Ashland Craft is one of the breakout stars to emerge in Nashville over the past year. Tomorrow, she will release her debut album – Travelin Kind – including the breakout single ‘Make It Past Georgia.’ Pre-save/listen to the record here.
Big Loud recording artist Ashland Craft will release her debut album – Travelin’ Kind – tomorrow that is poised to be one of the breakthrough albums of the year, if not one of the albums of the year, positioning Craft as a formidable vocalist and storyteller, one who can not be boxed into a single genre. The record is a story of an independent woman finding her place in the world, a woman who is many things, at once a hopeless romantic and an independent rolling stone.
As soon as the meaty instrumentation opens ‘Travelin’ Kind,’ Craft invites the listener to buckle in for a unique Southern-rock, powerful gritty country ride. Singleton’s layered instrumentation is a masterstroke creating a lush and verdant for this sonorous track, as Craft sings about being a rolling stone, ‘I wasn’t made for the settlin’ down.. I guess I’ll always be the travelin’ kind.’ It’s an idea brought back on later track ‘Leavin You Again’ layered with a majestic fiddle part. From the off, Craft indulges in her gypsy spirit and the grit that she employs in her vocal is deeply enticing and compelling carried through into following track ‘Your Mama Still Does.’ Here, Craft sings about a mom apologising for the way that her son acted in ending a relationship. ‘You don’t even think about pickin’ up the phone / You don’t even think about sayin’ you were wrong / You don’t even miss what me and you had / Yeah, I bet you don’t even think about that / You don’t even call me sayin’ you’re sorry / And you messed up / But your mama still does.’ It’s a free-flowing melody that is intoxicating, not least through the power of Craft’s vocal in simultaneously showing vulnerability and power. It is a mark of Craft’s own sense of her own artistry that this was one of the only external cuts on the record (Jenna LaMaster and Jonathan Singleton) fitting seamlessly in the fabric of the rest of the project.
Elsewhere, Craft reveals a softer side to her Southern-rock sound, not least on ‘Make It Past Georgia.’ It’s a more emotional track, about the ease of moving on from some relationships but not others. The power of Craft’s vocal is its ability to reveal a real intimacy even in tracks like these that bear a meaty Southern rock production, she is capable of real nuance of emotion, showing vulnerability and power in equal measure. Nowhere is this more evident than in the slower track ‘Highway Like Me’ featuring Marcus King, an intoxicating ballad about her free spirit and on ‘Day By Day,’ an emotional track about the long process of healing a broken heart.
Of course, Craft is also capable of big, bombastic, boot-stomping tracks, not least on ‘Last 20 Dollars,’ where she sings about living larger than life. ‘Here’s to the letting gos and going broke.’ It’s a bewitchingly fun track that again shows her versatility as an artist, as she does again on the heavier track ‘Come Down’ that features a heavier rock beat and on final track ‘That’s The Kinda Place.’
Craft’s sweet spot seems to be somewhere between the two – between boot-stomping and emotional ballad – as she shows on ‘Letcha Fly,’ a track about letting go of a love that feels real. It’s tender, but not despondent, moving with a powerful instrumentation that sums up the essence of Craft’s artistry. The story she weaves on the record is compelling, particularly given its delivery through her powerful, gritty vocal that is as capable of breathing emotion into every lyric as Connie Smith or Dolly Parton. If there is any justice in the world, Travelin’ Kind will do for Ashland Craft what Girl Goin’ Nowhere did for Ashley McBryde, for the record showcases an artist with a real handle of her own voice and artistry.
