Biography: Ashton Shepherd

Ashton Delilah Shepherd (born August 16, 1986 in Coffeeville, Alabama) is an American country music singer-songwriter. She was first signed to Universal Music Group Nashville's MCA Nashville division in April 2007. Later that year, she released her debut single "Takin' Off This Pain", which peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in early 2008 and served as the lead-off single to her debut album Sounds So Good, which also produced a #21 in its title track.

Ashton Shepherd was born August 16, 1986 in Coffeeville, Alabama. Coffeeville, where Ashton was raised, is a tiny town of 360. "There's a high school and some peanut fields and that's about it," says Aston. "You blink and you miss it. My husband's family farms produce, so we stay busy with that. When the folks in Nashville asked what I'd been doing lately, I told them, 'I've been picking peas in the morning and picking guitars at night.'"

Her dad, Donnie, worked in a paper mill along the Alabama River. Mom Denise was a housewife and mother to Ashton, her two older brothers and younger sister. Both parents sang, and Denise's attempts at guitar playing were emulated by both of her sons. She began singing at an early age, and started writing songs at age five. By age eight, she had entered her first talent competition, where she sang Patsy Cline songs. "I entered my first country showdown when I was eight years old. I sang 'Crazy' and 'Walkin' After Midnight' by Patsy Cline. That's all I ever sang when I first got started. I sang 'She's Got You' and 'I Fall to Pieces' and all of hers. I just thought her voice and everything about her was so awesome and unique.", remembers Ashton.

As a child, she sang classic country tunes at local fairs, benefit shows and community events. When she was 14, her older brothers urged her to take up the guitar. "A pinch before I turned 15, I started playing. When I picked up the guitar, the songs just started pouring out, just one after the other."

When she was 15, her parents funded an album recorded at Alabama group member Jeff Cook's studio in Ft. Payne, Alabama. Her mother took the cover photo.

"We had the minimum of 1,000 copies made of that CD," Ashton recalls. "I sang so many places where people said, 'Oh, we'd love to have a CD. Do you have something?' So we did that so people could have something of mine. We would sell them for $10 or whatever."

"There were maybe four or five local bars in our area that we played," says Ashton. "The audiences always loved the original songs. One of their favorites was 'Not Right Now,' because the women dig the not-settling-down thing."

"The local playing was great but I wanted a career. I wanted to put my music out there. But we didn't know what to do. I used to talk to my husband about it. I would get depressed, because I felt like the good Lord had given me this talent, but I wasn't doing anything with it. Then one day all of this just happened."

In June 2006, she entered and won a talent contest in Gilbertown, Alabama. The prize was being the opening act for Lorrie Morgan in concert. A Nashville record producer heard Ashton, asked for a copy of her CD and invited her to come to Nashville to record some of her tunes. She arrived in Music City on August 29, 2006.

Aware that she would need an attorney to deal with the Nashville music business, she telephoned an office she located on the Internet. The woman on the other end of the phone was kind and helpful. She was also connected, since she worked for the legendary producer and guitarist Jerry Kennedy. This led to meeting Jerry's son Shelby Kennedy, who brought Ashton Shepherd to MCA. Less than a year from the date she arrived in Music City, Sounds So Good was completed with producer Buddy Cannon (Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, etc.).

"Everybody has said they've never seen anything happen like this," says the honky-tonk Cinderella. "I can't wait to meet people and for people to meet me. I hope everybody connects with my music as well as Nashville has. I think they will. I think people will feel the realness in my songs. I've always dreamed of this ride I'm about to take. I feel as blessed as I've ever felt in my life."

Her debut single, "Takin' Off This Pain", was released in September 2007, the same month in which she made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry. The song, which peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, was the first single from her debut album Sounds So Good, which was produced by Buddy Cannon and released on March 4, 2008. She also appeared on CMT's Unplugged at Studio 330 Television program and subsequent interview March 5, 2008. The album's second single, its title track, was released in May 2008 and peaked at #21.

All the songs on Sounds So Good were written before she turned 21. "This is what I was born to do," says Ashton in her honey-smooth, deep-Alabama accent. "I've always been singing, but it didn't come from me. I didn't just teach myself to sing. I've always sung. The songwriting is the same. As soon as I was big enough to write on paper, I was coming up with stuff. I've got notebooks where I was writing down songs when I couldn't even spell correctly, from the time I was five, six, seven years old."