Ashley Briggs – Are You Listening Too
Today we feature Ashley Briggs on Belles and Gals for the first time! Ashley is a singer songwriter based in Nashville and just a couple of weeks released ‘Are You Listening Too’, her first new music since 2015! The song struck a chord with me immediately – this track creates vivid imagery, while Ashley’s voice has a wonderful clarity. After listening to the song I reached out to Ashley Briggs immediately as I wanted to find out more – so here’s our chat!
‘I came across ‘Are You Listening Too?’ randomly this week and I was blown away by it! Can you give us an insight into how the song came about?’
Well first off, I’m so happy to hear you liked it! Thank you for listening. I wrote ‘Are You Listening Too?’ with my friend John Stanislawski at the beginning of 2017. I was coming home from work one night and was in the mood to just keep driving so I decided to take the long way home. I was playing music from my phone and a song one of my old friends showed me came on. As I was listening and driving and looking at the moon, I thought, “I wonder if this song ever comes on in their car and they think of me like I’m thinking of them.” I took the idea to John a couple days later and I want to say we finished it in one or two writes. It’s still to this day, my favorite song we’ve written together.
‘Are You Listening Too’ does a great job of painting a picture. Songs bring back memories of people, and here you’ve created a scene with a girl in a car alone, going through those emotions. Is this storytelling something you like to achieve in your songwriting?
Absolutely. I think that’s why I’ve always gravitated to country music, because it’s all about the stories and the emotion. My parents always listened to country, so I grew up on it, and as I’ve grown, there has always been a song somewhere that has spoken to every emotion I’m feeling or have felt. As a listener, it makes me feel like I belong somewhere, and as an artist, I want to be able to give someone else that feeling, which is why the
stories in my songs are so important to me.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, for readers who haven’t listened to you before?
I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I moved to Nashville with my family in 2015, after I graduated high school and absolutely LOVE it. I’ve been singing ever since I can remember but got my start singing karaoke in South Florida at around 15. Shortly after, I began travelling to Nashville and put out an EP in 2012 and an album in 2015. I spent a few years writing once I got to Nashville and recently returned to performing and doing songwriters rounds. ‘Are You Listening Too?’ is my first release since 2015! I have a full bio on my website (www.ashleybriggsmusic) if you’d like to know more!
To finish, what else can we expect from Ashley Briggs in the coming months?
Hopefully some more music!! I’ve been writing so much these last two years and have really built a portfolio of songs that I’m super proud of. Now I can’t wait to start sharing all of them! I’m hoping to release new music every couple of months for the next year or so, with the next single coming in the Spring.
