Ashton Shepherd Sets Sophomore Release
It’s been three years since Ashton Shepherd released her debut album to promising critical acclaim. Now, she is heading into her sophomore album for MCA Nashville with rising single “Look It Up” leading the way (No. 19 on MusicRow’s Country Breakout Chart). It is the first song she recorded for the new project and has become the fastest-rising hit of her career.
Her second album, Where Country Grows, will be released July 12. She wrote or co-wrote 8 of the 10 songs on the project, teaming with top-notch tunesmiths like Dean Dillon, Dale Dodson, Bobby Pinson and Troy Jones. She also wrote two of the album’s most powerful songs “I’m Just a Woman” and “Rory’s Radio” by herself.
Shepherd reunited with producer Buddy Cannon for the latest album. The two worked together on her 2008 debut, Sounds So Good.
The Alabama native will perform the national anthem at the Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Talladega, AL on Sunday, April 17, set to be nationally televised on FOX.
The album isn’t the only new thing Shepherd has in the works—she’s expecting her second child this fall.
I heard Ashton in the round recently (literally, too, I guess, although she didn’t tell us she was pregnant until the end), and she struck me as one of the few singers who could appeal to classic and contemporary country fans alike, and even cross over into Americana. Her writing and delivery are riveting, powerful, and feel like the truth. A real artist.