What happened in this episode?
Singer-songwriter Ashe joins Dax Shepard and Monica Padman for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from career momentum to the private costs of success. Ashe recounts her early Bay Area upbringing, describing a father she says was severely bipolar and an older brother she characterises as a charismatic addict. She places a major bereavement inside her public career timeline, saying her brother died of a heroin overdose on 11 September 2020, after “Moral of the Story” became her breakout hit earlier that year. Ashe says renewed professional success can trigger a trauma response: she feels her body “waiting for disaster” and describes her nervous system as “shot”.
She also shares intense experiences from adolescence, alleging her family home was bombed and their dog shot, which she links to her brother’s gang affiliation, while noting some stories do not fully “belong” to her to tell. Ashe discusses nearly quitting music, panic attacks ahead of touring, and the way crisis can feel euphoric, creating a temptation to seek chaos.
On the industry side, she explains why she chose Nashville over Los Angeles early on, how songwriting rooms function as a kind of apprenticeship, and how she cobbled together income before landing record and publishing deals. She says she has little appetite for the promotional grind without commercial returns. The episode ends with Ashe performing her track “Stop the Wedding” on piano.
