Ashley McBryde brings empathetic, political 'Lindeville' to raucous Ryman

"I hope this album is one where people hear it, feel smarter or better for hearing it, and when they do, it either makes their chins drop in thought or they smile to themselves. Then I want them to whisper to their friends to stream it from beginning to end."

The above quote was from Ashley McBryde to the Tennessean in 2022. The Grammy-winning performer and a cast of entertainers, musicians, singers and songwriters brought her previously-mentioned October 2022-released album "Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville" to the stage at the Ryman Auditorium for the second of two nights on Feb. 16, 2023.

Essentially, the venue probably sold 700 sets of three tickets apiece on Thursday evening. A walk around The Ryman before the 100-minute performance of the album from end-to-end with two encores (no opener) yielded women with hair the colors of half a box of 24 Crayola crayons happily introducing themselves, their best friend they'd made a fan of McBryde five years ago via her album "Girl Going Nowhere" and their other friend, a holdout, who needed a cast album concept release filled with nuanced, vivid caricatures of rural, working-class America to get them off the fence.

These are also people who, until 20 years ago, felt heard and seen by country radio.

Maybe they aren't anymore. And to another point made by McBryde while discussing the album, perhaps they're also tired of, as she noted, "music that is trying to sell you a mattress."

At a time when country music's potentially more popular than it's been in 25 to 50 years, the genre's fans in attendance feel that music needs to be less concerned with "truth in advertising" and more in line with "three chords and the truth."

The night's first encore closer was The Chicks' "Goodbye Earl." These are the same Chicks who were banned from country radio in 2003 for suggesting that the United States' invasion of Iraq was ill-advised. In addition, the trio had "protests" staged against them where their CDs were run over by bulldozers and the band would have to use metal detectors at shows thanks to several death threats.

The tale of how a woman named Wanda and her best friend, Mary Anne, get revenge on Wanda's abusive husband, Earl, was penned by the infamously legendary Nashville songwriter Dennis Linde -- aka the Linde who inspired "Lindeville."

For two nights at the Ryman Auditorium, a full-circle moment in mainstream country music occurred. No windows were rolled down on dirt roads ogling country girls with bodies like a back road. Neither were Louisville Sluggers taken to headlights on cars driving circles around Music City, either.

It was a refreshing refresh -- returning to days just before being "amazed" by "breathing" was a popular notion.

The evening began with a wild opening version of "Brenda Put Your Bra On" via McBryde, Lainey Wilson (filling in for Caylee Hammack) and Pillbox Patti where yes, brassieres were flung onstage in a manner consistent with undergarment-tossing usually reserved for lascivious come-ons to male superstars.

However, in line with The Chicks analogy, the performance of the "Lindeville" ballad "Gospel Night At The Strip Club" was notable on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Currently, Tennessee is one of at least five states where Republican lawmakers are considering bills to restrict drag performances. As the Tennessee General Assembly begins its new session, Sen. Jack Johnson (R- Franklin) has proposed Senate Bill 3, which aims to make public adult cabaret performances a felony. The following is stated in the proposed legislation:

"'Adult cabaret performance' means a performance in a location other than an adult cabaret that features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration."

As protesters have gathered blocks away of late to bring attention to antagonism towards the proposed legislation, McBryde lent her artistic hand as a call to arms.

The country superstar invited Nashville drag queens Britney Banks, Shelby Lá Banks, Vidalia Anne Gentry, Vivica Steele and Justine Van de Blair to stand in the aisles and onstage during the performance.

"I don't care if I get in trouble for this song," she stated emphatically to The Tennessean when she released "Lindeville."

Ashley McBryde really does not care.

Four months after that interview, Ashley McBryde is also a Grammy Award-winning member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Ultimately, because of this, country music -- in a manner different than what happened to The Chicks 20 years ago -- can't care either.

Notable to mention as well from the performance was the duet for "The Missed Connection Section of the Lindeville Gazette" by Shelly Fairchild and Aaron Raitiere. Fairchild filled in incredibly well for Brandy Clark, and with Raitiere, paired pidgin-level method acting with songwriting that made the entire proceeding feel -- appropriately -- like suburban community theater.

To wit, Fairchild's performance of the Clark and McBryde-penned, earworming and heart-warming ballad "If These Dogs Could Talk" was accompanied by a stuffed husky being given away to the Ryman patron in Row 8, Section S, Seat 2. Raitiere's "Jesus Jenny," too, as portrayed like a Tinder hookup gone woefully awry, was pure hilarity.

John Osborne, the album's producer, found a way to preserve the COVID-era wanderlust and genius-level whimsy in the song's writing with a timeless, not tired, musicality. As a live bandleader, his towering stature lent a sense of downtown Nashville-current honky-tonk rocker vibes to the event. Like Mick Fleetwood, Krist Novoselic, or Pete Townshend, he lent an imposing air of steadfast control to an event that could've easily turned into a (more) freewheeling proceeding that would've lost its tight, powerful impact.

Also, the night was (yet another) coming out party for your favorite country star's favorite backing and session guitarist, Charlie Worsham. From McBryde to Dierks Bentley to just about anywhere in town, Worsham's a steadfast traditionalist whose bedrock knowledge of country music's traditions sets a historical precedent for excellence whenever he's on a stage.

Alongside mandolin player Ben Helson, Dan Hochhalter on fiddle, Brothers Osborne's other brother, T.J., a surprise delight on the upright bass, drummer Jerry Pentecost and banjo player Tim Sergent, Worsham as the leader of jingle-playing bluegrass band "Good Time and The Bad Decisions" was particularly highlighted during an impromptu performance of Hank Williams' legendary "I Saw The Light."

"Lindeville"'s an album based on underground-to-mainstream AM country radio styles from five decades ago, so the presence of Sirius XM's Storme Warren as the voice of What The Fuzz (call letters WTF) Radio was a subversive joy. Warren quipping about the joys of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein books being read to "appropriately-aged children," causing them to "think on their own," was note-perfect icing on the cake for this room.

Eight months ago, Allison Russell and the Fisk Jubilee singers played The Ryman to celebrate the venue's 130th Anniversary. The event represented the venue evolving beyond a past in which, as recently as five years ago, a sign on its lower level awning read "Confederate Gallery."

The performance of the African traditional hymn-inspired chant "Quasheba, Quasheba" was notable to that concert by Russell, her band, and the Singers. "It felt like a wall of protective Black sound, an army, a fortress of ancestors protecting us. I've never experienced joy like that, on that song," Russell's band guitarist, New Orleans native Joy Clark, said of the performance. "That level of spirituality is how the Ryman should feel, forever, for Black people singing out ancestry."

"Hallelujah, hallelujah, Jesus loves the drunkards and the whores and the queers," sang McBryde and Benjy Davis on Thursday night, accompanied by a crowd of nearly 3,000 people -- including drunkards, whores and queers who, in a town with a building once bearing a "Confederate Gallery," feel equally as unheard and unseen as Black people defiantly rousting the ghosts of their ancestors in once-hostile spaces.

To continue to lyrics from "Gospel Night At The Strip Club," the idea that a city, nation and world's awareness that Jesus would recognize everyone -- mere steps away from Lower Broadway -- and buy them a beer feels like the evening and "Lindeveille"'s best overall takeaway.

After her night-closing second encore of "Girl Going Nowhere,"McBryde told the crowd she said to the album's writers that in [her] mind, "these songs would be perfect at The Ryman."

She was right.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ashley McBryde brings empathetic, political 'Lindeville' to raucous Ryman