Ashley Monroe: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

In the last few years, Ashley Monroe has cobbled together an impressive countrymusic pedigree by working alongside both upstarts (Pistol Annies with Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley) and longtime Nashville veterans (Vince Gill produced Monroe s solo album Like a Rose), and even collaborating with Jack White every now and then. Monroe belongs to a remarkable wave of gifted young countrysinging women who ve surfaced with great records in 2013 a list that also includes Kacey Musgraves, Holly Williams, Brandy Clark and others while tapping into the relatable searches and struggles of everyday people. This threesong set at the Tiny Desk, performed with the aid of guitarist John Shaw, captures a nice crosssection of Monroe s appeal: The title track from Like a Rose tells an optimistic story of survival, the ambivalent ballad You Got Me chronicles illadvised romantic obsession, and, of course, the Top 40 country hit Weed Instead of Roses functions as a playful, funloving mission statement. Speaki