I live for these behind-the-scenes videos from Ashley McBryde.
Not only because they are entertaining to watch, but they highlight even further how she is the definition of a badass on and off the stage. From her “Made For This” YouTube series to little clips like this she puts on her social media, McBryde is an open book.
Recently, she has been getting a lot of attention because she learned ASL or sign language. From signing to a little girl’s parents that she brought on stage to signing the last few lines of “Light On In The Kitchen” during all of her shows, she has been implementing the language in many aspects of her shows for some time now whether you picked up on it or not.
“Learning ASL has been an eye opening experience for us, and I can’t wait to learn more in 2024.”
The “Whiskey And Women” singer noted in the video’s caption explaining what prompted her to learn sign language.
She notes that it all started when she had a vocal surgery, and part of her recovery was not speaking. She taught herself a few words to help her get by when asking for food, more beer, or water. After fully recovering from her surgery, she was touring during the summer and found that ASL came in handy when communicating with her crew on stage during the hot shows.
“We were on tour this summer; we were in some really hot situations where the pits were really hot, and people were passing out. And I didn’t have a way to tell my team side stage that there was an emergency. I had to stop the show, and it takes so many minutes, but if I can let them know there’s an emergency.”
She then signs a few of the words that she would communicate with her crew to note when medical attention was needed in the pit in order to keep her fans safe.
She then said that she would start to sign little phrases of thanks to people in the audience as she was performing, and she was surprised when fans would begin signing back to her, sparking the fire to want to learn more.
“People would start to sign back to me, and I didn’t know what they were saying. So now I feel rude, I don’t like that. Now I need to learn more ASL.”
Pardon my French, but that is f**king cool that she cares that much about her fan base to make sure that she knows exactly what people in the crowd are saying to her in ASL. I’m not sure there are many artists that go out of their way to learn another language to make sure they are being inclusive to everyone that is in the seats of their shows.
On the video caption, she noted that fans should leave names of ASL creators that she should check out, once again opening the door for smaller content creators to have a chance to shine.
Everything MyBryde does embodies using a platform for good, and I know I am excited to learn more about her ASL journey in 2024. Pay close attention to her hands on stage; you might pick up on a phrase or two.
