For higher or worse (at the very least commercially), Ashley Monroe has by no means been beholden to 1 style. Over 5 albums, she gamely flitted between basic and business nation earlier than shifting on to string-laced retro balladry and polished indie pop. The outcomes have been largely glorious and sometimes distinctive—as with 2015’s The Blade and its even higher 2018 follow-up, Sparrow. That willingness to comply with her eclectic preferences has made her one in every of trendy Nashville’s most unpredictable, advanced and satisfying abilities.
4 years faraway from her battle with a uncommon blood most cancers, Monroe brings all of it collectively on the brand new Tennessee Lightning. The sprawling, 17-song assertion of self covers all of the earlier stylistic bases and provides a number of extra flavors to the pot, together with the bouncy, Seaside Boys-inspired “Scorching Rod Pipe Dream” and the Despair-era gospel hymn “Jesus Maintain My Hand.” There’s additionally this austere model of Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Means To Say Goodbye,” carried solely by Monroe’s achingly understated vocals.
“I’ve recognized and beloved this tune for a very long time,” says Monroe of Cohen’s 1967 basic. “However some time again, I used to be going via a season in my life the place it was actually the one factor I may take heed to. I lastly picked up a guitar at (producer) Gena Johnson’s studio and began singing it—and she or he captured it in a single take. Leonard Cohen‘s birthday was yesterday, and this tune feels much more well timed now than it ever has. Within the midst of all of the heaviness, generally there’s a fantastic gentle in letting ourselves really feel it.”
We’re proud to premiere Ashley Monroe’s “That’s No Means To Say Goodbye.” (Monroe dropped the “Hey” from the title of Cohen’s unique.)
—Hobart Rowland
See Ashley Monroe reside.
