On the Cover – Ashton Shepherd

February/March 2008 – February/March 2008—CRS Issue

Label: MCA Nashville
Booking: Joey Lee, 360 Artist Agency
Producers: Buddy Cannon
Current Single: “Takin’ Off This Pain”
Current Album: Sounds So Good
Current Video: “Takin’ Off This Pain”

Birth Date: August 16
Interesting Facts: Ashton Shepherd wrote all of the songs on Sounds So Good before she turned 21.
Musical Influences: Patsy Cline

Ashton Shepherd’s songwriting is as direct as her personality. You won’t hear many “kiss-off” songs with more sass and attitude than her first single “Takin’ Off This Pain.” The tracks on her debut album range from feisty to fun, from classic-sounding “weepers” that could have been written a generation ago to steel-drenched love ballads. Many of the songs are snapshots of her life, such as “Pickin’ Shed,” about the cabin behind her house where she, her husband and brother-in-law play guitar and sing into the night.

“This is what I was born to do...I didn’t just teach myself to sing. I’ve always sung,” she says. “The songwriting is the same. As soon as I was big enough to write on paper, I was coming up with stuff. I entered my first country showdown when I was eight years old. I sang ‘Crazy’ and ‘Walkin’ After Midnight’ by Patsy Cline ...and all of hers. I just thought her voice and everything about her was so awesome and unique.”

As a child, Ashton sang classic country tunes at local fairs, benefit shows and community events. When she was 14, her older brothers urged her to take up the guitar. About a year later her parents, musicians themselves, funded an album recorded at Alabama group member Jeff Cook’s studio in Ft. Payne, Alabama.

“The local playing was great but I wanted a career. I wanted to put my music out there. But we didn’t know what to do. I used to talk to my husband about it. I would get depressed, because I felt like the good Lord had given me this talent, but I wasn’t doing anything with it. Then one day all of this just happened.”

In June 2006, she won a talent contest and the prize was opening for Lorrie Morgan. A record producer at the show invited her to come to Nashville to record. By August she was in Music City, where a phone call to an attorney’s office led her to producer and guitarist Jerry Kennedy. Eventually his son, Shelby Kennedy, brought Ashton to MCA. Less than a year after she arrived in Nashville, Sounds So Good was complete.

“Everybody has said they’ve never seen anything happen like this,” says the honky-tonk Cinderella. “I can’t wait to meet people and for people to meet me. I hope everybody connects with my music as well as Nashville has. I think people will feel the realness in my songs. I’ve always dreamed of this ride I’m about to take. I feel as blessed as I’ve ever felt in my life.”