"Girl Goin' Nowhere" is a song recorded by American

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Ashley McBryde Ashley McBryde (born July 29, 1983) is an American country music singer–songwriter. Raised in Arkansas, she was drawn to various types of music from a young age. She also developed a passion for writing songs and later moved to Nashville, Tennes ...

. It was released originally on McBryde's album of the same name in 2018. In January 2019, it was released as the album's third

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, and reached the top 40 of the

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart later that year. It received positive reviews from critics.

Background

"Girl Goin' Nowhere" was co-written by Ashley McBryde, along with Jeremy Bussey. It was McBryde's first experience working with Bussey, who had previously written for country artists like

Jason Aldean Jason Aldean (born Jason Aldine Williams; February 28, 1977) is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released ten albums and 40 singles. His 2010 ...

and

Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Reco ...

. Bussey encouraged her to write a song "in such a way that

Guy Clark Guy Charles Clark (November 6, 1941 – May 17, 2016) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet ...

wouldn’t be upset if he had to listen to it." McBryde was also inspired to write the song based on an experience she had with her high school algebra teacher. McBryde had told the educator that she planned on becoming a singer-songwriter. The teacher replied by saying that her dream was "stupid" and that she needed a back-up plan. "For an educator to tell a kid that their dream is stupid, that is so ridiculous and most educators would never do that. But in all reality she gave me my first experience with rejection and the word 'no'," she explained in 2018.

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

covered the song under a revised title of "Guy Goin' Nowhere" for his ''

Triple Live ''Triple Live'' is the second live album released by American country music artist Garth Brooks. The album was recorded during Brooks' 2014–17 world tour, as well as his Stadium Tour. The album has two mixes: a traditional live mix, which was r ...

'' album.

Critical reception

The song received positive reviews from critics. This included

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

who named it among his "album picks" upon reviewing her 2018 album of the same name. ''Roughstock'' called it a "reflective song" and commented that "McBryde also sounds grateful for these struggles, as it’s these hard times that build the most character." Billy Dukes of ''

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

'' called the track "inspiring reminder to chase your dreams."

Release and chart performance

"Girl Goin' Nowhere" was first included as the title track to McBryde's debut studio album. Produced by

Jay Joyce John Joseph "Jay" Joyce is an American record producer, songwriter and session musician. In the 1990s, Joyce, with Chris Feinstein and Brad Pemberton, recorded and toured as Iodine and began working as a record producer, working with artists suc ...

, the album was released on March 30, 2018, via

Warner Music Nashville Warner Music Group's labels include the following. Flagship labels * Atlantic Records * Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Records Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * All Money In * Artist Partners Group * Asylum Re ...

. The song was released as a

on January 14, 2019, via Warner Music. The song spent a total of 22 weeks on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

chart, peaking at number 40 in May 2019. It was McBryde's second top 40 single in her music career. A live

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

directed by Ryan McElmore was released on

Country Music Television Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel devoted to coun ...

in 2019.

Track listing

Digital single * "Girl Goin' Nowhere" – 3:25

Charts

References

{{Ashley McBryde 2019 singles 2019 songs Ashley McBryde songs Song recordings produced by Jay Joyce Songs written by Ashley McBryde Warner Records Nashville singles