Hosting, Teaching & Workshops

In 2021, Ashley founded What the Folk! Songwriter Sessions, a songwriter round series that began in North Carolina’s craft brewery scene and has grown into a monthly songwriter residency at the Back Table in Greensboro, NC. Through this series, Ashley cultivates deeply intentional listening spaces to nurture local voices. This work has expanded through her program What the Folk! Song School, a songwriting summer camp for high school students rooted in play, mentorship, and creative liberation.

In 2022, she was selected for Ethno USA, a global folk music cultural exchange program in Black Mountain, NC, living and creating music with 30 musicians from 14 countries through a peer-to-peer cultural exchange model.

She is also a founding clinician of Sound Forge, a popular music clinic for high school students, and serves on the Popular Music Committee of the North Carolina Music Educators Association, advocating for student-centered, contemporary music education across the state.

In 2024, she was awarded a grant by Westchester Country Day school to conduct a songwriting and recording workshop with their second grade class.

As a queer and neurodivergent artist, Ashley’s work centers vulnerability, collective care, and liberation. Her songwriting explores healing, resilience, social justice, and shared humanity; functioning both as personal medicine and a call to connection. In 2026, she will serve as a panelist at Folk Alliance International on “Tracing and Reclaiming Feminist Rhetoric in Folk Protest Music.”

Interested in booking a session, lesson, workshop, or learning more?
📩 booking@ashleyvirginiamusic.com