Ashton Shepherd, ‘Where Country Grows’ – Lyrics Uncovered
Ashton Shepherd's new single, 'Where Country Grows,' is to be a sure hit for the 24-year-old singer from Alabama. Penned by Shepherd and Bobby Pinson, the tune is one of several the two wrote for her just-released album, also titled 'Where Country Grows.'
"I think this could be a career song for her," Pinson tells Taste of Country of the single. "This was the first time that I’ve ever written with Ashton. She came in, and Ashton had written a majority of her first record by herself. Her publisher was trying to get her to stretch out and write with some other people. I was sensitive to that because I knew that she was a great songwriter on her own. To be expected to come sit across the couch from somebody you have never met before and plug yourself into a whole bunch of formulas is not the easiest thing to do or the necessarily the nicest thing to do, especially to a free spirit like Ashton. So I was real sensitive to that, and I really wanted to listen to what she was doing and figure out how to put it into a commercial package. This is the first song out of about seven that we wrote."
"It’s just talking about things that make us grow into country people and into our country ways of lives," Pinson continues of the lyrics. "It's more than just the images of small town life, because there’s country people in big towns, too. It takes them back to a time when they lived in a different place or wish they lived in a different place or have friends who live in a different place. There’s just a lot of images."
"Have you ever seen a young boy open up the door for an old lady walkin’ in slow / Or a shoe polish heart on a second hand car saying 'Shelly loves Billy' on the window / Have you ever heard a mama cry saying goodbye / But she knows her soldiers gotta go / Oh that’s where country grows," they wrote in the second verse.
"With a lot of my songs, I don’t try to paint the picture; I just try to provide the paint for somebody else to paint their own picture," notes Pinson.
"It’s in the hearts of those who know what life’s all about / It’s laying your head on your pillow and falling asleep proud / You bow your head to Jesus, 'cause he’s where it all comes from / And you know he’ll forgive you for the wrong you’ve done / It’s in the earth and the church and the words that we speak slow / That’s where country grows," Shepherd sings in the song's chorus.
"She just sings the heck out of it," says Pinson. "She’s a fantastic singer. This was a great way to take some of those country images that she thinks about every day and putting them into a commercial melody. This is a pretty commercial melody and kind of a stretch for her, but she just nailed it."