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Interview with Ashley
Re: Interview with Ashley
Nice interview. And good to hear a new album is coming up. I must say I enjoyed the two previous albums she made.
I'm a carefree, range ridin', driftin' cowpoke...
Interview with Ashley
Ashley Campbell follows her dad’s advice to do it her way
SHE’S toured the world as part of her father’s band; had great success as a solo artist and now a guitar lesson has seen Ashley Campbell heading off in a new direction.
Ashley - youngest daughter of country music legend Glen Campbell - is currently in the UK touring with virtuoso guitarist Thor Jensen.
The duo will be playing their only North West date in the intimate surroundings of Barnoldswick Music and Arts Centre next Friday night.
“This all started with Ashley reaching out to me for guitar lessons,” said Thor who has played with Hazmat Modine is in constant demand as a session musician as well as playing in various bands in Nashville.
“My dad raised me listening to a lot of Django Reinhardt and I’ve also loved gypsy jazz but it’s very much its own style. I finally decided ‘I’m going to learn that style’ so I asked a friend if he knew any guitar teachers who taught Django style and he gave me Thor’s number and we kind of hit if off right away.”
Thor added: “Once the lessons began and we started hanging out more and Ashley asked me to play with her band. We thought it could be cool to write songs together. It was just really simplistic, a couple of people, a couple of instruments and a couple of voices. I have never done a project like this. I’ve played in duos before but never to the extent of writing specifically for a duo and I think that’s the same for Ashley.
“It just seemed like a cool meeting in the middle because we both come from such different musical backgrounds.”
Ashley played banjo and sang with her dad’s band and was part of his memorable farewell tour - he toured even though he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He died in 2017.
Ashley released her debut album The Lonely One in 2018 which reached number 6 in the UK country chart and ins 2020 a second album Something Lovely.
“We’re still in the baby phase of getting to know ourselves as a duo and seeing how we write and play together,” said Ashley. “We are really enjoying exploring what we sound like and how we play and how our voices mesh together. Thor has such a low rich full voice whereas my voice is pretty high up there there and pure and sweet and we’re kind of seeing where we meet in the middle.
“It’s really fun we’re really excited. We’ve been writing a lot of new songs.”
Thor added: “It’s extremely satisfying and the whole thing is very enriching. It’s fun being in this new phase where there’s kind of no rules; we’re just trying stuff out and seeing what works and surprisingly a lot of it does work.”
“I think we can push it even further,” said Ashley. “I’m trying not to compare ourselves and what we do to other similar projects. We don’t want to be ‘we need to sound like this or this’ , we need to sound like whatever we are doing.
“We just want to enjoy the music that we make and hopefully have it being meaningful to other people as well.
“My dad always told me in making music to make sure that it is meaningful to you and that you love it and the chance share that someone else is going to love it too.”
The duo can’t wait to get to the UK and bring their new material to audiences here.
“Each venue is different, each night is different but a great consistency which I’ve often felt in the UK is that the people who come to the shows are just so happy to be there so there’s just a really positive energy.” said Ashley. “That’s why I keep going back.
“Thor added: “There a particular intensity in the UK, more than it is here; not that there’s bad audiences in the US. I never want to say that but you know people in the UK are going to be listening which I think is just incredible.”
The show at Barnoldswick next week will feature some new songs which may appear on the duo’s debut album.
“We will be making the record in January,” said Thor, “We have set the whole month aside to do that.
Ashley said: “We’ve got a handful of new songs we’ve not played for anybody yet.
“We recorded three songs to have something to put out while we are on tour so that people can go see us live and then listen to us as well.
“I’m excited because because we don’t know where we are going to end up after the tour musically. We could be in a completely different place. It’s going to evolve and I love that and I think it can only get even better.”
During lockdown Ashley was one of the many artists who started to live stream performances via the internet.
“I must have done hundreds of live streams oince the pandemic started. At first it was really strange, it was an adjustment,” she said, “but it’s actually taught me a lot about going back and performing on a live stage in front of a people. There’s a real intimacy to those live streams. I learned to bring that kind of calm and intimate feeling on to the stage with me.
“But now I’m excited to get back out there and interact with audiences and feel the room. You can only do so much playing and practicing in a closed room .
“You really know what you have when you start playing in front of an audience and that’s where it starts evolving as well which is such a beautiful process.”
Thor added: “I’m a firm believer that true practice is on the bandstand, you can’t beat that live experience.”
As for the guitar lessons, they are still on-going.
“Thor’s still giving me Django lessons,” said Ashley. “That style of playing made me feel like a complete beginner. It’s even different in the way you make chords. I’m still asking him all the time ‘is this right?’
