Ashley Cooke Teases Unreleased, Genre-Blending Collaborations In The Works

Ashley Cooke’s massive shot in the dark album powerfully launched her career as a singer-songwriter.

Since making her debut with the 24-track collection, the iHeartCountry On The Verge Artist has toured with award-winning country stars Luke Bryan, Jordan Davis and others. She also collaborated with reigning ACM New Male Artist of the Year Nate Smith, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat, “Fearless” powerhouse Jackson Dean and “In Case You Didn’t Know” star Brett Young on the debut album. Cooke also won the Breakthrough Female Video of the Year award for “your place” at the 2024 CMT Music Awards earlier this year in Austin, Texas.

Now, Cooke is looking ahead to her next chapter as she tours the world with Davis on the “Next Thing You Know” artist’s headlining tour, which also includes “Truth About You” hitmaker Mitchell Tenpenny. Cooke said “a lot of new music is coming really soon,” as she caught up with iHeartCountry from a Lone River Blackberry Ranch Water event days before the 59th ACM Awards earlier this month in the Lone Star State. Cooke gushed over the community involvement at events surrounding Country Music's Party of the Year, and took the stage at an ACM Country Kickoff concert, along with Chayce Beckham, Dylan Scott, Megan Moroney, Tigirlily Gold and many others in the lineup.

“I have two collaborations that I’m really excited about coming up very soon,” Cooke teased, confirming that one collaboration is with another country artist, and the other offered her the opportunity to team up with an artist outside of the genre. She said on the ACM Awards carpet, wearing a “timeless” black gown, that the latter is “more (in) the pop space.” The Florida-born country star hasn’t confirmed which artists she collaborated with as of publication time on Friday (May 31); however, she listed Ed Sheeran and Kelly Clarkson as “dream” collaborations, and said covering blink-182 with Davis and Tenpenny on tour has been “really, really fun.” Cooke has also covered the iconic early 2000s hit “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne, who took the stage to perform a new duet version of Smith’s “Bulletproof” at the ACM Awards.

Cooke said shot in the dark was, in many ways, “my introduction era. I’ve been pursuing music since I was 11 years old, and always wanted to do this.” The album was her way of “establishing who I am, what I wanna say, my writing style and all of that. …I think the second album will be a little different.

“I’m trying to kind of plan that out now, as we speak,” she added, when asked about building off of her shot in the dark era. “To me, it’s just being honest in my music. That’s it. Honest (about) where I’m at in life, and just honest in what I wanna say.”