With songs like “Girl Goin’ Nowhere,” “A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega and “One Night Standards,” Ashley McBryde has proven herself to be one of the most vivid storytellers in country music. Her lyrics are almost as fun to read as listen to—but, of course, she also has a beautiful voice.

After breaking out in 2018 with her Grammy-nominated debut album, Girl Going Nowhere, Ashley released her sophomore album, Never Will, on April 3. Ashley co-penned nine of the 11 songs.

Ashley, 36, has been working at her craft for 24 years. As she told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, she penned her first song when she was 12.

“I would sing the things I did since I was little bitty—even if I walked to the mailbox and back, I would come in and sing to my mom about it, and she never told me to hush so that was good, but I was 12 [when I wrote my first song],” says Ashley. “We were at my grandparents’ house, and I went into the back room by the deep freeze and sat down and wrote. And, [I] came back out and sang it for my family. And, my mom was like, ‘Where did you get that?’ ‘Oh, no, I wrote it.’ She goes, ‘Really?’ ‘Yeah!’ She looked at my grandparents like, ‘Oh crap, she wants [laughing] to be a songwriter.’ I was 12 years old. It was called ‘Fight the Flames,’ and it was, you know, about having your heart just demolished—12 years old going on 40, I guess. But, you know, my mom watched a lot of soap operas, so at least I knew drama.”