“I like that I play banjo and I’m good at banjo and Thor’s much better at guitar. It’s nice there’s something that I can do that Thor can’t do,” she laughed.
SHE’S toured the world as part of her father’s band; had great success as a solo artist and now a guitar lesson has seen Ashley Campbell heading off in a new direction.
Ashley - youngest daughter of country music legend Glen Campbell - is currently in the UK touring with virtuoso guitarist Thor Jensen.
The duo will be playing their only North West date in the intimate surroundings of Barnoldswick Music and Arts Centre next Friday night.
“This all started with Ashley reaching out to me for guitar lessons,” said Thor who has played with Hazmat Modine is in constant demand as a session musician as well as playing in various bands in Nashville.
“My dad raised me listening to a lot of Django Reinhardt and I’ve also loved gypsy jazz but it’s very much its own style. I finally decided ‘I’m going to learn that style’ so I asked a friend if he knew any guitar teachers who taught Django style and he gave me Thor’s number and we kind of hit if off right away.”
Thor added: “Once the lessons began and we started hanging out more and Ashley asked me to play with her band. We thought it could be cool to write songs together. It was just really simplistic, a couple of people, a couple of instruments and a couple of voices. I have never done a project like this. I’ve played in duos before but never to the extent of writing specifically for a duo and I think that’s the same for Ashley.
“It just seemed like a cool meeting in the middle because we both come from such different musical backgrounds.”
Ashley played banjo and sang with her dad’s band and was part of his memorable farewell tour - he toured even though he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He died in 2017.
Ashley released her debut album The Lonely One in 2018 which reached number 6 in the UK country chart and ins 2020 a second album Something Lovely.
“We’re still in the baby phase of getting to know ourselves as a duo and seeing how we write and play together,” said Ashley. “We are really enjoying exploring what we sound like and how we play and how our voices mesh together. Thor has such a low rich full voice whereas my voice is pretty high up there there and pure and sweet and we’re kind of seeing where we meet in the middle.
“It’s really fun we’re really excited. We’ve been writing a lot of new songs.”
Thor added: “It’s extremely satisfying and the whole thing is very enriching. It’s fun being in this new phase where there’s kind of no rules; we’re just trying stuff out and seeing what works and surprisingly a lot of it does work.”
“I think we can push it even further,” said Ashley. “I’m trying not to compare ourselves and what we do to other similar projects. We don’t want to be ‘we need to sound like this or this’ , we need to sound like whatever we are doing.
“We just want to enjoy the music that we make and hopefully have it being meaningful to other people as well.
“My dad always told me in making music to make sure that it is meaningful to you and that you love it and the chance share that someone else is going to love it too.”
The duo can’t wait to get to the UK and bring their new material to audiences here.
“Each venue is different, each night is different but a great consistency which I’ve often felt in the UK is that the people who come to the shows are just so happy to be there so there’s just a really positive energy.” said Ashley. “That’s why I keep going back.
“Thor added: “There a particular intensity in the UK, more than it is here; not that there’s bad audiences in the US. I never want to say that but you know people in the UK are going to be listening which I think is just incredible.”
The show at Barnoldswick next week will feature some new songs which may appear on the duo’s debut album.
“We will be making the record in January,” said Thor, “We have set the whole month aside to do that.
Ashley said: “We’ve got a handful of new songs we’ve not played for anybody yet.
“We recorded three songs to have something to put out while we are on tour so that people can go see us live and then listen to us as well.
“I’m excited because because we don’t know where we are going to end up after the tour musically. We could be in a completely different place. It’s going to evolve and I love that and I think it can only get even better.”
During lockdown Ashley was one of the many artists who started to live stream performances via the internet.
“I must have done hundreds of live streams oince the pandemic started. At first it was really strange, it was an adjustment,” she said, “but it’s actually taught me a lot about going back and performing on a live stage in front of a people. There’s a real intimacy to those live streams. I learned to bring that kind of calm and intimate feeling on to the stage with me.
“But now I’m excited to get back out there and interact with audiences and feel the room. You can only do so much playing and practicing in a closed room .
“You really know what you have when you start playing in front of an audience and that’s where it starts evolving as well which is such a beautiful process.”
Thor added: “I’m a firm believer that true practice is on the bandstand, you can’t beat that live experience.”
As for the guitar lessons, they are still on-going.
“Thor’s still giving me Django lessons,” said Ashley. “That style of playing made me feel like a complete beginner. It’s even different in the way you make chords. I’m still asking him all the time ‘is this right?’
“I like that I play banjo and I’m good at banjo and Thor’s much better at guitar. It’s nice there’s something that I can do that Thor can’t do,” she laughed.
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