The C2C Sit Down with Kassi Ashton
Kassi Ashton was born and raised in California, but we are talking about the city in Missouri rather the golden state out on the west coast. This probably gives you an indication why her sound and influence are more down the routes of outlaw and alt-country rather than sun kissed Laurel Canyon vibes.
Whilst she is no stranger to Europe having played here in 2018 as part of the CMA Songwriters Series tour and appeared at the German edition of C2C: Country to Country in 2020, this year would be her first time at the flagship event in London where we had not long since been treated by her eagerly awaited debut album “Made From The Dirt”.
During her time in London, Jamie had a long overdue catchup with Kassi to talk about the album, the forthcoming deluxe version of the record and playing in Europe once more.
It's taken, what, six and a bit years for you to come back but it’s absolutely wonderful to see you again.
“Well, technically I was here in 2020, but I never made it to the UK.”
That's true, but we don't talk about 2020 anymore.
“That’s right, we don’t talk about it so it was 2018, which is like seven.”
Yes because you were here with Ashley Campbell, Chris DeStefano and Tenille (Townes) for the songwriters which was the last time that we spoke but the last time I saw you was on stage in Berlin and I’m guessing that you had the same joys of rearranging your travel plans for Monday in the same way that we did.
“Well, our tour manager, Jack, is the best and we drove to Prague the next morning, spent the day in Prague and flew out that night.”
Well, I thought my extra day was cool, but I think you win with a trip to Prague. I spent my Monday going to the zoo in Berlin where they have twin six-month old baby pandas who are the cutest things on the planet so not shitting on anyone that was on stage during C2C in Berlin but they were the real headliners for me.
“Awh so cute and I don’t blame you.”
It’s great that you are back in London and we’re obviously super excited but how did you find C2C in Berlin and Rotterdam? Had you played either of those cities before?
“I had played Berlin before but not Rotterdam, or I don’t think I had. It was great, I like that in Europe, the country that is favoured, leans my way like alt or more rock flavoured country and I love it because then I'm like, y'all have great taste. Do you know what I'm saying? It’s just because that's the kind of country that I like, the more like outlaw country so, it's amazing because European crowds are so dedicated to listening to you. I think it's nice because in America they're so much exposure to kind of and there's so many labels about what is country, what's not country, here's this tiny box to fit into and people's opinions about what your music is are subjective, but they're still skewed based on cultural bias. Whereas here, they're just listening to my music because it's music and because of that, they understand my music more, they're not going in with a preconceived bias or box that I’m to fit in. They're just going in completely blank and unknown, and so that is always reassuring and validating to me of like, look, these people just listen raw with no intended parameters that I'm supposed to be within and they love it.”
Whilst she is no stranger to Europe having played here in 2018 as part of the CMA Songwriters Series tour and appeared at the German edition of C2C: Country to Country in 2020, this year would be her first time at the flagship event in London where we had not long since been treated by her eagerly awaited debut album “Made From The Dirt”.
During her time in London, Jamie had a long overdue catchup with Kassi to talk about the album, the forthcoming deluxe version of the record and playing in Europe once more.
It's taken, what, six and a bit years for you to come back but it’s absolutely wonderful to see you again.
“Well, technically I was here in 2020, but I never made it to the UK.”
That's true, but we don't talk about 2020 anymore.
“That’s right, we don’t talk about it so it was 2018, which is like seven.”
Yes because you were here with Ashley Campbell, Chris DeStefano and Tenille (Townes) for the songwriters which was the last time that we spoke but the last time I saw you was on stage in Berlin and I’m guessing that you had the same joys of rearranging your travel plans for Monday in the same way that we did.
“Well, our tour manager, Jack, is the best and we drove to Prague the next morning, spent the day in Prague and flew out that night.”
Well, I thought my extra day was cool, but I think you win with a trip to Prague. I spent my Monday going to the zoo in Berlin where they have twin six-month old baby pandas who are the cutest things on the planet so not shitting on anyone that was on stage during C2C in Berlin but they were the real headliners for me.
“Awh so cute and I don’t blame you.”
It’s great that you are back in London and we’re obviously super excited but how did you find C2C in Berlin and Rotterdam? Had you played either of those cities before?
