Kassi Ashton Overcomes Cancer Battle to Release Her Powerful Debut Album ‘Made From Dirt’ (EXCLUSIVE)
The road to releasing a debut album is never an easy one for a new artist, but country music newcomer Kassi Ashton has overcome more obstacles than most on the way to releasing Made From Dirt, which drops on Friday, September 20. The talented singer/songwriter battled cancer at 19 years old, yet never let her diagnosis stand in the way of pursuing her dreams of a music career.
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Kassi Ashton received a diagnosis that changed her life
Born in California, Missouri, Kassi began singing at five years old and has early memories of performing in front of an ice cream bucket for money at the private airport where her mom worked. After high school, her grandmother encouraged Kassi to move to Nashville where she attended Belmont University, majoring in Commercial Voice with a minor in Music Business.
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“I was a sophomore in college, and I had the flu, so I went into the clinic at Belmont,” she told Woman’s World during a Zoom interview. “The nurse goes, ‘Have you noticed THAT?’ and she handed me a mirror. It looked like I had a golf ball literally sticking out of my neck and that was crazy to me because how had I not seen that? The nurse said, ‘Don’t worry, most girls your age lymph nodes just swell but we’re going to take your blood just in case.’”
After running the blood tests, Kassi was told she would need an ultrasound on her neck. “I was terrified, but I went and then I had to have it biopsied,” she says. “I remember being in the doctor’s office and it sounds like a movie, but he had the manila envelope and said, ‘You have cancer in three quarters of your thyroid.’
“Your thyroid is shaped like a butterfly. There are two lobes and one entire lobe and three fourths of the other lobe and lymph nodes all in my chest and neck were filled too,” she continues. “The doctor said, ‘I don’t see how you stay awake for class, and I don’t see how you make it upstairs because your thyroid is not working and you should be exhausted.’ I had gained some weight in my face and body and I thought it was the ‘freshman 15’ but it was my thyroid.”
Even after receiving the devastating news, Kassi decided to delay treatment for a short while. “I ended up putting my surgery off for a month because I had a show at school that I didn’t want to miss,” she says. “Then I had surgery, and I couldn’t talk for two weeks. I couldn’t sing because you’re not allowed to, and then I did two rounds of radioactive iodine and after seven years they declare you cancer free.”
Kassi Ashton is as strong as they come
It’s now been a decade since she received that scary diagnosis, but these days, it’s not something the upbeat young artist focuses on. “I don’t even think about it,” she smiles. “I take my medication in the morning. I get my blood drawn to check my levels every three months and other than that I don’t think about it.”
Kassi is gracious to answer questions about her health, but she’s much more interested in talking about Made From Dirt, a collection of songs that reflect her strong, sassy personality, yet are teeming with the heart and vulnerability that make her music relatable to a broad audience.
@kassiashton/Instagram
“I’ve been through the ringer, not just in the industry, but in my life and I feel like if I was going to die on a hill, I’d be okay with it being this one,” she says of the album. “I feel like in 10 years I’m still going to hear these songs even if I’ve played them thousands of times and say, ‘This is me! This is the best first impression I could have given.”
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Kassi co-wrote every song on the album and co-produced the project. The title track was inspired by her love of fashion yet rooted in her country upbringing.
“I actually got that song title while I was watching a live feed of a couture fashion show,” she recalls. “The models were wearing the most gorgeous metallic chrome detailed couture, but their runway was pitch black — besides the spotlight — on a muddy motocross arena with the hills and the pits. These poor women had to trudge and trek and their gowns were getting dirty and that was the point and I just related so much.
“The mud, grit and obstacles somehow made the shiny ball gowns even more impressive, and I hope I look like them,” she continues. “I hope that the scars I’ve collected and the coping mechanisms and the experiences that I’ve went through that weren’t easy have made me better. All my favorite things that I would be proud of about myself if I had to make a list, I was not born with. I had to earn those things. I made it from the dirt. I grew up from a very organic place. If I get knocked down, I’m better every time I get back up.”
The new album as a reflection of her
The album also reflects Kassi’s feisty sense of humor, especially in the new single “Called Crazy.” “No poetic story there or couture fashion show there, just cold hard truth. It’s poking fun at boys and men,” she says with a smile.
“You call me crazy because that’s the only adjective that you know. You call me crazy, but you call me again so who is actually crazy? It’s not a man-hating thing. It’s just the cold hard truth. Why would I feel bad about my activities or my attitude if you keep calling? I love it because at every show that we play, the women in the crowd are screaming.”
The album is a true reflection of Kassi’s unique personality. Her parents divorced when she was very young, and she divided her time between riding dirt bikes and enjoying the outdoors with her dad and soaking up fashion, dance and great music from Loretta Lynn, Stevie Nicks, Aretha Franklin and Tammy Wynette with her mom.
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Kassi can definitely be a girly girl who spent time on the pageant circuit and participated in ballet and theater, but she has a tattoo of a muzzleloader on her arm, in tribute to the 10 years she shot competitively from seven to 17.
“My grandpa was a marksman in the Army,” she says. “I started when I was seven years old and just did it competitively with him. It was just a way to hang out with my grandparents and I thought it was cool because I was one of the only girls to do it. It was a way to get some life lessons with my grandpa and be disciplined with something.”
She’s equally passionate about both couture and deer hunting. “I rode motorcycles. Deer season is huge in my family. He calls me daddy’s little boy,” she says of her father. “My parents had very different raising styles and without ever taking sides, I always wanted to be just as much one as I am the other. Sometimes that was hard because if somebody sees me all dolled up and doing my theater thing and I say, ‘Oh I love to deer hunt!,’ they are like, ‘Sure you do.’ Those who see me in all my camo and all my garb and I say, ‘Oh I love fashion!,’ they are like, ‘Sure you do.’
“I hope people realize that they can be whoever the hell they want to be because I’m sitting here being two sides of the same coin that people tell me is not possible to be, but I am. If I can help other people realize that they don’t have to pick a side, they don’t have to pick a box, they can be exactly who they want to be as long as they just lean in, then I’ll be happy.”
Kassi admits life is sweet these days. In addition to her debut album finally coming out, she’s also engaged to a music publisher and planning a wedding for spring 2025. She has overcome a great deal and worked hard to make her dreams come true and she has a message for others. “Whoever you are and whoever you want to be, you can be that,” she smiles. “There are no boundaries. Do not let anyone tell you what you can and can’t have. As long as you are willing to work for it, you can have whatever you want.”
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