Halestorm hook up with Ashley McBryde for stirring new version of Terrible Things

Halestorm have released a new version of Terrible Things, a track that originally appeared on last year’s Back From The Dead album. The new version is a duet, with Lzzy Hale joined by fellow Nashville resident, country star Ashley McBryde.

“Terrible Things is a song about hope and forgiveness of one’s self, and this world we live in,” explains Lzzy Hale. “To elevate the heart of this track we asked the baddest woman in Nashville, Ashley McBryde, to lend her incredible voice. I’m so in awe of her power and am so grateful to have her join us! I know the message will resonate and inspire you. We are imperfect beings, capable of so much evil. But I will not lose faith, because in my dreams I believe we are not these Terrible Things.»

“I’ve loved Halestorm for longer than I can remember,” adds McBryde. “I thought my team was messing with me when they said Lzzy asked if I wanted to sing on Terrible Things with them. But it turns out they were being serious, so of course I said yes. I am so happy to be on this track with Lzzy. She’s a phenomenal human being and someone I continue to look up to.»

The video for Terrible Things centres around the trauma experienced by a teenage runaway, and finishes by promoting the Runaway & Homeless Youth And Relationship Violence Toolkit, a set of guidelines for teens in need.

Hale has also joined forces with mental health advocates Sound Mind Live to add to their series of ‘Unmasked’ videos, in which musicians hope to use their influence to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

“Even though we’ve come a long way in the past few generations to break the stigma that has long shadowed mental health, there are still so many of us having a hard time finding a safe space,” says Hale. “Personally, I have suffered from depression – feeling like I’m trapped at the bottom of a well watching the world above go by without me – as well as paralysing anxiety and impostor syndrome.

«These are battles I still fight daily, and by being honest and vulnerable about my own struggles, I want to give others hope. You are not alone.»

Hale also details how the piano ballad Raise Your Horns, another song from Back From The Dead – which was written about her own mental health – has become a rallying call for the band’s fans.

«I wanted to write a song about my mental health journey, that you can work through things that you thought were impossible, so raise your horns,» says Hale. «Give yourself permission to live your life the way that you want to live your life.

«So this was one of those songs that I was writing it as a pep talk for me, but then as soon as we play it live, you just see the place just go up.»