Ashland Craft’s Newest Single “Make It Past Georgia” Is A Good Old Fashioned Country Heartbreak Song

Ashland Craft is gearing up to release her debut album, Travelin’ Kind.

It’s set to hit shelves on September 3rd, but the Piedmont, South Carolina, native is already giving us a sneak-peek at what’s to come with the first single from the record, “Make It Past Georgia.”

The new track is a heartbreak country anthem if I’ve ever heard one. She finds herself missing an ex from Georgia more than she ever thought she would, and for some reason, all the other guys she’s dated from places all over the south just don’t compare.

There’s something so unique about the sense of place in the south, and I love the creativity in how she used each city or state a guy she dated was from as their name, then detailed some of the special (or not-so-special) things about each relationship in terms of how it related to his respective hometown.

It kind of reminds me a little bit of The Pistol Annie’s song “Boys from the South,” in that it’s a similar concept with opposite meaning.

The Annie’s detail all the things they love about different guys from places all over the south in their song, while Ashland’s is about breaking up and hanging on to something even when you can’t quite figure out why you want to yourself.

The chorus explains just how easy it was for her to leave all the other guys behind compared to the one from the peach state:

“And I left Texas in the red dirt dust
It was easy leavin’ Louisiana
I hit eighty in a fifty-five
Just tryin’ to cross that ‘Bama line
Don’t miss a thing about Mississippi
Carolina keeps callin’ me
But I can’t seem to make it past Georgia”

Her raspy, gritty vocals lend so well to a breakup song, too, and it’s definitely one of those tracks you want to turn all the way up and scream-sing at the top of your lungs… even if you haven’t broken up with anyone. It’s way more fun that way, though, isn’t it?

And, if her name sounds familiar, you might recognize it from Season 13 of NBC’s The Voice, where she placed in the Top 10 in 2017. She was also featured on Hardy’s song “So Close” last year.

With this being the lead single, I’m really excited to hear what else she has in store for the rest of the record. She told American Songwriter that she wanted a more old school country sound on this project, and it’s music to my ears (pun very much intended):

“I’m proud of the fact that it’s organic and a little more old school than the modern country in the way we produced it.

We didn’t use any tracks or extra things. We just let the music speak for itself. And, I feel like it turned out to represent me very well and who I am, and I’m excited for people to get to hear it and connect to it.”

This one’s gonna be good.

“Make It Past Georgia”

And, an acoustic version of the previously-unreleased song, because every great one always sounds better stripped-down like this:

‘Travlin’ Kind’ Tracklist:

1. “Travelin’ Kind” (Ashland Craft, Erik Dylan)
2. “Your Momma Still Does” (Jenna LaMaster, Jonathan Singleton)
3. “Leavin’ You Again” (Ashland Craft, Jenna LaMaster, Faren Rachels)
4. “Make It Past Georgia” (Ashland Craft, Reid Isbell, Willie Morrison)
5. “Last 20 Dollars” (Ashland Craft, Wyatt Beasley Durrette, III, Jonathan Singleton)
6. “Highway Like Me (feat. Marcus King)” (Ashland Craft, Jessi Alexander, Reid Isbell)
7. “Mimosas In The Morning” (Ashland Craft, Jessie Jo Dillon, Jonathan Singleton)
8. “Day By Day” (Tori Allen, Corey Grogan)
9. “Letcha Fly” (Ashland Craft, Willie Morrison, Lee Starr)
10. “Come Down” (Ashland Craft, Adam Hood, Rob Snyder)
11. “That’s The Kinda Place” (Ashland Craft, Rodney Clawson, Jonathan Singleton)

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