Name a better duo than Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce…
You really can’t right now, in my very humble opinion.
The pair took home the Grammy win for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the show yesterday with “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” besting Luke Combs and Miranda Lambert, Reba and Dolly, and more.
And of course, they gave a pretty incredible speech together, summing it all up quite nicely like so:
“We won a Grammy…. holy shit!”
And in a later press interview, Ashley explained just how much the song means to her, as it was also her very first #1 at country radio last year.
It all started because she and Carly knew they wanted to work together, because they knew how good their voices would harmonize:
“This song has taken us so many places. You know, it was my first #1 and first Grammy, and we got to perform it on multiple TV moments together.
But when we sat down to write together, I knew I wanted to write with Carly, she knew she wanted to write with me.
We knew we wanted to sing with one another, ‘cuz we’re big nerds when it comes to harmony, we just really loved the way each others voices work.”
The song was included on Carly’s phenomenal 2021 album 29: Written In Stone, and is a fantastic duet co-written by Carly, Ashley and Shane McAnally.
The girls go back and forth on the ballad, realizing they’re both being cheated on by the same guy and admitting that they never thought something like that would happen to them. It’s stone cold country at its absolute best.
And Ashley admitted in the interview that it was almost a little “too close to home” for both of them, but she felt comfortable being so honest because Carly did too:
“For us to sit down and be bale to write that song… because there was a chance that that was a little too close to home, it was a little soon.
And if we’re being honest, it was a little close to home for me, but I didn’t mind being honest because Carly didn’t mind.
So we just did what felt write, we wrote the song, and then that’s what happens when you do what feels right, evidently.”
Carly had just been through a very public divorce with Michael Ray, and it sounds like Ashley was going through some heartbreak of her own…
I better not ever find out who did Miss Ashley McBryde wrong, because that’s simply unacceptable.
Like Carly mentioned in the speech, it’s great to see real country music taking home the big awards, and it couldn’t happen to two more deserving women.
And a quick side note, they both looked amazing on the red carpet and stunned in black and white dresses that were some of my favorites of the evening:
Luckily for us, Ashley also spilled that new music is already coming soon, even though she just released her Grammy-nominated album Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville in September:
“It’s time to release new music, And I know we just released ‘Lindeville’ back in September, but it’s time.
So there’s a new single coming at the end of February. More music right, ‘cuz what have I done for you lately? Let’s do some more stuff.”
Say LESS, Ashley.
I can’t wait for more new music from both of these superstar country ladies, who seemingly both have new projects coming this year.
That’s a win for all of us.
Here’s the full one-on-one interview with Ashley:
“Never Wanted To Be That Girl”
