“Nothing has inspired me more, or hurt me more, than this place,” three-time Grammy nominee and Tennessee native Ashley Monroe wrote in a bold, vulnerable Instagram post last week, taking aim at Music City and expressing both her devotion to the music that brought her to Nashville, as well as her discontent with the heart-crushing aspects of the music industry that come with it. “After years of trying to focus on the bright side, and pretending this town doesn’t break my heart, I figured why not let ‘em know…what do I have to lose?”

Her feelings of disillusionment with the music industry are the foundation for her surprise, eight-song album Dear Nashville, which released Friday, March 27 on Mountainrose Sparrow.

For years, Monroe has been part of Nashville’s musical fabric. Her career has been filled with milestones that, on the surface, signal success: her collaboration with Blake Shelton, “Lonely Tonight,” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in 2015 She released six solo albums and four more as a member of Pistol Annies alongside Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley. Her 2015 album The Blade earned a Grammy nomination, as did Pistol Annies’ 2018 album Interstate Gospel. She worked with artists like Jack White, Train, and Butch Walker, appeared in The American Epic Sessions documentary, and sang on Shelton’s 2013 No. 1 hit “Boys ‘Round Here.” Vince Gill was a co-producer and co-writer on her 2013 album Like a Rose.

But still, she felt unseen by Nashville. The moment that brought everything into focus came at a Nashville music industry event last fall.

“They were celebrating people, and I honestly tried not to think about it because awards and all that doesn’t really mean anything to me, but everyone likes to feel seen and valued,” Monroe tells Billboard. “But at this certain event, it was like, ‘Man, it’d be nice to be seen or celebrated,’ all the things that the people there were being, and they deserve to have it. It just hit me, like, ‘I’m not on that level. I don’t think they see people like me.’ It caught me off guard in how much it hurt my feelings or affected me.”

Those feelings resurfaced as she prepared for a writing session with writer-producer Luke Laird (Kacey Musgraves, Eric Church) just days later.

“I was still rattled,” she says. “I opened my laptop and just typed out ‘I hate Nashville. I’ve tried and tried, it just takes the best…’ I was just free flowing and let myself type it all out, how I was feeling about the industry. I went to Luke’s, he asked what I wanted to write, and I said, ‘Well, the only thing I wrote this morning was “I hate Nashville.”’ He instantly got it. I hadn’t written with Luke in a long time, but looking back, it was really divine timing.”

That moment was the creative spark behind “I Hate Nashville,” and within three months became the emotional thread for the full-fledged Dear Nashville. Monroe recorded most of the vocals on the same day each song was written, a choice she made “because it was so organic and personal.”

Like the rest of the album, “I Hate Nashville” features the musicianship of revered steel guitarist Paul Franklin, who has played on albums by Keith Whitley, George Jones, Kane Brown, Gill and Riley Green. Monroe also namechecks Franklin alongside Gill in the song.

“We had a video of Paul hearing [his name in the song] for the first time in the studio,” she says. “He looked up at me and I could cry even thinking about that. I’m like, ‘You are so much of this town. Everybody needs to know your name and what you’ve done.’ But he’s so humble and he just shows up and does the work and plays perfectly.”

Dear Nashville feels conversational and vulnerable, while also reverential of the kinds of classic country sounds Monroe loves. Songs including “Gettin’ Out of Hand” and “Having It Bad” chronicle the highs and lows of chasing a music career in a city that can elevate an artist or songwriter as easily as it can overlook them. Even though Monroe has written or co-written hit country songs including “The Truth” (Jason Aldean), “Flat on the Floor” (Carrie Underwood) and “Heart Like Mine” (Lambert), she also knows all too well the struggles creatives face in a fickle industry.

“Even just the ‘fame game’ of trade up for the most famous person — helping young artists when they come to town and then they get a little bit of success and then you’re left in the mud,” she says. “Or someone else more famous comes along and even in the songwriter circles, everybody’s your friend and loves you until there’s someone [else] that they’re writing with and they kind of block you out. I mean, there’s all these different angles I have experienced.”

The album’s “Quittin’” makes it clear that ultimately, Monroe’s passion for music overrides the disillusioned moments.

“I never doubt if I’m supposed to be doing this,” she says. “No stream or sales or anything could prevent me from doing this. The business side bogs you down and makes you think, ‘Have I done all this for nothing? What am I doing?’ But my thought process never gets past that because I couldn’t do anything else. If I’m making music, I’m in a state of joy. It might not make me a hefty living, but it is the only job I’ve ever had. It’s kept me floating for a long time.”

When Monroe shared her feelings in that Instagram post, numerous artists chimed in with words of support and shared their own feelings of being overlooked. LeAnn Rimes commented, “Do your words ever hit home,” while Martina McBride replied, “I cannot wait for this!” Singer-songwriter Jennifer Wayne (known for her work as part of Runaway June) commented, “I think so many people feel this way, Ashley, I know I do,” while Priscilla Block said she admired Monroe for “your daringness to say things that some people wouldn’t.”

What began as a personal reckoning showed itself to be a universal experience.

“I had a friend who is an amazing comedian and actress in Los Angeles, and she called me yesterday, saying she feels that way in Hollywood,” Monroe recalls. “She said, ‘Even if you don’t live in Nashville, a lot of people in the business of the arts can feel that in their own way.’ One of my dear friends is a vintage store owner and relates to it in another way. Writers, publicists, publishers, makeup artists, there’s so many people that feel this way.”

While Dear Nashville serves as a musical vessel funneling the frustrations of so many creators, Monroe also acknowledges she’s seeing change, particularly for women executives in Nashville.

“I’m seeing a lot more women make huge impacts. A lot of women execs and badass publishers like Jessi Vaughn Stevenson [a former vice president at Monroe’s music publishing home at Warner Chappell Music Nashville and who now leads Perfect Game Creative]. I’m seeing a lot of women up there and I like seeing it. I wish we wouldn’t have to sometimes close one door to open another one. There’s enough room for everyone.”

Looking ahead, Monroe has more to say and more to create. She’s preparing for a run of performances supporting Stephen Wilson Jr., and hints at other projects waiting in the wings.

“I’ve got so many things that I’m excited about, I’ll just have to bite my tongue,” she says, adding she has no immediate plans for a new Pistol Annies project. “The Annies have so many songs that we’ve written over the past few years, and hopefully we can just get together and write soon, just to stir those muses.”

Regardless of what form those creative impulses take, Monroe is keeping the ultimate recognition in mind.

“I live to have my music help somebody else get through whatever or feel something that helps heal something inside of them. It’s more powerful than any award, to feel like something you’ve made has resonated,” she says.