Ashland Craft Releases Highly Anticipated Album 'Dive Bar Beauty Queen'

Leo33 Contributor
May 30
4 min read

Dive Bar Beauty Queen Ashland Craft — Cover By: Logan Hartnett

Just Announced Headlining “The Dive Bar Beauty Queen” Tour

Leo33 recording artist Ashland Craft releases her long-awaited full-length sophomore album Dive Bar Beauty Queen today across all streaming platforms. Created with grit, soul, and fearless storytelling, the 11-track project finds Ashland not only stepping into the spotlight once again as an artist, but owning the creative process as a co-writer and co-producer across the album.

Listen To Dive Bar Beauty Queen

Written alongside some of Craft’s most treasured storytellers and recorded in Nashville with longtime collaborators Lee Starr and Jess Grommet, Dive Bar Beauty Queen is a confident, musically dynamic, no-skip album full of backroad wisdom, heartache, and honky-tonk swagger. From the reflective tone of “Momma Don’t Pray Like She Used To” to the blues-soaked bite of “Lie A Little” and the love-longing hooks of “Morning Person,” the album cements Ashland’s place as one of country music’s most compelling and self-defined new voices.

“This record is a look back at the sounds I grew up on,” shares Ashland. “The stuff that got me hooked on music in the first place and kinda made me who I am, for better or worse. ‘Dive Bar Beauty Queen’ dives into the chaos of being in music, the highs, the heartbreaks, the hangovers, but also how telling stories through songs has always kept me sane and given me a place where I feel understood. I wrote the title track when I was 18, driving home from my “honkytonk house band” shift at 3am, and somehow it still hits harder now than ever (go figure). This album is equal parts growing up, screwing up, starting over and having a damn good time in the moment. I hope that through every song, people can hear the love I have for live music and the appreciation I hold for the folks who’ve shaped every experience and shown up to listen.”

Ashland previously teased the album with several fan-favorite singles including “Right Damn Now,” “Morning Person,” and “Lie A Little,” which earned support from Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and more. Most recently, she released “Momma Don’t Pray Like She Used To,” praised for its raw lyrics and stripped-down vulnerability.

Dive Bar Beauty Queen Tracklist

“Dive Bar Beauty Queen” (Ashland Craft)
“Hangin’ Up The Honkytonk” (Ashland Craft, Ben Stennis, Erik Dylan)
“Lie A Little” (Bryan Simpson, Kelly Archer, Mark Irwin)
“Wasn’t The Chevy” (Ashland Craft, Trannie Anderson, Marla Cannon)
“Yard Sale” (Ashland Craft, Kasey Tyndall, Lee Starr)
“Kick Rocks Cowboy” (Ashland Craft, Jonathan Singleton, Shane Minor)
“Happy Drunk” (Ashland Craft, Kasey Tyndall, Tori Allen)
“Right Damn Now” (Ashland Craft, Wyatt McCubbin, Erik Dylan)
“Doesn’t Have To Be That Way” (Ashland Craft, Lee Starr, Marv Green)
“Momma Don’t Pray Like She Used To” (Ashland Craft, Jess Grommet, Willie Morrison, Corey Elizabeth Grogan)
“Morning Person” (Ashland Craft, Faren Rachels, Dallas Wilson, Trannie Anderson)

Recorded primarily at Gilded Palace in Nashville along with Sony Tree Studio, Dive Bar Beauty Queenshowcases Ashland’s ear for detail, her unapologetic point of view, and her love for a sound that’s rooted in tradition yet made for now; layered with steel guitar, fiddle, harmonica, organ, and the edge only life experience can bring.

To celebrate the album’s release, Ashland will return to the Grand Ole Opry stage on May 31, followed by a performance at CMA Fest on June 8 at the Chevy Vibes Stage, offering fans the chance to experience her new songs live in two of country music’s most iconic settings.

Ashland is set to join Luke Bryan this summer for select dates on his Country Song Came On Tour, including arena and amphitheater performances across the Southeast and Midwest. In addition, she just announced her own headlining Dive Bar Beauty Queen Tour, kicking off later this summer and running through the fall. Additional festival appearances include Born & Raised Festival in Pryor, OK and Field & Stream Festival in South Carolina this fall.