Ashley McBryde Was Watching ‘Golden Girls’ When Her 2023 CMAs Nods Came In

The nominations day for the 2023 CMA Awards almost got lost in the shuffle for Ashley McBryde. By the time the nominees list rolled out at 7AM Nashville time on Thursday morning (Sept. 7), McBryde had already started a busy day of promotion for her The Devil I Know Album, which comes out Friday (Sept. 8).

"We've had a really busy day leading up to album release. So, glam started at 6AM," McBryde told Taste of Country Nights on Thursday, just hours after she got the news that she's nominated for three awards at this year's CMAs.

"We decided to do [glam] in at my house in the kitchen, watching Golden Girls, like you do. And [stylist] Blakely [Collier], who is in charge of wardrobe, said, 'Uh, friends, nominations came out this morning.' And I was like, 'Really?!'" the singer recounts.

"So I went and grabbed my phone of my nightstand and already had text messages [congratulating me on the nominations]," she continues. "When you've got a really busy day like this leading up to a very anxious time tomorrow [releasing a new album], it's wonderful to start that with such fantastic news."

All the more so when one of those nominations is for the lead single of that album you're about to release. "Light on in the Kitchen" earned McBryde a nomination in the Music Video of the Year category. McBryde also scored a mention in the Album of the Year category for her Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville project, a collaboration-packed concept album that she put out last September, as well as a nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year.

Amid her busy day of album promotion, McBryde hadn't yet gotten the chance to talk to and congratulate her fellow nominees — though she says she's got a few running group chats with some of the genre's female artists, and she, Miranda Lambert and Lainey Wilson typically get in touch with each other about their awards show nominations.

The CMAs are a special awards show to McBryde. In particular, she has one favorite backstage memory from 2019, when she won her very first trophy for New Artist of the Year.

"If you have no idea how the dressing rooms work backstage — there's a bunch of us in each dressing room," the singer explains. "... I wanna say it was Runaway June, Lindsay Ell — there was a whole bunch of us and we were all getting ready. Every makeup artist and every wardrobe artists were all steaming things and taping body parts and handing blush over here."

Meanwhile, McBryde had just come back after winning her award. "And Pam Tillis came in to congratulate me, and I had never gotten to meet Pam," she recounts. "I'm in full glam, I just won an award and I teared up. I was like, 'Sweetheart's Dance and Homeward Looking Angel were two of the most important albums of my life. You are part of the reason I do this for a living.'

"And I revisit it pretty often, that feeling," McBryde says. "Because, you know, we do this so often — you're on the bus and off the bus and you do the show and you forget that that's the feeling somebody has in the audience right now. There's a chance that your record is that record for somebody in the audience."

The 2023 CMA Awards will take place on Nov. 8 and air on ABC. Performers, presenters and more details are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Luke Bryan and NFL quarterback Peyton Manning were previously announced as hosts of the 2023 CMA Awards. It's the hosting duo's second consecutive year on the job.

*Remember: The best way to watch the 2023 CMA Awards is on ABC, with ToC on your phone.