Ashley Monroe is releasing a new album Tennessee Lightning, her follow-up to 2021's Rosegold, on August 8. She's already shared the single "The Touch" featuring Marty Stuart. Today, she's shared another one titled "Bitter Swisher Sweet" with Brittney Spencer. It's a cool, swaggering country track perfect for carefree summer nights chilling with friends.
Monroe shared some thoughts on the single: “This song makes me think of a specific season of my early teenage years, when my older brother and his friends sometimes allowed me to tag along while they cruised Gatlinburg or some random East Tennessee backroads. Whilst they smoked Swisher Sweets, I sipped Zimas in the back seat, and we would just get lost in whatever music we had blasting and forget we had a care in the world. We had lost our dad a couple years earlier, and when I look back on that time in my life, I think how those ‘young and dumb’ seasons are never really wasted. In a lot of ways, they keep us alive... so get high, get low, light up, come on, the night is young.”
"Bitter Swisher Sweet" is somewhat nostalgic, drinking in the present moment while thinking about liberating memories of one's youth. It makes sense that songs from Tennessee Lightning feel grateful and open, cherishing life's small sacred moments. Monroe was diagnosed with lymphoma after releasing Rosegold. The harrowing cancer diagnosis left Monroe feeling disconnected from music.
“When I finally went into remission, I could feel the life and the music start flowing in my veins again,” she explained. “It was like a flood, just this rush of inspiration.”
Watch the video for "Bitter Swisher Sweet" below and pre-order Tennessee Lightning here
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=deqwaJURrh4
