Ashley McBryde – “The Devil I Know”

Last year, the tough, hardbitten, consistently excellent Arkansas-born country star Ashley McBryde got a bunch of friends together and made Lindeville, a concept album about the residents of a fictional small town. That album was billed as being presented by Ashley McBryde, so it wasn’t a proper solo LP, but it was one of my favorite albums of the year. Now, McBryde is teasing plans to release an actual solo album before the year is out, and she shared the new single “Light On In The Kitchen” earlier this year. Today, she’s got another one.

Ashley McBryde’s new single “The Devil I Know” starts out quiet and acoustic before flaring up into a big Southern-rock chorus with a blast of distorted riffage. McBryde co-wrote the song with Jeremy Stover and Bobby Pinson, and it’s all about owning your own fuckups and ignoring all the advice that you get from other people: “Hell, there’s hell everywhere I go, so I’m sticking with the devil I know.” Good song! Listen below.

“The Devil I Know” is out now on Warner Music Nashville.