Ashley McBryde, the Grammy-nominated country artist, credits her near-fatal struggle with alcoholism for her latest creative breakthrough. After losing her older brother to suicide in 2018, McBryde confronted her own self-destructive patterns, culminating in a 2022 intervention that left her ‘blackout drunk’ and calling her therapist mid-crisis. Her upcoming album ‘Wild’ (releasing May 1) channels this transformation, blending raw honesty with twangy guitar work.

The record’s title track, ‘Redemption,’ reflects her journey from addiction to opening her own Redemption Bar — a nonalcoholic venue at Chief’s in Nashville — where she now performs acoustic renditions of her high-energy anthems.