfaced as she prepared for a writing session with writer-producer Luke Laird (Kacey Musgraves, Eric Church) just days later.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was still rattled,\u201d she says. \u201cI opened my laptop and just typed out \u2018I hate Nashville. I\u2019ve tried and tried, it just takes the best\u2026\u2019 I was just free flowing and let myself type it all out, how I was feeling about the industry. I went to Luke\u2019s, he asked what I wanted to write, and I said, \u2018Well, the only thing I wrote this morning was \u201cI hate Nashville.\u201d\u2019 He instantly got it. I hadn\u2019t written with Luke in a long time, but looking back, it was really divine timing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat moment was the creative spark behind \u201cI Hate Nashville,\u201d and within three months became the emotional thread for the full-fledged Dear Nashville<\/em>. Monroe recorded most of the vocals on the same day each song was written, a choice she made \u201cbecause it was so organic and personal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tLike the rest of the album, \u201cI Hate Nashville\u201d features the musicianship of revered steel guitarist Paul Franklin, who has played on albums by Keith Whitley, George Jones, Kane Brown, Gill and Riley Green. Monroe also namechecks Franklin alongside Gill in the song.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe had a video of Paul hearing [his name in the song] for the first time in the studio,\u201d she says. \u201cHe looked up at me and I could cry even thinking about that. I\u2019m like, \u2018You are so much of this town. Everybody needs to know your name and what you\u2019ve done.\u2019 But he\u2019s so humble and he just shows up and does the work and plays perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDear Nashville<\/em> feels conversational and vulnerable, while also reverential of the kinds of classic country sounds Monroe loves. Songs including \u201cGettin\u2019 Out of Hand\u201d and \u201cHaving It Bad\u201d chronicle the highs and lows of chasing a music career in a city that can elevate an artist or songwriter as easily as it can overlook them. Even though Monroe has written or co-written hit country songs including \u201cThe Truth\u201d (Jason Aldean), \u201cFlat on the Floor\u201d (Carrie Underwood) and \u201cHeart Like Mine\u201d (Lambert), she also knows all too well the struggles creatives face in a fickle industry.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cEven just the \u2018fame game\u2019 of trade up for the most famous person \u2014 helping young artists when they come to town and then they get a little bit of success and then you\u2019re left in the mud,\u201d she says. \u201cOr someone else more famous comes along and even in the songwriter circles, everybody\u2019s your friend and loves you until there\u2019s someone [else] that they\u2019re writing with and they kind of block you out. I mean, there\u2019s all these different angles I have experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe album\u2019s \u201cQuittin\u2019\u201d makes it clear that ultimately, Monroe\u2019s passion for music overrides the disillusioned moments.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI never doubt if I\u2019m supposed to be doing this,\u201d she says. \u201cNo stream or sales or anything could prevent me from doing this. The business side bogs you down and makes you think, \u2018Have I done all this for nothing? What am I doing?\u2019 But my thought process never gets past that because I couldn\u2019t do anything else. If I\u2019m making music, I\u2019m in a state of joy. It might not make me a hefty living, but it is the only job I\u2019ve ever had. It\u2019s kept me floating for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Monroe shared her feelings in that Instagram post, numerous artists chimed in with words of support and shared their own feelings of being overlooked. LeAnn Rimes commented, \u201cDo your words ever hit home,\u201d while Martina McBride replied, \u201cI cannot wait for this!\u201d Singer-songwriter Jennifer Wayne (known for her work as part of Runaway June) commented, \u201cI think so many people feel this way, Ashley, I know I do,\u201d while Priscilla Block said she admired Monroe for \u201cyour daringness to say things that some people wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat began as a personal reckoning showed itself to be a universal experience.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI had a friend who is an amazing comedian and actress in Los Angeles, and she called me yesterday, saying she feels that way in Hollywood,\u201d Monroe recalls. \u201cShe said, \u2018Even if you don\u2019t live in Nashville, a lot of people in the business of the arts can feel that in their own way.\u2019 One of my dear friends is a vintage store owner and relates to it in another way. Writers, publicists, publishers, makeup artists, there\u2019s so many people that feel this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile Dear Nashville<\/em> serves as a musical vessel funneling the frustrations of so many creators, Monroe also acknowledges she\u2019s seeing change, particularly for women executives in Nashville.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cI\u2019m seeing a lot more women make huge impacts. A lot of women execs and badass publishers like Jessi Vaughn Stevenson [a former vice president at Monroe\u2019s music publishing home at Warner Chappell Music Nashville and who now leads Perfect Game Creative]. I\u2019m seeing a lot of women up there and I like seeing it. I wish we wouldn\u2019t have to sometimes close one door to open another one. There\u2019s enough room for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tLooking ahead, Monroe has more to say and more to create. She\u2019s preparing for a run of performances supporting Stephen Wilson Jr., and hints at other projects waiting in the wings.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve got so many things that I\u2019m excited about, I\u2019ll just have to bite my tongue,\u201d she says, adding she has no immediate plans for a new Pistol Annies project. \u201cThe Annies have so many songs that we\u2019ve written over the past few years, and hopefully we can just get together and write soon, just to stir those muses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRegardless of what form those creative impulses take, Monroe is keeping the ultimate recognition in mind.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI live to have my music help somebody else get through whatever or feel something that helps heal something inside of them. It\u2019s more powerful than any award, to feel like something you\u2019ve made has resonated,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.billboard.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNothing has inspired me more, or hurt me more, than this place,\u201d three-time Grammy nominee and Tennessee native Ashley Monroe wrote in a bold, vulnerable Instagram post last week, taking aim at Music City and expressing both her devotion to the music that brought her to Nashville, as well as her discontent with the heart-crushing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2354449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[309228],"class_list":["post-2354448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-genre-country"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Ashley-Monroe-Opens-Up-About-Vulnerable-New-Album-Dear-Nashville.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2354448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2354450,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354448\/revisions\/2354450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2354449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2354448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2354448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2354448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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