Ashley Cooke stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about her journey to Nashville, the time she saw Shania Twain eating at a restaurant and more.
Cooke is a big Jeep fan and got a new one a few months ago. Fans know her love for her Jeep, so they’ve started bringing her Jeep Ducks with messages written on them for her at shows. She debated posting about her Jeep on social media, but she did and now fans have spotted her just from her car. She loves being part of a Jeep community.
Cooke moved around a lot growing up. She was born in Wisconsin, moved to California and then to Florida and then to Nashville when she was 18 when she went to Belmont University and studied Communications and Marketing. Her Senior Year she applied for the Country Showcase, which is a showcase the school puts on that is all student-run and she won the competition which was crazy because it was rare a non-music major got accepted into the competition. Cooke does consider Parkland, Florida, her hometown because she has the most memories there. From the ages of 14-18 she lived there and has all her High School memories there. Cooke first came to Nashville in 2010 to write songs on Music Row. Her dad was still in California, so they’d split time back and forth there. She recalled a time when she was young and writing songs in Nashville with her sister when they saw Shania Twain at a restaurant. They had just written a song with her name in it, so they went up to her to tell her about it, but she acted annoyed that people were bothering her.
Cooke is iHeart Radio’s On The Verge Artist and her song “Your Place” is her first Top 20 hit and is currently climbing the charts at country radio. She has noticed in the last few months a lot of momentum picking up for that song and she said it’s been incredible. When fans come to her shows they know every word and she’s so excited to see where the song will continue to take her. Her debut album, Shot In The Dark, came out last year, but she’s already written enough songs for the second record, but she is taking her time with it and there is no news yet on when she will begin working on it.
Cooke recently played The Grand Ole Opry for the fourth time and is starting to not be as nervous to perform there. The first time she did, she was so nervous because the audience there really paid attention to your performance, and she was used to playing for bar crowds. The Opry is also not a normal show because it holds a lot of weight, so she felt a huge pressure to do well, but she loves every opportunity she gets to perform there.
Cooke is opening for Jordan Davis on his Damn Good Time Tour as well as performing at all the country festivals this year. For more information visit Ashleycooke.com.