Some voices don’t just fill a room, they stop time. Ashley McBryde has one of those voices. In a live performance of “Simple Man” with Jelly Roll, she didn’t just sing, she brought the lyrics to life with raw honesty and soul. What started as a tribute turned into something far more intimate: a moment that felt personal for everyone listening.
The chemistry between McBryde and Jelly Roll was electric but it was her voice that really made the crowd stop breathing. As they traded verses, her tone cut through the humid summer air like a warm knife, soulful, raw and completely grounded. She didn’t try to outshine the song. She let it breathe, letting every word land with quiet weight. The way she sang be something you love and understand felt less like a lyric and more like an advice she was giving straight to your chest.
Jelly Roll & Ashley McBryde – “Simple Man” (Live in Maryland Heights, MO) 8-19-23
Fans felt that too you could see it in the stillness of the audience, in the way everyone leaned in. The comments from that night say it all: chills, goosebumps, one of the best versions of this song I’ve ever heard. It’s one thing to sing a classic, It’s another to make people forget it wasn’t yours to begin with. That’s the kind of respect Ashley commands not through flash but through authenticity.
That same emotional thread runs through her solo performance of Maybe It Was Memphis during CMT’s Summer Sessions. While Simple Man was stripped back and smoky, Memphis let her step into something softer a nostalgic, heart-aching love song, delivered with subtle strength. She doesn’t belt it she floats through it, pulling you along every lyric like a breeze through a willow tree.
Ashley McBryde Covers “Maybe It Was Memphis” | CMT Summer Sessions
The crowd, again, was all in. Whether they were longtime fans or hearing her for the first time, they were hooked. Her rendition didn’t try to reinvent the song it honored it, while making it unmistakably hers. Her phrasing, her emotion, the way she made the chorus feel like a memory you weren’t expecting to remember that’s the magic. That’s why fans call her one of the most underrated voices in the country right now.
Together, these two performances are a reminder that Ashley McBryde isn’t just here to sing songs she’s here to mean them. Whether she’s sharing the stage or standing solo, she brings her whole heart with her. And in a world full of noise, that kind of honesty hits differently. If you’re not already following her journey now’s the time, because voices like hers don’t come around often and when they do, you feel them. Follow her on social media to stay connected.