“I had played Berlin before but not Rotterdam, or I don’t think I had. It was great, I like that in Europe, the country that is favoured, leans my way like alt or more rock flavoured country and I love it because then I'm like, y'all have great taste. Do you know what I'm saying? It’s just because that's the kind of country that I like, the more like outlaw country so, it's amazing because European crowds are so dedicated to listening to you. I think it's nice because in America they're so much exposure to kind of and there's so many labels about what is country, what's not country, here's this tiny box to fit into and people's opinions about what your music is are subjective, but they're still skewed based on cultural bias. Whereas here, they're just listening to my music because it's music and because of that, they understand my music more, they're not going in with a preconceived bias or box that I’m to fit in. They're just going in completely blank and unknown, and so that is always reassuring and validating to me of like, look, these people just listen raw with no intended parameters that I'm supposed to be within and they love it.”
The big difference between now and when you did last come over is you have a full body of work and it took you a long time but we got there. “Made From The Dirt” got there so, I guess the basic question is why did it take so long to work on?
“A lot of factors but one, I kept getting fucked on timing. 2019 was a huge year for me, I was on the Girl World Tour with Maren, I was having lots of press, lots of everything and we were supposed to come back from C2C and CMC Rocks in Australia, then go straight to radio. We had built all the shit for two years and you know, we don't talk about 2020 so I had to start all over. I didn't do anything for like a year, I was just in my house because they were kind of doing like Zoom things in country, but everyone hated that, you know, whatever, then we were all just buying kettle bells and kayaks. Then it was like starting over, I had a single to radio that I didn't really like so that kind of shifted what people thought my sound was and I had to make up for it with the next one and go, no, no, no, please don't pay attention to that one, I didn't pick that one, this is my sound. “Drive You Out Of My Mind” and “I Don’t go Back” which was the song that came out right before it, that was my clear benchmark of like, no, this is what I sound like, this is the era that I'm in and this is the kind of artist I am. From then, which was two years ago to now, that really in my brain was like the actual process, the rest of it just wasn't right yet. I didn't think career wise that to put out an album yet then COVID screwed me. That's why but also at the same time, I've had my label deal since 2017 and 've watched people get signed, get pushed to the front and get dropped, you know what I’m saying? Maybe there were days when I used to pray that something would have come sooner or would have been like this, but what if that would have happened to me or whatever. Timing is like the most important thing, so I'm just gonna trust it.”
They generally are newer songs that on the album but one, which you did during your set in the arena is an older song because I think you actually did it when you played the songwriters show in 2018. “The Straw” is the one that has lived through everything and made it on to the record, what makes that song so special that it not only needed to be a part of your debut record but also be so central to it?
“I wrote that in 2017 at a Spotify secret genius camp that we were doing where as soon as Luke (Laird), Lori (McKenna) and I wrote it, it was this classic, like, this is who I am as an artist. When you're new, you kind of have to for everyone's sake, but also for your own sake, have pillars that are these are the pillars that I build upon, these are the main core things production wise, lyrical wise melody wise that are me. Other big artists wanted to cut that song and I said no, a lot of people wanted me to put it out earlier, I said no because I wanted to do it its due diligence. I knew that this was special, I was willing to bet on it and I knew I wanted it to be on the debut album. I just didn't know that the debut album was gonna take that long.”
“A lot of factors but one, I kept getting fucked on timing. 2019 was a huge year for me, I was on the Girl World Tour with Maren, I was having lots of press, lots of everything and we were supposed to come back from C2C and CMC Rocks in Australia, then go straight to radio. We had built all the shit for two years and you know, we don't talk about 2020 so I had to start all over. I didn't do anything for like a year, I was just in my house because they were kind of doing like Zoom things in country, but everyone hated that, you know, whatever, then we were all just buying kettle bells and kayaks. Then it was like starting over, I had a single to radio that I didn't really like so that kind of shifted what people thought my sound was and I had to make up for it with the next one and go, no, no, no, please don't pay attention to that one, I didn't pick that one, this is my sound. “Drive You Out Of My Mind” and “I Don’t go Back” which was the song that came out right before it, that was my clear benchmark of like, no, this is what I sound like, this is the era that I'm in and this is the kind of artist I am. From then, which was two years ago to now, that really in my brain was like the actual process, the rest of it just wasn't right yet. I didn't think career wise that to put out an album yet then COVID screwed me. That's why but also at the same time, I've had my label deal since 2017 and 've watched people get signed, get pushed to the front and get dropped, you know what I’m saying? Maybe there were days when I used to pray that something would have come sooner or would have been like this, but what if that would have happened to me or whatever. Timing is like the most important thing, so I'm just gonna trust it.”
