Nashville’s hallowed Ryan Auditorium has been empty for weeks now, but Ashley McBryde was able to head to the beloved venue to sing a stunning rendition of “Amazing Grace” she released on Easter Sunday (April 12).
With help and clearance from the Nashville Department of Public Health, McBryde did what millions of musicians wish they could do in this moment: she returned to the stage in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, which has shuttered the doors of countless concert venues the world over and killed over 100,000 people, including Nashville’s own Joe Diffie and John Prine.
The enormity of that struck McBryde as she began to sing the spiritual through her tears.
“I had the opportunity to honor all we’ve lost at @theryman this week and I tried my best…7 times in a row,” she wrote on Instagram. “I really tried… Some things just can’t be healed. Some losses can’t be reconciled and some wounds will never heal. Sometimes we don’t get closure the way we want to. All we can do is honor our predecessors and hope that we touch the hem of heaven sometime in our lives.”
Watch McBryde sing “Amazing Grace” a cappella at the Ryman below.
