He says ‘Giddy Up’ a lot, probably too much sometimes and not enough at others.
His name is Ashley Best, and he’s always wanted to live up to his surname by becoming a country music singer/songwriter talented enough to play the Grand Ole Opry, but that has yet to happen. He’s not been discovered. He and his bride, Tennile, still live Cadiz, Ohio, and Ashley works at the local feed store.
And Ashley works hard, and he has for a very long time.
“I’ve gone back and forth with it, I really have,” he said. “I know it and I do love it. But I want to be on stage. That’s what I really want.”
In fact, this is what appears on ashleybestcountrymusic.com:
“Ashley Best, son of a Coalminer, the last of 4 children and raised on the top of a hill above the very small town of Little York in Ohio. He was raised there until the age of 14, where he enjoyed fishing in strip ponds surrounding the region and watching local farmers farm the land. He grew up listening to the country radio station that his mother played while cooking, baking and washing dishes. At age 14 he moved with his family to Cadiz, Ohio, onto what would become their family farm.”
That’s why, most weekends of every year for a few decades now, Best has grabbed his guitar to perform live on a stage, in a bar, and even on local radio.
“I think, deep down, I have always wanted to make it as a country music star,” Best admitted. “When I was 16, I used to stand in front of my bedroom window, and I would see my silhouette just like the ones Dwight Yoakam used to make. I thought if I could do that, and learn every Dwight Yoakam song I could, and try to be him, I would make it. Now I know that was a mistake, but it didn’t seem like it at the time.
“I realized it was a mistake when I went to Star Lake to see him perform. I looked around and I realized right then that no one else at that show thought the same about him. It hit me then that I didn’t really want to be him. Maybe like him a bit, but not the way I was going about it,” he said. “That’s when I was more concerned about being me, and that translated into my songwriting, too.”
“Oh you’ll never gonna turn on the radio, Hear my songs on a countdown show
This I, I know but still I can’t let it go, no I can’t let it go …”
That’s the chorus of a song Best wrote called “I Can’t Let It Go,” and yes, it pertains to his music and to the lack of a superstar career.
And of course, he knows the Brad Paisley story. He knows it well. It’s just he wanted his own fairy tale to come true, too.
“I can’t lie – I still dream of being up on that stage in front of thousands of fans,” he said. “That’s what my song, ‘I Can’t Let It Go’ is all about. That’s my reality.
“I know I’ll probably never get on the Grand Ole Opry and achieve some of the big goals I’ve set for myself. I know I’m never going to be a household name, but I can’t let it go. I just keep chasing it. It’s what I want to do.”
Best only performs his own songs, and he works with local musicians like Bob Mizell. Some nights he plays solo, and other evenings he rallies his Set ‘Em Band to play venues like the Monroe Theatre in Woodsfield or the El Gran Patron Restaurant in Moundsville.
“I believe my songwriting is star worthy, I really do. I believe my songs tell stories like no one else,” Best explained. “My songs are good. 100 percent. They make for good music, but do I want to hear someone else singing my songs? No, I don’t. I want to be the one singing my songs because that very first time I stepped up on a stage, I knew that’s where I belonged.”
But these days, he sings his truth:
“I look in the mirror I only age, Slowly slippin’ is the Opry stage,
I tell myself it’s gonna be alright, at least I’m out here playin’ tonight …”
“I don’t seek that success for the money in the sense of becoming a superstar with all the money in the world,” Best said. “It’s not about fame and fortune. What I seek is making a living at it, and that’s why me and the guys in the Set ‘Em Band have worked our tails off to become as good as we can get. That I know for sure.
“So, it’s not about limos and gold records, but it is about success, if that makes any sense,” he said. “I guess we just want what we think we deserve. But I’ll tell ya this … when I’m out there singing, I’m giving it my soul.”
