Ashley Campbell

Ashley Campbell Biography

Following in a famous parent's footsteps is never an easy path to take. Her father was not only a singing superstar, but also a highly skilled guitarist. Prior to making it as a country-pop vocalist, Glen Campbell had been an in-demand session guitarist playing on hundreds of hit records-everyone from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys.

Growing up in a musical family, (Ashley is the youngest of Glen Campbell's 8 children) Ashley was surrounded by musical instruments throughout her childhood she even had taken guitar lessons when she was 15 years old but didn't take music or guitar seriously. For years Ashley Campbell pursued dance and acting rather than a singing career. Following high school, Ashley attended Pepperdine University in Malibu getting a bachelor's degree in theatre.

"I think I just loved Saturday Night Live so much and I auditioned for the improv troupe at my university in my freshman year and I didn't get in and I thought that was so much fun, I want to do that and I'm not going to let this stop me so I signed up for a place called The Groundlings in Los Angeles and that's where a lot of people from Saturday Night Live started so I was happy to be there and I fell in love with it."

Eventually Ashley followed her own musical muse after being asked to play banjo in a play in which she was appearing. That became a pivotal turning point in young Ashley's life, and she's never looked back.

"I was definitely putting a little bit of a conscious effort into not going down the path of my dad, because both of my brothers wanted to be in the music industry as well, and I loved acting," she explains. "I felt that I didn't have the confidence to get into music until I started playing banjo. Something about playing the banjo just connected with me and my creative side. When I started to play shows with my dad, I just had to play music."
She delved back into the roots of banjo and became a huge fan of Earl Scruggs, intent on mastering the difficult Foggy Mountain Breakdown. She became friends with The Dust Bowl Cavaliers, a Los Angeles-based bluegrass band. Their banjo player gave her weekly lessons in Scruggs-stylebanjo and introduced her to a lot of bluegrass music.

Right before her senior year at Pepperdine Ashley was cast in the play. The Kentucky Cycle, that was set in 1800's Kentucky. The director asked her if she could learn the banjo for the play and bought her a cheap banjo and paid for lessons. Being used to quality instruments, Ashley wasted little time in investing in a Deering Goodtime open-backed banjo. Not only did she play in the college production, but in 2009 she was invited to join her father's tour of Australia and New Zealand, playing banjo and also providing background vocals. It's been something of a winding path that led Ashley to write and record her debut album, THE LONELY ONE, a batch of songs informed by a wide variety of experiences-some extremely life-giving, others challenging to the core.

Ashley received further help and support from her Godfather, Carl Jackson. Jackson was a young protege of her father in the early 1970s when he joined Glen Campbell's road band, and has remained a family friend ever since. On her album, she worked with Carl on the bluegrass-styled instrumental, Carl & Ashley's Breakdown.

"He's kind of like a second father to me especially with losing my dad. It's been a comfort to have him with me, but even before all of that, Carl has just been such a constant to me in my life, just encouraging. He's my hero! Such an incredible musician. He's my role model as a banjo player and just as a person, because he treats everybody with so much kindness. Working with him was such a privilege and a joy as well. We wrote that instrumental together, he and I," she says proudly.

There were the years of watching helplessly as her father struggled with the diagnosis and progression of Alzheimer's disease. She toured alongside him during his poignant Goodbye Tour in 2011 to 2012. She also played a pivotal role in the 2015 award-winning documentary, Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me, contributing the song "Remembering", which looks at the legendary singer's life and battle with Alzheimer's through his daughter's eyes. It's very honest and emotional, but never maudlin as it celebrated his life as only a daughter could. Along with her family, Ashley became part of the campaign to raise awareness about the disease, including testifying before Congress on behalf of Alzheimer's, raising awareness and money through benefits and fundraisers for the Alzheimer's Foundation and other groups associated with the disease. (For more information please go to www.Careliving.org) In the midst of working on THE LONELY ONE, her father lost his struggle with the debilitating disease, passing away on August 8, 2017 surrounded by his family.

Ashley got to demonstrate her banjo skills when she was invited to appear in Rascal Flatts video for their 2012 hit single, Banjo. Following filming the video, she also got to play the song live with the band. "That was such an incredible experience and I am so thankful for it. I got to play at the CMT Awards with them and Journey now that's pretty much as big as it gets when it comes to live performances."

Though Ashley has been surrounded by famous singers and musicians all of her life, she's still very much a grounded, down-to-earth fan at heart. She's been working hard on her music alongside her two older brothers Cal and Shannon. With Cal she put together a band called Instant People, an indie-pop-rock outfit that opened some shows for their father. Alongside that she also teamed up with Shannon in a duo called Victoria Ghost. Shannon played guitar, Ashley on banjo with close-knit harmonies in an indie folk/country sound. Those two projects are now firmly in the past, though she still works closely with both her brothers. Ashley co-produced THE LONELY ONE, with Cal. The recordings were mainly held in Cal's Agoura Borealis studios in Los Angeles. Shannon, who plays in Ashley's band, shares co-writing on Looks Like Time and also contributes vocals and guitar throughout the album. The album is full of songs intended to make listeners question everything they've ever known, and to remind themto think, smile, laugh and even cry. It's a mixed bag of sounds and styles presented in a unique and distinctive way with a range of emotions that connect both instantly and universally.

Flawlessly talented and using her voice to tell the stories of her life, Ashley Campbell has found and claimed something she loves and is now poised as heir to that Campbell lineage, pushing into new territory with a skill and acumen that represents everything happening in today's music.

Alan Cackett


Photo credit: Sean M Flynn