Ashley Campbell has stepped out of the place she once called home and found her own voice in London.
Despite the big city being far from the dusty roads and golden sunsets associated with the southern ambiance, the youngest daughter of country music icon Glen Campbell still feels close to her roots.
For Ashley, relocating here was a natural progression, influenced by her touring experiences, initially with her father in 2010 and 2011, and later during her solo tours from 2017 to 2019.
She said: “I always loved coming to the UK and it really solidified in my mind, so moving to London just made sense.”
With country music now the UK’s fastest-growing genre, fuelled by surging streams and tours, there’s no better moment for Campbell to capture the crowd.
She first visited London when she was eight and described the experience as ‘magical’, later returning to perform at the Country to Country festivalin 2016 and 2018, before fully launching her solo career here.
The success of Campbell’s Goodnight Nashville tour, which has been extended into 2026 and has an even bigger run anticipated in October plus Europe dates to be announced, underlines how the genre is relocating its centre across the globe.
The multitalented banjo player and former theatre student at Pepperdine University has a diverse schedule.
Campbell juggles her time evenly between her solo projects, the duet Campbell Jensen, in which she performs with her partner, Thor Jensen, and being a regular singer for Scott Bradlee’s Post Modern Jukebox.
She said: “The Campbell Jensen project is the first real musical collaboration I’ve been involved in where our collective strengths shine.”
The journey has not always been smooth sailing, though.
Back in 2013, Campbell signed a major publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music, part of Warner Music Group. Yet despite the accomplishment, she thought that it wasn’t her true calling.
Indeed, she was actually happy about it when her label dropped her.
She said: “If I can’t be making music for music’s sake instead of feeling pressured to make music for money’s sake, then I don’t want to do it – I’ll do anything else.”
Refusing to be changed by anyone and being an indie musician at heart, Campbell’s philosophy does not revolve around commercialised music made purely for the sake of conforming to a wider sound.
She wants her music to be honest and genuine – characteristics which can be observed in her single Remembering, which is a tender tribute to her late father.
Campbell believes the UK music scene to be more ‘quiet and attentive’.
She said: “What I like about being a professional artist in the UK is that it’s so much more livable, because you’re not driving seven hours between each gig.”
The 39-year-old is a big campaigner for a two-way creative process, where the musician provides the music and the audience celebrates.
Campbell also believes that smaller venues are more community-based and have a ‘built in audience.’
Proud of her Irish and Scottish heritage, she is keen on exploring more of the Celtic sound in her upcoming projects as part of Campbell Jensen, whose 2023 album Turtle Cottage was recorded in Northern Ireland.
The duo are currently working on a new album, hoping to tour it next year.
Away from music, Campbell has also recently become a dog mum to Murphy, who kept us entertained during our chat.
Feature image: Ashley Campbell
Join the discussion