To find oneself as an independent artist after being signed to a major music label is not necessarily a fall from grace; in fact, most of the beloved artists in country music history have found themselves, at one point in time or another, making a change from one platform to another. It allows for creative freedom, a chance to expand horizons, adapt new techniques and essentially become the best versions of themselves. So is the case with Ashton Shepherd.
Formally signed to Universal Music Group’s MCA Nashville division, Shepherd hit the music scene in 2008 with her chart-topping debut album Sounds So Good. The debut produced two Top 40 country hits, “Takin’ Off the Pain” and title track “Sounds So Good,” garnering a fan base and beginning the journey of becoming one of Nashville’s next female heavyweights. She followed up this success with 2011’s Where Country Grows, releasing two singles that also found themselves in the Top 40. Suffice it to say, fans were a bit perplexed to find that Ashton and MCA parted ways in mid-2012.
But the journey did not end there. Forming her own label, Pickin’ Shed Records, Shepherd released her debut independent album, This Is America, in August of 2013, raising two young children with husband Roland and promoting her new music simultaneously. Three years and a lot of miles later, Ashton is back with an unparalleled passion for her newest album, Out of My Pocket.
Available through the Google Play Store via Ashton’s own app, TheAshtonApp, Out of My Pocket is the quintessential country album,
capturing a traditionally modern sound intensified by Shepherd’s distinct vocals. The album has been a long time in the making, a collection of songs dating back to when the Alabama native was a mere teenager. “I’ve had the songs…had them for a while and debated whether I should release them,” Shepherd remarks during CMA Fest. “I went back and forth on it and thought ‘you know what? The fans need new music.’ These are songs I really, really love and I want to put them out there.”
And they’re also sentimental, capturing Ashton’s creativity through various stages of her life and career – performing since she was a child, Shepherd’s new collection spans a literal lifetime. “One of the bonus tracks I put out on the end of the record is a song I wrote and recorded at 15 years old at Cook Sound Studios in Fort Payne. I explain on the back of the sleeve that it’s a song I wrote for my brother. I think it’s really special to give to somebody and that’s what the record is about.”
Shepherd is one that likes to embrace the special moments – taking time away from music, she focused her sites on raising her two young children, son James (10) and daughter Raden (4) with her husband Roland. Unfortunately the family endured a tragic loss with the passing of Roland’s mother, and it was at that time Ashton began the thought process of reigniting her career: “That year I kinda decided, I don’t know, it was sort of like I couldn’t get my feeting for starting back like I wanted to. It’s like ‘Ashton, you’ve got to give yourself credit enough and a place enough to start again.’ You can’t feel like, just because you kinda had to backtrack a little bit, everybody has to do that because the fans are still there. So we like to bring the family with us.”
Ashton also has her hand in fashion. Partnered with Isabelle Jewelry, Shepherd has begun expanding her own brand via her own personal interests; “I love jewelry. Like I could spend a million dollars buying that jewelry. It’s the prettiest stuff I’ve seen in my whole life.”
Dominantly juggling family, music, touring, technology and fashion pursuits and running her own record label, Ashton has become a tour-de-force as an independent artist. She is reaching out and appealing to her demographic in her own uniquely charming and down home manner, reminding everyone why they fell in love with her in the first place.
For the most current information on Ashton, including current events and new music, click here, and see stills of her live during CMA Fest in the below slideshow.