They generally are newer songs that on the album but one, which you did during your set in the arena is an older song because I think you actually did it when you played the songwriters show in 2018. “The Straw” is the one that has lived through everything and made it on to the record, what makes that song so special that it not only needed to be a part of your debut record but also be so central to it?
“I wrote that in 2017 at a Spotify secret genius camp that we were doing where as soon as Luke (Laird), Lori (McKenna) and I wrote it, it was this classic, like, this is who I am as an artist. When you're new, you kind of have to for everyone's sake, but also for your own sake, have pillars that are these are the pillars that I build upon, these are the main core things production wise, lyrical wise melody wise that are me. Other big artists wanted to cut that song and I said no, a lot of people wanted me to put it out earlier, I said no because I wanted to do it its due diligence. I knew that this was special, I was willing to bet on it and I knew I wanted it to be on the debut album. I just didn't know that the debut album was gonna take that long.”
Continuing on from the debut album, we've got a cheeky little deluxe coming with five new songs. In terms of those five new songs, why did you decide to build them onto this as part of a deluxe rather than being a standalone project or holding them for the next full-length?
“So, when the label came to me and they said, congrats, you get to make your debut album, I said, how many songs? They were like, how are many do you want? So, I picked thirteen, I had a batch of thirteen songs that were cohesive, this covers all the bases of an introduction and this has the equal amount of subcategories as far as my production themes in my head. So, I record it, got it mixed for thirteen, but they were like, oh, it has to be ten. So, I argued a bit for as I do, because I was like, some of these songs were picked because other songs were picked and the transitions between songs so, the compromise was, you get to put out a deluxe and you get two more. I wrote one of the songs, the week with the album came out and another one not long after that, I just wanted to expand, because I think because you do your introduction, right? You do your debut, you try to cover bases as many standard bases of yourself as you can while getting deep but not too deep because you only have so much space. I just wanted to just dive a little deeper, like, let this deluxe be the bridge between all these songs I've been saving for my debut and what I've planned to do after this. I'm happy I waited and I'm happy the whole process went the way it did because literally this entire album, I would play it for anyone without shame and I'm not a self pro person at all. I would really confidently be like, you need to listen to this, like, I don't mind if I sing these songs for twenty years.”
Then we have got Parker (McCollum) on one these tracks and he’s the coolest cowboy around who rides horses on to those big ass stages down in Texas. How did you manage to rope him in and get him to say yes for “Sounds Like Something I’d Say”?
I wrote that song about seven years ago and it was not a duet. We just kept it in the catalogue for when it was appropriate, It was kind of like “The Straw” where it was like, this song is fire, this song is who I am but the timing is not right yet, so I'm not gonna waste a shot. Then, I don't know, two or three years ago, Parker and I had just met, we had just signed to the label and we had just met at the songwriting Hall of Fame, we had met another time and then we were at the Ryman during CRS, he came up and it started singing the song to me. I was like how do you know that? I wrote this song within the first like a year of my publishing deal, how do you know this? He's like, it's so good you have to cut it, I’m thinking, yeah, okay, whatever, my debut album is not out yet, because this was like two or three years ago, we're saving it for that, whatever. Last year, he comes up to me at the Ryman again, starts singing and his voice is so good, but again I’m like, how do you know that? It turns out his publisher had sent it to him. He goes, this demo has gone platinum on my tour bus because I play it over and over and over again so I go, okay, well, if it's so good, then sing it with me. I open for him in Red Rocks and his band says to me oh, you're the voice behind the demo that we've heard ten thousand times. We closed his show by singing “Burn It Down” together and we were like, oh, shit, we sound good! So, I went in, changed some words in the second verse and we made it to duet.
