Country Mike Blog

Ashton, worth the wait

Mike Sudhalter  |  March 15, 2008

The debut album for Ashton Shepherd, "Sounds So Good" brings real country music back to the forefront.

The Alabaman may be in her early 20's, but musically, she's mature beyond her years. Sure, "Takin' Off This Pain" is a high-octane song that many of this generation's artists could pull off. Ditto, for the mid-tempo title track.

But the maturity factor is high on the ballads like "I Ain't Dead Yet." Now, anybody who's married or has children, has lived that song, or at least thought along those lines. It's about still having a life, in spite of your newly-held responsibilities.

If country radio can embrace this kind of stuff, Shepherd won't have to pull a Sara Evans, circa 1997, and go the pop-country route.

I love "Old Memory" and "Regular Joe", they're just real hurting country songs about an old flame. Who can't relate to those?

I'm going to listen to the album more closely tommorow (Saturday) and do a song-by-song commentary. Stay tuned.