Review: ASHLEY MCBRYDE: THE DEVIL I KNOW TOUR at Robinson Center

When I am not able to attend a show, I am grateful that I have talented friends who can fill in for me. Broadway World would like to thank MC Blake Woodson for writing this review. We would also like to thank Katie Kauss of Katie Kauss photography for these beautiful pictures!  

This article was submitted by Blake Woodson  

ASHLEY MCBRYDE, Arkansas native and award-winning country singer from Waldron, performed in the capitol city Sunday, Oct. 15, at Robinson Center, to an enamored fan base. Along with JD Clayton, Ashley's special guest, The Devil I know Tour was one that I have waited a long time to see, and from the looks of this crowd, I'm not the only one.  

From the mid-2000s to mid-2010s, Ashley McBryde may have not been an American household name like she is today, but she was very well known in Central Arkansas. I used to go see her in small places like Reno's Cafe in North Little Rock and book her on every country show I could (at that time I was the Country Promotions Director for Clear Channel Radio). She definitely had a local following and filled up the venues on a regular basis.

   Skip ahead a few years later, McBryde is a Grammy Award Winner with six Grammy nominations, a Country Music Association Award Winner, and a three-time Academy of Country Music Awards winner and still filling up venues, albeit, on a much larger scale. She was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in December of 2022. She has come a long way since the days of playing to a few loyal fans in the bars of Central Arkansas back 10 to 15 years ago.  

So, let’s start with Ashley’s special guest for the evening, JD Clayton, who is the 2023 Arkansas Country Music Award winner for Americana Artist of the Year. JD graduated from Fort Smith Southside and The University of Arkansas Fort Smith. During the concert, Ashley said the advice that she was originally given for choosing an opener was, “terrible, it’s terrible.” So, Ashley tells the band, “Hey, everybody look at this list and pick three names, and we are going to listen to a verse and chorus.  If we love that verse and chorus, we’ll listen to the entire song and another song.  As that boils down, we are going to figure out who we want to be on the road with.  So, on purpose, we loved JD’s music.”  And so did I.    

JD and his 3 band mates -- Guitar: Bo Aleman (Covington, Louisiana) Bass: Lee Williams (Bolin Greene, KY) Drums: Kirby Bland (Fort Smith, AR) -- walked on stage at exactly 8pm without an intro, no DJ from a radio station introducing them, no musical intro, just four guys walking up, plugging in and start playing to the thousands in attendance.  JD Clayton and his guys played 8 songs over the next 40 minutes.  Those songs included Beauty Queen, Goldmine, American Millionaire, Give Me One Reason (Tracy Chapman cover or Luke Combs, lol), Brown Haired Blue Eyed Baby, Long Way From Home, Heartaches After Heartbreak, and Arkansas Kid. And with a thank you, they walk off the stage much the same as they walked on but with a much bigger roar from the crowd, as they had just made a lot of new fans.  And yes, I am one of them.   

I’m not surprised that I am a new fan, because he has a Rock ‘N’ Roll element to his music.  It has some Americana mixed with southern rock.  I loved it, especially Brown Haired Blue Eyed Baby, which is a song he wrote about his wife who he met his senior year of high school at Fort Smith Southside. The really cool thing about this song is they blended the Steve Miller Band song, The Joker, into the song flawlessly.   

Another song that I loved, and I am kicking myself for not buying a t-shirt with the logo and words from that song, is Arkansas Kid. A song that JD took from the Ronnie Van Zant song, Mississippi Kid, and changed the words to what we love and what he obviously loves, which is our home State of Arkansas. Jd says that they call Ft. Smith the 3rd largest City in Oklahoma, and they don't like that too much. Such a true Arkansan. You gotta love him.    

One other song that I really liked, and want to make note of, is Long Way From Home.  JD said that he moved to Nashville and then Covid hit. He got a job at a landscape company and while working there, he wrote songs in the back of the truck while two Mexicans, whose names I do not remember, where driving. And from those songs came the album, A Long Way from Home and this was the title track from that album.    

After the show, JD and his band were at their merch table signing autographs, taking pictures, and visiting with everyone who wanted to meet them.  I know that if the Robinson Center would have let them, they would have stayed there all night meeting everyone. He was such a great guy and great singer and a perfect support act for anyone until he gets his shot, which won't be long. Ashley picked a good one.    

After a 20-minute break, the lights go out followed by 20 seconds of darkness and silence, except for all the fans screaming. Then we hear a prerecorded version of Ashley’s song, Devil I Know. The fans started singing with it immediately. From the darkness, Ashley McBryde appears in black leather pants, a black shirt with silver tassel on the neck, sparkly see-through sleeves and, of course, black boots which I am sure are Ariat. Then the band breaks into Blackout Betty.  Ashley reaches her hand to the right and her guitar tech is right there handing her guitar in a flawless exchange.  It was truly a great entrance.    

To open, she played two songs, Blackout Betty and One Night Standards. Then Ashley steps to the stage left of her mic stand, puts her hand on the top of it and says, "Well hello. Welcome to the Robinson Center." “Well, it’s nice to be…..(sorry, everyone is cheering so loud, I could not understand what she says here, but then she says her name)….. Ashley. These are the men I make music with, and this is Country Music.”  The band resumes with Brenda Put your Bra On, and two of the biggest cup size bras I think I have ever seen comes flying on the stage.  During the song, Ashley picks up one of the bras, flings it around, and then puts it on the neck of the guitar her guitarist is playing.  I’m dying laughing at this point.  I’m laughing even now as I am thinking about it, so let’s continue on while I compose myself a little. So, at the close of Brenda Put Your Bra On, Ashley says, “Ladies, look at you.  You look great,” which I mention, because the audience was about 75% female, and like my daughter said, the men that were there, were there with their wives.   

