Kacey Musgraves isn’t the only artist who admits to being high when writing. Ashley Monroe, whose latest album, Sparrow, was released last week, reveals she was smoking marijuana for many of the writing sessions for the songs on her new set of tunes.
“The songs that I wrote when I wasn’t pregnant, I was probably a little high when I wrote them,” Monroe tells Rolling Stone Country. “That’s when I write the best. I’m inspired by it. I’m pro-that big time. Best medicine there is.”
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The 31-year-old insists she does her best writing when she is under the influence of drugs, and is a staunch supporter of the use of marijuana for its medicinal and calming benefits.
“When I go write, I have a vape pen and I take a few puffs,” says Monroe. “My mind opens up, and there it goes. I start hearing these melodies, and words start coming out. People will say, ‘Pot just makes me sink into the couch,’ and I’m like, ‘You’re smoking Indica. It makes you melt.’ My mom has lupus and she’s got arthritis and she’s got other degenerative neck pain. She’s into edibles and they really, really help pain, which is cool. No side effects.”
When it came time to record Sparrow, Monroe couldn’t use anything, because she was pregnant with her son, Dalton, born in August. But, the Tennessee native says she found she didn’t need anything else.
“I felt different because I already felt stronger,” Monroe maintains. “I hadn’t met my child but I felt different inside and felt different about myself. I was almost more comfortable in my skin, vulnerable in all the right places. I felt every line I sang 100% because I was not doing anything you shouldn’t do when you’re pregnant that would give you any sort of buzz! Everything was there, everything was very present.
“I sang the whole time with my hand on my stomach,” she continues. “I wasn’t mushy about it. But I felt a certain strength, knowing that I had another life inside of me. I was certain that Dalton could hear and understand if I ever hit a wrong note. I always sing harmony to the radio, but when I was pregnant and I would sing, I’d be like, ‘You better hit it!’ It’s like somebody was always listening. I was certain he was aware of pitch.”
In addition to her solo career, Monroe, along with Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley, is part of Pistol Annies, the trio that released Hell on Heels in 2011 and Annie Up in 2013. After hinting last year that they were writing and recording again, Monroe says she hopes they will have new music soon, although she is hesitant to give a specific time frame.
“We don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves, especially when we’re all doing different things,” says Monroe. “But the time right now feels right. When we get excited, especially when the songs are coming as fast as they are… we already see it shaping into an album. So it’s still really early, but I feel like we could turn it around. We’ll see.”
