From Rock Bottom to Rockabilly Success, Ashley Best is At His Best Now

Welcome to Episode 10 of Roots Music Rambler! Join us – hosts Francesca Folinazzo, who Jason calls “Frank,” and Jason Falls, who goes by “Falls” most of the time, as we explore the real roots of the music we love.
Ashley Best has one of the stories that just sets him up to write great country songs. The Cadiz, Ohio dairy farmer started playing music in his teens, then life got in the way. In his early 20s, his wife died unexpectedly and left him with two daughters to raise. The struggles of a widower got to him and he admitted to spending years self-medicating with alcohol. 
Then he hit rock bottom.
The journey out of alcoholism included finding love again, getting back to his family farm, and rediscovering his ability to write and perform. Best produced an EP in 2018, then dropped his first full album, Something, in 2022. His mix of honky tonk swoon and rockabilly energy has produced strong music that matches nicely with his layers-of-life-experience voice that is unique, to say the least.
Best told us he describes his vocal quality as, “tired.” We think it’s “seasoned.”
Best joined us to share his emotional journey down and back, what it’s like playing honky tonks in the Ohio-West Virginia-Pennsylvania section of the country, how his grandfather’s old reel-to-reel recordings put him on his path to music and much more on an emotional and uplifting episode of RMR.  
Frank and Falls also talk about their respective vinyl record collections, share their reaction to a local radio station’s top 2023 albums list and react to Jason Isbell’s recent dental work.  
Buckle up for The Hoe-Down and the Throw-Down! It’s a new episode of Roots Music Rambler.
Notes and links:

Jason Isbell explains reason behind teeth fixing

Ashley Best online

Something on Spotify 

Ashley Best on Facebook

Ashley Best on Instagram

Ashley Best on TikTok

Ashley Best on YouTube

Ashley Best on Spotify

Roots Music Rambler on Instagram

Roots Music Rambler on TikTok

Roots Music Rambler on Facebook

Jason Falls on Instagram

Francesca Folinazzo on Instagram

Pickin’ the Grinnin’ Recommendations

Lucy Dacus on Spotify

WFPK & Louisville Public Media online

WFPK 2023 Countdown Results & Playlist

Join WFPK/Louisville Public Media

And be sure to get your MuskOx premium flannel shirts just in time for fall. Use the code RAMBLER on checkout for a discount! - https://gomuskox.com/rambler
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Theme Music: Sheepskin & Beeswax by Genticorum
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