There wasn’t that huge of a “Country” style going on with the audience, which was pointed out to me in a post from another one of my friends in attendance who was telling yet another friend of mine, that they were the only two there wearing cowboy hats. But I digress, on with the show….   

Ashley continues with Whiskey And Country Music and Single At The Same Time. Then the piano player does a couple of lines from the church hymn, Nothing but the Blood, and she goes into Ain't Enough Water in the River, Made For This, and Girl Going Nowhere.  

During Girl Going Nowhere, when they get to the part of the Chorus that says, “I hear the crowd,” the audience breaks out in a deafening roar. I had to mention that, because I thought it was one of the coolest moments.   

Then, they move onto First Thing I Reach For, and at this point, Ashley let’s everyone know that she has something going on with her voice stemming from playing at the Grand Ole Opry the night before.  She says, “if she chips a note, she chips a note, but she is going to have used every stitch of her vocal cords she has.”  That’s dedication to her fans, and as a side note, right before that song, she signs "you're beautiful" in American Sign Language. I have known Ashley for years and did not remember she is fluent in sign language.  That was really cool to me.    

Her next song Cool Little Bar was written with her friend, Lainey Wilson. Ashley says they “were really just complaining that there was nowhere to go after we write a song that day, because all the cool places now have rooftops and are completely uninhabitable.” She continues, saying “But before we do this song tonight, I’d like to name at least one that I played here. It’s so nice looking out and seeing faces that I use to play to in the bars. Thank you for sticking with me for all these years....places like Reno’s with the bathroom all the way in the back and where the bartender can mix a drink and whip some ass at the same time.”  I don’t remember it being that kind of bar back then, but Reno’s was definitely a Cool Little Bar. 

 After that song, she went into Learned to Lie and Women Ain’t Whiskey. Here, Ashley tells a story I found really interesting. I’m not going to quote it all, but she says that at sound check when she “started freaking out,” because “I was losing her voice,” Ashely Facetimed Martina McBride, because she trusts her advice.  Martina’s advice was “Honey, the best thing you can do is lett’em know there is something going on in your throat,” but like my daughter said, “For someone who doesn’t have a voice, she sure had a voice.”  

The band moves into Sparrow, Sixth of October, Coldest Beer in Town, and El Dorado. From there she states, “I don't know how much throat I have left, but I know how much I'm going to use.”  Still, I know I was not the only one who could not tell anything is wrong with her voice.  

Getting closer to the end, she launches into A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega, Tired of Being Happy, and Light On in the Kitchen, which my daughter was singing every word to this song, along with Ashley and every fan in Robinson Center.  It brought a tear to my eye. This is someone who I was once close to, and 15 years later, my 19-year-old daughter is singing every word of one of her songs.  That hit me. It’s probably my favorite moment of the show.   

At the close of that song, Ashley says, "And we leave you with this," and finishes with The Devil I Know. There is no encore. The band takes a well deserved bow together and exits the stage to the Semisonic’s song, Closing Time. As Ashley is leaving, she uses her ASL skills to thank the crowd, which impressed me and my daughter who is fluent in sign language. That just added another wonderful impression of what Ashley has become.    

Speaking of impressive skills, the band were incredibly tight.  And from what Ashley said about them, there is a good reason for them being so tight.  Ashley’s Band members have been playing their instruments since they were children, and consists of four amazingly talented musicians: Caleb Hooper, Bass; Quinn Hill, Mt Home boy on the drums; Andrew Sovine, Guitar; Chris Harris, Guitar and Mandolin; and Matt Helmkamp, Guitar.  At one point, Ashley points out that the band that is on stage are the same musicians that are on the record, and after Ashley shares how talented of a band she has, she tells everyone how grateful they are to still be doing what they love. She says, “So, those kids get to stand on the stage every night, and it’s because you came in the door." 

Then she continues with what brings back a lot of memories for me, “And you have been coming in the door since I was at Hardriders, and since I was at Goal Post, and since I was at the pizza place over by …(not sure what she says here over the crowd noise).. and since I was at Renos....since I was at Rudy's.... since I was at Scatchimo's.” She then thanks everyone and mentions that there is a lot of family there in the audience, and she gives a shout out to KSSN for always being there for her. It was easy to be there for her. We all knew she would make it and that she would be huge and look at her now. As my friend, Carry Williams said when I saw him after the show, “she sure has come a long ways since the Goal Post days.”  

 And that, she has.  For me, on a personal note, I cannot express how proud of Ashley I am. She has come so far from the local "girl goin' nowhere," playing in "cool little bars" in Central Arkansas. I am fortunate that I had the opportunity to manage, and though it was for an extremely short time, I feel like I was still the "Luckiest S.O.B." for the short time I had. I am so glad that she has been so successful. Ashley was made for this, and after seeing her at Robinson, I am delighted that all of her hard work has paid off to a degree that I know she would never have imagined back then.   

Ashley, if this article somehow finds its way to you, I just want you to know, I always knew you could do it and am so happy to be a part of your journey to such monstrous success. You will achieve so much more. The universe and beyond is the limit. "Hang in there, girl." You’ll see, AND that was one kick @$$ show! 

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