Ashley McBryde Delights Prestonsburg Alongside Nicholas Jamerson At The Mountain Arts Center

Tonight’s near-capacity show at the Mountain Arts Center saw Ashley McBryde bringing her Girl Going Nowhere Tour into East Kentucky along with Prestonsburg’s own Nicholas Jamerson. It is always good to be back at one of my favorite venues in east Kentucky, well for that matter not just Kentucky but just about anywhere. In my opinion, you would be hard-pressed to find a better thousand seat venue than the Mountain Arts Center. Beautiful building, top-notch staff and incredible sound and lights! But enough of that, let’s talk about tonight’s music.

As I said earlier Nicholas Jamerson is from right here in the city of Prestonsburg, he’s covered a lot of miles since he left Prestonsburg all those years ago to be back home and performing on this stage tonight. I’ve had the pleasure to photograph him several times both as a member of the successful duo Sundy Best and as a solo artist. I commented to someone recently that this show was the best I’ve heard him sound in a long time, he truly seemed to be enjoying himself on the MAC stage tonight! He and his all-star band had the home crowd dancing, singing, whooping and hollering throughout the set! With songs like Floyd County All-Star, Going Back To Pikeville, Rhonda, and Kitchen that he wrote in his kitchen one day hence the name and he closed the night with one of my favorites Hindman. Nicholas was the perfect choice to open this show! Check his social media to see where he’s playing next.

The crowd was buzzing with excitement waiting for Ashley McBryde to take the MAC stage. They were excited for good reason, Ashley McBryde is the real deal! No “pop” country here just good solid country music. Her fans aren’t the only ones taking notice, with a slew of award nominations; nominated for ACM 2019 Female Vocalist of the Year, nominated and won AMC 2019 New Female Vocalist of the Year, Nominated Grammy Awards for 2019 Best Country Album, nominated and won CMT Music Award for 2019 Breakthrough Video of the Year Girl Goin’ Nowhere. To say she’s had a good year is an understatement and judging from the excitement here in the MAC tonight that good year isn’t letting up any time soon.

When Ashley took the stage that excitement that had been building exploded into pure joy for the fans and it seemed for the artist herself. She hit the stage all smiles and I don’t think that smile left her face the entire set! A set that included her hit song and title track of the tour and album Girl Goin’ Nowhere, she shared a little of the back story into the name of the song and her school teacher that let’s say wasn’t very encouraging about her chosen career path. Girl Goin’ Nowhere isn’t the only hit song from her debut album though, she didn’t leave out A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega which was the first single released from her latest album. She talked about the songs, interacted with the crowd and even took some pictures with a few. One, in particular, a lady that had on a jean jacket with Ashley’s picture on the back was at the stage taking a picture during The Jacket, Ashley saw her and came to the edge of the stage to take a picture with her, made that fan’s night I’m sure! A few other songs she performed for the enthusiastic MAC crowd were American Scandal, Livin’ Next to Leroy and Bible and a .44 and several more.

If you are a fan of real country music, do not pass on Ashley McBryde. Go see her, hear her sing, see the joy on her face as she sings. You’ll leave a fan, as I did!