“So, when the label came to me and they said, congrats, you get to make your debut album, I said, how many songs? They were like, how are many do you want? So, I picked thirteen, I had a batch of thirteen songs that were cohesive, this covers all the bases of an introduction and this has the equal amount of subcategories as far as my production themes in my head. So, I record it, got it mixed for thirteen, but they were like, oh, it has to be ten. So, I argued a bit for as I do, because I was like, some of these songs were picked because other songs were picked and the transitions between songs so, the compromise was, you get to put out a deluxe and you get two more. I wrote one of the songs, the week with the album came out and another one not long after that, I just wanted to expand, because I think because you do your introduction, right? You do your debut, you try to cover bases as many standard bases of yourself as you can while getting deep but not too deep because you only have so much space. I just wanted to just dive a little deeper, like, let this deluxe be the bridge between all these songs I've been saving for my debut and what I've planned to do after this. I'm happy I waited and I'm happy the whole process went the way it did because literally this entire album, I would play it for anyone without shame and I'm not a self pro person at all. I would really confidently be like, you need to listen to this, like, I don't mind if I sing these songs for twenty years.”
Then we have got Parker (McCollum) on one these tracks and he’s the coolest cowboy around who rides horses on to those big ass stages down in Texas. How did you manage to rope him in and get him to say yes for “Sounds Like Something I’d Say”?
I wrote that song about seven years ago and it was not a duet. We just kept it in the catalogue for when it was appropriate, It was kind of like “The Straw” where it was like, this song is fire, this song is who I am but the timing is not right yet, so I'm not gonna waste a shot. Then, I don't know, two or three years ago, Parker and I had just met, we had just signed to the label and we had just met at the songwriting Hall of Fame, we had met another time and then we were at the Ryman during CRS, he came up and it started singing the song to me. I was like how do you know that? I wrote this song within the first like a year of my publishing deal, how do you know this? He's like, it's so good you have to cut it, I’m thinking, yeah, okay, whatever, my debut album is not out yet, because this was like two or three years ago, we're saving it for that, whatever. Last year, he comes up to me at the Ryman again, starts singing and his voice is so good, but again I’m like, how do you know that? It turns out his publisher had sent it to him. He goes, this demo has gone platinum on my tour bus because I play it over and over and over again so I go, okay, well, if it's so good, then sing it with me. I open for him in Red Rocks and his band says to me oh, you're the voice behind the demo that we've heard ten thousand times. We closed his show by singing “Burn It Down” together and we were like, oh, shit, we sound good! So, I went in, changed some words in the second verse and we made it to duet.
It’s amazing that you’re back and great that this music is finally coming out, in Berlin, my friends who were with me, started talking about our random Kassi Ashton story, which I think I told you when we spoke last time, about when we saw you play during CMA Fest at Spotify House back in 2018. We were watching you on stage and the gentleman stood behind us was seriously vibing to your set, then we started talking to him but my best friend from Perth in Australia didn’t believe what he was saying to us until he brought his driver’s licence out.
“Ha-ha I remember because it was my dad!”
It was indeed and because I haven’t seen you since, I have another story from CMA Fest in 2019. Me and Emma saw you play on the stage in the park outside Country Music Hall of Fame and you were wearing an oversized Eric Church t-shirt that you had restyled and we were like that is the coolest top we have seen so we went on the internet, found the popup shop that he had over at The Flying Saucer to buy them purely because we had seen you wearing it. You genuinely were an influencer between people went out of their way to try and do it.
“I love that! Dressing for CMA Fest is tricky! I’m a leather pants type, I’m a pants person but it’s so fucking hot and they have me running around everywhere for performance here, appearance here, stage here and autographs here. So, you have to be cool and that year, I was like I’m going to make a romper out of a t-shirt, how can you rock and roll a romper?”
Luckily it is nowhere near as hot right now over here and at this festival, as well as the CMA Spotlight stage performance, there is the BBC Radio 2 stage set which is a slightly longer one. Whilst all the focus is on the album and I know your setup on this trip is more stripped back but generally do some of those other older and bigger tracks ever come back out of the locker or have we moved past songs like “Field Party” and “Black Motorcycle”?
