Songs We Love: Ashley Monroe, 'Hands On You'

Ashley Monroe was barely old enough for a driver's permit when she first began making the rounds on Music Row, trying to get her country career going and envisioning the inevitable progression it would follow.

"When I came to town, you see it play out in your head a certain way," Monroe tells NPR. "Move there; get discovered; get a record deal. Then soon after, you get a bus, surely. Then you tour and you're on the CMAs and the ACMs. After that, you're gonna win a Grammy."

Even back then, the seasoned industry vets who heard her marveled at what an old soul she was, at what a gift she had for mining profound melancholy with the delicate shading of her melodies and the exquisite Appalachian quiver in her phrasing.

Now 31 years old, Monroe's spent half her life in Nashville, winning over country elders, stylistically , decision makers and music critics alike. She has weathered cycles of anticipation and disappointment as she released albums to much fanfare and watched them barely register an impact via the standard measure of mainstream country success: radio airplay. Along the way, she's not only continued to refine her expression,