Ashley McBryde Says Please Don’t Let Dive Bars Become Condos in New Song ‘Cool Little Bars’

Joseph Hudak
·2 min read
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Preferred_Credit-Katie-Kauss-2 - Credit: Katie Kauss*
Preferred_Credit-Katie-Kauss-2 - Credit: Katie Kauss*

Ashley McBryde sings about old-school watering holes with proudly analog relics like cigarette machines, shuffleboard, and coin-drop jukeboxes in her just-released new song “Cool Little Bars.” It’s another track off the Arkansas native’s upcoming album, The Devil I Know, out September 8. On Monday, McBryde announced a companion tour in support of the album, also titled The Devil I Know Tour.

McBryde has long since graduated from playing charmingly divey rooms like the ones she sings about in “Cool Little Bars” — on this tour, kicking off October 7, she’ll hit some of the country’s most historic theaters, including the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, the Keswick outside of Philadelphia, and New York’s Webster Hall. There are also stops at celebrated venues old and new, like John T. Floores Country Store in Helotes, Texas, and Rams Head Live in Baltimore, along with a string of dates in January in the U.K.

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Corey Kent (whose carpe-diem anthem “Something’s Gonna Kill Me” is a must-hear) and Harper O’Neill open all U.K. dates, while Kasey Tyndall, JD Clayton, Zach Top, Will Jones, and Bella White are on select U.S. shows.

“I pray time just forgets/to turn places like this/into drive-throughs and condos,” McBryde sings in “Cool Little Bars,” a co-write with Lainey Wilson and Trick Savage that freshens up country’s esteemed history of bar songs with references to gentrification and soulless corporate landscapes. As the chorus goes, “God bless two-for-ones and broken hearts — and cool little bars.” Amen, McBryde.

Ashley McBryde The Devil I Know Tour:
October 7 — Mobile, AL @ Saenger Theatre
October 15 — Little Rock, AR @ Robinson Center Performance Hall
October 20  —  Helotes, TX @ John T. Floores Country Store
October 21 —  Miami, OK @ Buffalo Run Casino & Resort – Peoria Showplace
October 27 — Minneapolis, MN @ Uptown Theater
October 28 — Wisconsin Dells, WI @ Crystal Grand Music Theatre
November 2 — St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
November 3  — Tifton, GA @ UGA John Hunt Conference Center
November 4  — Hiawassee, GA @ Anderson Music Hall 
November 10 — Birmingham, AL @ Alabama Theatre 
November 11 — Memphis, TN @ Orpheum Theatre 
November 12 — Philadelphia, MS @ Ellis Theatre 
November 30 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
December 1 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall 
December 2 — Cincinnati, OH @ The Andrew J Brady Music Center
December 8 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
December 9 — Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
December 10 — Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre 
December 14  — Charleston, WV @ Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences 
December 15 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte 
December 16 — Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live
January 17  — Southampton, UK @ O2 Guildhall
January 19 — Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
January 20 — London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
January 21 — Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute                                                           
January 23 — Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall                                                              
January 24 — Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands
January 25 — Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands
January 27  — Belfast, UK @ Waterfront Auditorium
January 28  — Dublin, Ireland @ 3Olympia Theatre

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