“No, if we full band sets, “Black Motorcycle” is usually in it, because it transitions perfectly in to “’Til The Lights Go Out”, like it perfect sonically. I think “Black Motorcycle” says a lot about me as a person and kind of really pushes the boundary as far as how country or not country I am but that one gets pulled a lot. If I have a set that's twenty or thirty minutes, I'm not singing any of those old ones, just because I'm trying to get people to buy the album, but if you come to like a forty-five or sixty minute full band show “Black Motorcycle” is in there.
I guess that's the goal for the next trip, it's taking so long to come back but hopefully we're not going to be waiting six and a half years again.
“Hell No, we are not and I absolutely want to do full band. Last time I was here in 2020, I fell and had to climb my way back up.”
We’re very excited to be with you on the climb and it is so good to see you again because you’re so much fun to hang out with and I've waited so long to have you back.
“I seriously love it here, the style, culture and everything with you guys, I just love it so thank you for having me.”
The new deluxe album “Made From The dirt: The Blooms” from Kassi Ashton will be released by MCA Nashville / Snakefarm in the UK on April 25th and is available to pre-save HERE. For more information including any upcoming tour dates in North America you can check out her WEBSITE and you can keep up to date with all that Kassi is up to socially on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK & FACEBOOK.
C2C: Country to Country will return to Berlin in 2026 across the weekend of March 6th to 8th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE and keep in the loop regarding lineups and ticket information on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK. Then we will see you again in London (or maybe even Belfast/Glasgow) a week later across March 13th to 15th with early bird tickets on sale now where you can find more details on the WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK X and INSTAGRAM)
“Ha-ha I remember because it was my dad!”
It was indeed and because I haven’t seen you since, I have another story from CMA Fest in 2019. Me and Emma saw you play on the stage in the park outside Country Music Hall of Fame and you were wearing an oversized Eric Church t-shirt that you had restyled and we were like that is the coolest top we have seen so we went on the internet, found the popup shop that he had over at The Flying Saucer to buy them purely because we had seen you wearing it. You genuinely were an influencer between people went out of their way to try and do it.
“I love that! Dressing for CMA Fest is tricky! I’m a leather pants type, I’m a pants person but it’s so fucking hot and they have me running around everywhere for performance here, appearance here, stage here and autographs here. So, you have to be cool and that year, I was like I’m going to make a romper out of a t-shirt, how can you rock and roll a romper?”
Luckily it is nowhere near as hot right now over here and at this festival, as well as the CMA Spotlight stage performance, there is the BBC Radio 2 stage set which is a slightly longer one. Whilst all the focus is on the album and I know your setup on this trip is more stripped back but generally do some of those other older and bigger tracks ever come back out of the locker or have we moved past songs like “Field Party” and “Black Motorcycle”?
“No, if we full band sets, “Black Motorcycle” is usually in it, because it transitions perfectly in to “’Til The Lights Go Out”, like it perfect sonically. I think “Black Motorcycle” says a lot about me as a person and kind of really pushes the boundary as far as how country or not country I am but that one gets pulled a lot. If I have a set that's twenty or thirty minutes, I'm not singing any of those old ones, just because I'm trying to get people to buy the album, but if you come to like a forty-five or sixty minute full band show “Black Motorcycle” is in there.
I guess that's the goal for the next trip, it's taking so long to come back but hopefully we're not going to be waiting six and a half years again.
“Hell No, we are not and I absolutely want to do full band. Last time I was here in 2020, I fell and had to climb my way back up.”
We’re very excited to be with you on the climb and it is so good to see you again because you’re so much fun to hang out with and I've waited so long to have you back.
“I seriously love it here, the style, culture and everything with you guys, I just love it so thank you for having me.”
The new deluxe album “Made From The dirt: The Blooms” from Kassi Ashton will be released by MCA Nashville / Snakefarm in the UK on April 25th and is available to pre-save HERE. For more information including any upcoming tour dates in North America you can check out her WEBSITE and you can keep up to date with all that Kassi is up to socially on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK & FACEBOOK.
C2C: Country to Country will return to Berlin in 2026 across the weekend of March 6th to 8th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE and keep in the loop regarding lineups and ticket information on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK. Then we will see you again in London (or maybe even Belfast/Glasgow) a week later across March 13th to 15th with early bird tickets on sale now where you can find more details on the WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK X and INSTAGRAM)
