Meet Ash Tuesday of Macon, Marietta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ash Tuesday.

Hi ash, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been into words and the way words make you feel when you read or hear them through whatever medium or screen. Now imagine you’re me, age 11, 12, or 13, with a new blue Dell Inspiron laptop computer circa early 2010s. 
Before the invention of the blue Dell Inspiron I was catching glimpses of the sounds I liked via VH1 music videos when I got ready for school, the scrubs theme song, the Nintendo DS version of Guitar Hero: Modern Hits, and the FIFA sports menu screen from my brother’s Xbox, of course. 

But, it was through the power of raw unsupervised internet access that I discovered the way words make you feel when you combine them with guitar… it is to this day… the best feeling ever. 

From there, it’s been a series of misses and successes of trying to replicate that other cool feeling you get when a lyric or arrangement of notes sits with you in a certain moment of time that first listen and how whenever you hear it again you get to go back to that moment and sit with it as well.

Before I knew how to encapsulate that sentiment into a thought form, I was just following the feeling of: I like these sounds and words coming from these artists, and then the feeling of: I really want to make a song with a guitar like the people I admire do, which leads to the urge of: nagging and eventually convincing my parents that that feeling of wanting a guitar was true and legitimate til they bought me one, and then the following of more urges and feelings including but not limited to: I need to go to this concert, I need for this boy to like me back, I need to be like *artist im obsessed with at the moment*, I need to learn to play guitar, I need to go to this concert, I need to write a song, I need to write a song just like this one, I need to get this feeling out. 

Coming from that place in the songs I post and release online made it easy to stand out on a platform like TikTok that’s both teeming with and deprived of authenticity. People can smell when you /need/ to make whatever it is you do from a phone screen away, or that, at least, is my guess on how I got here as ash tuesday — making things I had to make for whatever intrinsic reason. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’m a glass half full kinda gal, so overwhelmingly I think I’ve been extremely lucky to have the opportunities and resources I have to (for the most part) be able to do what I want as a musician in terms of having the music I make sound how I want it to sound. Of course, it took years to get to this point, but I definitely wasn’t ready for the level of success I’m at now and the opportunities it’s led to, so I think I’ve always been blessed with exactly what was needed at the time.

It’s hard to have that perspective when you’re in the thick of life and there were moments when music had to be on the back burner, but really, the only struggles along the way have been in myself. It’s that persistent thought pattern of what I’m doing isn’t as cool or “professional” as it should be at my age, at my level, at my et al, etc. and because of that, I shouldn’t even be allowed to attempt. The hardest part for me continues to be giving myself the credit the ego requires to even, ugh survive is such a unserious word for this ha, but last in this field and any field where you’ve got to put yourself out there like that.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Hi, I’m Ashlynn and I have a persona/project called ash tuesday that started very intimate and singer-songwriter and on the bed and keeps getting louder each year. I guess I specialize in being kinda wordy. Reading and writing always felt second nature (as I’m sure many can relate lol), so it’s hard to pinpoint that as a talent/aptitude, but my mom was an English teacher throughout my formative years and I’ve been into writing as a hobby since I was a kid. The music portion came a bit later, which fortunately never really stopped me from trying to make “songs” (if we can call them that) or from posting them to the internet. I think that’s what I’m most proud of, like wading through the muck of sucking at the something until you don’t (because that’s how it has to go in order to do anything well unless you’re annoyingly lucky).

I think my music is super specific and customized (like an early 2000s DVD menu) but also vaguely familiar (a cousin you see every 10 years or so), but it’s not like what I’m doing, saying, or whining about hasn’t been done before. It’s cool, however, to finally start hearing these perspectives/experiences from black voices in the indie/alt rock scene. Getting to witness this reclamation of the genre has been incredibly inspiring and equally honorable to be a part of. As someone who grew up not seeing any representation of people who look like me making or even taking part in the music I love — to now having opened for so many awesome black artists (shouts out Enumclaw, Kennedy Mann, Lutalo, Blvck Hippie) and played to emo black teenagers – definitely something I’m super proud of too, like the full circle-ness of getting to be that example I needed when I was young.

How do you define success?
Success is when you feel good about what it is you’re getting done. Not going to put any stipulations on “is” so long as it’s an action that extends from desires placed inside your own guts and entrails. Or wait, honestly, when I really think about it, success is when you can fully understand the Arthur theme song. <3

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ashtuesdaymusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtwosday?igshid=Mzc1MmZhNjY%3D
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ashtuesday
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ashtuesday?ref=clipboard&p=i&c=1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
• Other: https://linktr.ee/ashtuesday

Image Credits
Leanne Villanueva