Ashley Cooke, an artist with her star on the rise, takes a 'Shot in the Dark'
Ashley Cooke is slowly adjusting to her unexpected country music fame.
The Belmont University graduate (with a Corporate Communications degree) is astute and intelligent enough to be marketing country music. However, her persistent, unhurried nature has allowed her to be in the right place at the right time, as her star has risen in the past five years.
Cooke is a year into being signed to Big Loud Records and ten days out from releasing "Shot In The Dark," her major label debut album. She speaks to The Tennessean while remaining cool under a fiery July sun overlooking the Cumberland River at Rock Harbor Marina, drinking a whiskey and soda.
The performer moved 19 times in 18 years and followed in the footsteps of an older sister, who was attempting to follow in a line of Disney-made pop crossover actors-turned-superstars including Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears.
Cooke has stayed put in Nashville for eight years now. Her burgeoning success highlights lessons learned from a dynamic life lived well, if mostly on the move.
"Shot In The Dark" highlights Cooke's evolving skills as a sponge in Music City's ever-busy recording studios and writers' rooms. She's a co-writer on 20 of her album's 24 songs.
"I've quickly understood that standing out while also learning how to accentuate the ways people shine is important," Cooke says.
Her work includes pairing with beloved pop veterans like Colbie Caillat ("Mean Girl") and country upstarts like Jackson Dean and Nate Smith (she describes their pairing for "See You Around" as a fun song with "powerhouse" vocals).
"Shot In The Dark" showcases Cooke's musical flexibility and the spread and scope of sounds and styles currently in the genre.
Because she lived in almost every time zone in the United States, it's reflective of her ability to connect with people from a multitude of diverse backgrounds. Her album is would feel as natural at bonfires and tailgates as after hours at bars and nightclubs.
That's intentional.
Four years ago, she was a senior at Belmont who, on a lark, sang three songs at the Curb Event Center during 2019's Belmont University Country Showcase and won -- the same event launched the careers of Tyler Hubbard, Brad Paisley and Chris Young.
Four years later, she's parlayed that moment into virally peaking on TikTok during COVID-19, co-partnering on the development of content-creation hub The 615 House, then gaining valuable co-signs from vaunted producers and songwriters like Tofer Brown (Jon Pardi's "Night Shift"), Jimmy Robbins (co-writer, Maren Morris' "The Bones"), Songs & Daughters' Nicolle Galyon and Big Loud's Craig Wiseman (writer of 29 No. 1 singles).
"This is a weird, special time in my life and in the music industry in general," says Cooke. "People authentically connect with my story and sing my songs back to me onstage as soon as they are released."
"I didn't plan for any of this to happen. But when an opportunity presents itself, I work to the best of my ability to put my best foot forward. I believe that people who listen to my album should hear that and will want to grow with me as I continue to have dreams and make them come true."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville country artist Ashley Cooke takes a 'Shot in the Dark'
