I love when Random iTunes Weekends tip me off to new music. Ashley Monroe, for example, has a new album due out five days from now and I might not have learned that had she not popped up today.
Monroe hit my radar as one of the three Pistol Annies, then won me over as a solo artist with her 2013 album Like a Rose. Its follow-up, 2015’s The Blade, was an even stronger record, making my expectations sky high for the upcoming Sparrow.
Today’s track comes from Monroe’s debut, Satisfied. This album spent six years in limbo because the label didn’t hear a hit single. Monroe made a career writing songs for other artists, split from the label and eventually saw it fully released in 2012 after a digital-only drop in 2009.
Monroe counts Dolly Parton as a major influence (both are from the Knoxville, Tennessee, area) and that’s evident on this song.
I wear him like a tattoo
I wear him like a scar
I wear him like a hangover
That ain’t worn off so far
I pour him cups of coffee
I take him in my dreams
I talk to him like he’s still here
But you won’t ever see him
[Chorus]
‘Cause he ain’t comin’ back
Happy where he’s at
I’m living in the past
And he ain’t comin’ back mmm mmm
[Verse 2]
The mirror tells a story
That I just don’t want to hear
The reflection of a broken girl
Has never been more clear
I found his favorite t-shirt
That’s a good excuse to call
But there’s nothing here that he wants
When he left he took it all
[Chorus]
And he ain’t comin’ back
Happy where he’s at
Oh and I’m living in the past
He ain’t comin’ back
[Bridge]
I know what I did wrong
And I wish he’d come back home
[Chorus]
But he ain’t comin’ back
Happy where he’s at
And I’m living in the past
And he ain’t comin’ back
Ohhh
Meet Me In Montauk 
Very pretty country song. I hear the Dolly influence.
Definitely sounds like Dolly
Lovely. Hurrah for the Dolly Parton influence, too! What better singer/songwriter to be influenced by (as a creative being — but maybe not as an entertainer with all of the extraordinary plastic surgery…) Thank you for sharing!