Ashley McBryde on Her Life-Changing Performance With Eric Church

Ashley McBryde is currently traveling the country on her first headlining tour, enjoying a run of success that got a major boost in 2017 when Eric Church invited her to perform with him at one of his shows, sparking a viral video that would go on to help McBryde land a record deal.

Speaking to PopCulture.com, McBryde reflected on the moment, where she performed her own "Bible and a .44" with Church introducing McBryde as a "whiskey drinking badass."

"I didn't know I was going to be playing with him that day," McBryde shared. "I knew that I was going to go see the show, by invitation. So, I felt already like a rock star because he invited me to come see. Then when he talked to them they told me I'm to sing with him. I was like, 'Oh, crap!'"

When she got on stage, she and Church performed the song acoustically, the crowd cheering for McBryde from the first note she sang. While she may have been nervous, it didn't show.

"I'd never been in an arena," the Arkansas native revealed. "Not from that point of view. I'd never used in-ear monitors. I didn't have my guitar with me, I was going to use one of his. And luckily they let me go out there and get my little baby Bambi legs underneath me, because looking at the scope of how big that room is and that it's all going to be people asses to elbows. And that is kind of daunting. But Eric and his wonderful wife, they have a way of putting you at ease."

"I was super nervous," McBryde admitted. "I just kept thinking when I walked on stage was, 'Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall.' As long as I don't fall, then it's a good night."

The 35-year-old revealed that since watching Church, there's one major aspect of Church's performance that she's made sure to incorporate in her own shows.

"The thing that really strikes me about him and his entire band is that you could pick any band member, at any point in the night, and watch just them for three songs," she explained. "Because they're their own show."

"That's something that when my guys, who were building this show, I'm like, 'Don't forget they didn't just come here to see me, they came here to see you," McBryde continued. "So, it's not upstaging, it's not hot dogging for you to be super interesting.' And my guys are really good at it too. Eric kind of gave us permission. Watching their band do that, that gave us permission to just be who we are. Only a little louder."

While she and her band may have picked taken that note from Church, McBryde shared that there's one aspect of the "Desperate Man" singer's performance that no one can match.

"If I'm taking any notes from Eric, it's something that you can appreciate, and you can study it, but you can never duplicate it," she said. "It's his energy never falls below a thousand percent. Never! He is constantly on the move and beating his chest and just, it's gotta be passion. You've gotta be bats— passionate, that's just gotta be what it is. And you can love it, admire it, but you can never duplicate it."

Photo Credit: Getty / Danielle Del Valle