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Premiere: Ashley McBryde's "Martha Divine" Is Still Powerful, "Live From A Distance"

The passionate anthemic story song receives a live treatment in tune with the pandemic era

Friday, May 28 marks the release of Ashley McBryde's six-song EP Never Will: Live From A Distance Taking six of the stronger performance tracks from her April 2020-released album nominated for both the Grammy Award for Best Country Album and the Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year, the EP marks the first time McBryde and her band "saw each other in person for months."

Regarding her inspiration for the September 2020-released album single, McBryde told American Songwriter that she explained the following to co-writer Jeremy Spillman about the song that tells the tale of a vengeful daughter of a mother being cheated on, who is "a little bit crazy...Bible-beating and protective of her mother." The vocalist continues regarding her conversation with Spillman saying, "[I told him] you know what, I love the way divine sounds. That’s fun to sing, so we should just make up a story, and we could do a sort of Jolene thing. Instead of singing ‘Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, please don’t take my man.’ What if we said, ‘Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, I’m coming after you with a shovel.'"

This version of barreling barnstormer "Divine" offers fans "a taste of what they would have seen had the world not changed so much," she notes. "Man, did it feel good to strap on the guitar and see my guys and just play, but we cannot wait to do it again with our incredible fans in person soon."

So far, 2021 has seen McBryde live on many television programs, including "Martha Divine" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

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