Ashley McBryde has a new track out and it arrives with the kind of blunt force that made her one of country music’s most compelling voices in the first place. “Arkansas Mud” is available now via Warner Records Nashville, a rock-heavy, fast-talking declaration written by McBryde alongside Grammy Award-winning hitmakers Jessie Jo Dillon and Chris Tompkins. It name-checks prescription amphetamines and Lynyrd Skynyrd songs in the same breath, and it means every word.
The song is about returning to your most authentic self after years of softening edges at someone else’s request. McBryde is direct about where it comes from. “We’ve all filed an edge down here or there at someone else’s request,” she says. “‘Arkansas Mud’ is about rediscovering and re-honing those edges.” She points specifically to growing up in the Ozark Mountains as the source of the gumption it takes to deliver a line like “Romans 3 and 23, don’t you point your book at me” with full conviction.
On social media earlier this week, McBryde opened up further about the personal dimension behind the track. “Even as the chick that’s known for sticking to her guns, there are parts of me I still let slip away. I don’t mind telling you now, I tried to fill those spots with all the wrong things. And that time has passed.” It’s a level of candor that makes “Arkansas Mud” land differently than a standard country rock single.
The track follows January release “What If We Don’t,” and together the 2 songs preview McBryde’s highly anticipated fifth studio album, built around her journey to sobriety, her Arkansas upbringing, religious trauma, and family of origin. It’s shaping up as the most personal record of her career, and “Arkansas Mud” makes clear she’s approaching it with full creative aggression and zero apology.
McBryde’s Redemption Residency continues at Chief’s, where she’s been delivering one-of-a-kind sets that include the full “Postcards From Lindeville” performance alongside character songs from across her catalog and surprise guests. It’s the kind of intimate, high-stakes live environment that suits exactly what she’s building toward with this new album.
“Arkansas Mud” is out now via Warner Records Nashville. The fifth studio album follows.