Trisha Yearwood’s ‘Every Girl’ Album Includes Song Written by Ashley McBryde: ‘She’s a Smart Writer’

Trisha Yearwood’s latest Every Girl album has songs written by some of country music’s most prolific writers, including Jeffrey Steele, the late Busbee, Gretchen Peters, and singer-songwriter Ashley McBryde. It was McBryde who co-wrote (along with Terri Jo Box and Patrick Savage) “Bible and a .44,” which Yearwood recorded with Patty Loveless. Yearwood has Brooks’ daughter Allie to thank for introducing her to McBryde’s music, praising McBryde’s instincts as a songwriter.

“She’s a smart writer,” Yearwood told ABC News Radio. “I didn’t set out to record one of her songs; I just really felt a strong attraction to ‘Bible and a .44.’ It’s about her dad.”

Yearwood fell in love with not only “Bible and a .44,” but McBryde’s other songs, including the rising star’s breakout hit.

“I just loved her writing,” Yearwood boasted. “She has a song called ‘A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega,’ and I’m from Georgia, so I know exactly where she’s talking about.”

McBryde wrote “Bible and a .44” about her own sometimes tempestuous relationship with her dad.

“My father is terminally ill, but he’s still with us,” McBryde previously explained to Billboard. “He was a preacher when I was growing up, and I don’t ever remember not seeing a gun or a Bible. He raised us that way – as mean as that sounds, and as sweet as that sounds, too. He has a southern drawl, like the red bone hound.”

Yearwood’s own father passed away in 2005, but she still finds him in the message of the song.

“It doesn’t have to specifically fit your dad for you to find your dad in it,” Yearwood explained. “I did change a couple lyrics … to make it more my dad … But it’s that song that just talks about that person in your life that you looked up to that had your back.”

“Bible and a .44” is just one of several tracks on the Every Girl record that tugs at the heartstrings more than some of the 55-year-old’s earlier songs.

“As I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten more okay with being emotional, and I also think that comes through in the vocals and in live performance,” Yearwood explained. “I was very guarded as a younger woman, even talking about music I’d be like, ‘Ah, that song’s not really about me…’”

“I like being more raw about it, and more vulnerable, and being able to be emotional,” she added.

Photo Credit: Getty / Frederick Breedon