When I had the opportunity to hear Ashley Gearing perform live at the Stage on Broadway in Nashville, I was genuinely impressed by the power and clarity of her voice. And yet, when I listen to her recorded music, I can’t help but feel distanced. I don’t feel like I’m listening to an artist who has something to say. I feel like I’m listening to another factory-assembled Nashville product whose label is carefully prepping and packaging her to be the next big pop-country star (though her chart record thus far shows limited success in that regard).
Once the grating opening guitar chords are out of the way, the song is fairly easy on the ears as Ashley gives a strong, nuanced delivery of the first verse. But it’s not long before the chorus kicks in, and a storm of über-slick Nashville pop-country production takes over. It does little to help Gearing overcome the fundamentally cliché nature of the lyrics, which lean on rehashed references to a small town that “moves just a little too slow,” chasing dreams, and Mama telling her to “follow your heart.”
It’s a shame Curb Records felt the need to handle her such, as it undermines the wide-eyed youthful innocence Gearing brings to the song lyric. Ashley Gearing is a talented singer, but “Me, My Heart, and I” is mired so deep in studio polish that hardly any of her natural sincerity shines through.
Maybe it says something that 2003’s “Can You Hear Me When I Talk to You,” which came out when Gearing was 11, remains her only Top 40 chart entry to date. Little is gained by taking a genuinely talented singer, and throwing endless effort into making her sound like everything else on country radio. It certainly hasn’t been enough to get her out of the undesirable club of singers who are perpetually referred to as “new” artists.
The 1-to-10 Country Music Review 