JARED ASHLEY - CD REVIEW
By: Josh Brandon

There are two words we don't hear enough in today's state of country music: "Unapologetically Country". From the first lick of "Be Still My Broken Heart" to the last "That's Right" of "Put A Little Stank On It", Jared Ashley has absolutely showed he knows the very definition of country. It's a feeling. It's an attitude. It's a distinct sound that Jared Ashley crafts into 13 unique yet harmonious tracks. Watching Jared Ashley's beginnings of national exposure on 2006's Season 4 of Nashville Star, to the steady rise building a grassroots fanbase with fans all over, it’s time to acknowledge that Jared is ready to break through as a singer, songwriter and performer. It’s important to note that Jared Ashley has co-written 11 of the tracks on the album, this one included. There is a level of sophistication to his songwriting that not only creates an image in the listener’s mind, but evokes an emotion in their hearts while maintaining the necessary simplicity to appeal to the overall masses.

"Be Still..." is an up tempo toe tapper that sets the mood for the entire listening experience. Jared's smooth vocals and the lyrical imagery paints a picture that lets you create a video in your mind.

The sentiment behind "It's Your Fault" is genuine heartfelt one I think is relatable to a large core of the country listener. “Here’s the thing…sure, I love you…but if you weren’t so amazing, I wouldn’t be acting like an idiot.” We’ve pretty much all been there, and now we have THE song that puts us right back into that place of absolute undying love.

"A Little Change" is reminiscent of the classic story song that rivals David Ball's "Private Malone". It has the feel and flow of that very song, yet distinct enough that the comparisons cease there. The play on words is a classic theme in country music, but Ashley manages to make it a fresh message here.

“Last Train To Memphis” is a song I’ve been familiar with through his live shows and it’s one of the earlier recorded tracks on the record. If Gary Allan’s “Watching Airplanes” and Darius Rucker’s “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” set the bar for those It’s-Over-And-Not-Ready-To-Let-Go kinds of songs, then “Last Train…” can proudly stand on the stage alongside those and the others like it. This is a song that should be on the radio. It’s a song that will bring the memories flooding back of the love we DIDN’T chase down the tracks…and wish we would have.
“I Miss It Now” is the classic reminiscent song that we’re all familiar with. This is the first track on the album that Jared Ashley didn’t have a hand in writing. Doug Johnson penned this classic that harkens back to the Tracy Lawrence staple “I See It Now”. Different song, of course…but when a unique song can sell a message and at the same time trigger a memory of a song we’ve known and loved from the past, it’s the beauty of music.

“Love Take All My Money” bears a pretty steady theme in the songs Jared Ashley writes with Nick Sturms. It’s absolutely no wonder that my favourites on the album, and several of my picks for radio singles are the ones penned by the duo of Ashley/Sturms. There’s a unique groove to the song that makes you do that ‘Elvis-lip-head-bob’ the minute that first note hits. As any man who’s been scorned by expensive love, how can you NOT relate to this song?

We’re offered a brief intermission with “The Ballad Of Noodlin’ Bobby”, which is a whimsical departure from the musical flow of the album, rather taking a note from the Jerrod Niemann’s and Jamey Johnson’s of the world that create an actual listening experience for the fan as opposed to just stringing 12-14 songs together on a piece of plastic. What they have done so well is to create a theatrical affair that steps up the thought process not only for the artist, but for the listener. The interesting thing about this type of cut on an album is that it is just that…an intermission. It breaks up the momentum a bit from “Love Take All My Money” to the super smash ballad “Stained”.

“Stained” is the first album cut I was privy to hearing. Upon first listen, I rushed to get it on my radio station immediately. When we played it during WYNR’s “Test Tune” feature, where we play new songs to get the audience’s feel for it, it was a resounding and unanimous success. The stories and reaction we got from this song created more buzz than almost any song I’ve played in the two years I was there. This song is simply a hit in every sense of the word. Lyrically, sonically and vocally, this song is special and deserves national chart recognition.

You’re immediately taken into a visual roller coaster with “I Love You Man”. The song is just flat out fun. You can picture being in the bar and seeing the narrator on a stool down the bar. The song has that feel of a “Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo”, in that it displays in lyrically detail the slow progression of alcohol intake. It’s a fun ride!

“Just Like This” sets the tone for the next several songs. Anybody who follows Jared Ashley on Facebook know of his recent nuptials. Knowing the love he has for his wife Taylor, you absolutely feel the raw emotion pouring from his soul in this song. It has been the harshest criticism in some of country’s younger singer/songwriters. “How can you write about love if you’ve never really been through it?”. Jared Ashley obviously doesn’t have this problem.

“Monday Morning Church” isn’t to be confused with the Alan Jackson song of the same name. There is a “Three Wooden Crosses” feel to the song in the sense that it plays out a storyline that wraps you up and doesn’t let you go until the conclusion. It’s an absolutely heartbreaking tale of the one human being we all, as Christians, rely on for spiritual guidance…who needs a little guidance himself. It’s a reminder that we are all the same, no matter our calling…we are all human beings both capable of and desperate for love. “Monday Morning Church” is one of those songs that makes you wish you could have been in the room when it was written…because you KNOW there’s more to the story.

Quite possibly the best song on the album not written by Jared Ashley is “Knee Deep In A River”. Lee Brice is one of the co-writers and Brice’s DNA is all over this song, though Jared Ashley absolutely sells it and makes it his own. The moaning instrumental progression brings out the obvious pain and conflict expressed by the narrator in the love lost. It’s somewhere almost every one of us has been. However, the lyrical genius of the hook line “Standing knee deep in a river dying of thirst” absolutely reaches into your chest…grabs hold of your soul and twists it in the best possible way. It is a fantastic emotional experience, but maybe not the way you want to end a listening experience. Maybe the better way would be to wrap up this album with one of Jared Ashley’s most popular live concert tracks, “Put A Little Stank On It”. This has been one of my favourites as well. “Stank” is an Ashley/Sturms writing effort, joined by Bobby Terry who also had a hand in “I Love You Man”. You get that party, feel good feel all the way through. It’s pure, jamming and rambunctious fun and a PERFECT way to end the album.

The beauty of the art Jared Ashley is able to create is that he balances the fine line of a heavy, emotional song like “Last Train…”, “Be Still…”, “Stained” or “Knee Deep…”, but has the flexibility and versatility to hit the fun, party songs like “I Love You Man”, “Love Take….” and “Stank”.

With Jared Ashley’s live shows being the production they are…with the crowd interaction and just the raucous manner in which Jared and his band entertain a crowd, there were several songs I had concerns about translating to album cuts. You see a song performed live enough, with reaction and energy…it’s difficult to get that same mojo to really spill out into the studio. With his debut self-titled album, Jared Ashley has succeeded in creating an album of unique and distinct sounding songs, while generating a flow of emotion and sentiment that is at very least on-par with some of the biggest names in Nashville, if not flat out plowing through the pack and defining his own personality. Download the album now…so you can be like the legion of Zac Brown Band/Brantley Gilbert/Jerrod Niemann fans that grabbed a hold on the rise up and were there for the entire ride. He’s come a long way since Nashville Star, yes. I said the same thing on April 18th, 2006 as I watched Jared Ashley eliminated from the Top 5 as I did 3 years earlier when Miranda Lambert was cut loose from the Top 3: “This may not be their time…but they’re going to be a superstar one day”. Miranda’s time was few years ago. Jared’s time is now.