A community based performance artist at her core, Ash frequently directs and produces thematic multi-artist shows with an array of other talented artists. In 2022, Ash was a featured songwriter at the Forbes Center for Performing Arts on NPR’s Acoustic Cafe songwriter series Songstress Sojourn which was recorded in front of a live audience. In 2015, Ash starred as Maybelle Carter of the legendary Carter Family band and musically directed the play Esley: The Life and Music of Leslie Riddle, when she successfully emulated Maybelle’s iconic Carter scratch guitar style.

Devine has performed and studied along side numerous world renowned musicians and performers such as Nobel peace prize nominee Patch Adams M.D., national heritage award winner Sheila Kay Adams, Andy Cohen (blues guitar master), Grammy award nominee David Holt, Lisa Null (renowned folklorist and Jean Richie’s former apprentice) and many other acclaimed artists. Ash’s versatile performances are bursting with stylistic variety, charismatic and relatable story telling, audience engagement, and historical facts.

Ash’s music and work as a teaching artist is influenced by her upbringing in the blue ridge mountains of southwestern Virginia, her studies with acclaimed folk musicians, and by her international travels with health care activist M.D. Patch Adams.

From 2007 to 2014 Ash Devine traveled internationally with activist Patch Adams, M.D. to perform in medical facilities, orphanages, social service centers, and nursing homes. Inspired by Patch and the Gesundheit! Institute, Ash designs and facilitates therapeutic Interactive Music Programs in retirement communities, homes for disabled persons, and other care settings.

In 2015 Ash Devine starred as the legendary Maybelle Carter and musically directed the play Esley: The Life and Music of Leslie Riddle. From 2016-2018 Ash Devine studied Appalachian traditional folk songs from the Western, NC area with Smithsonian Folkways Award winning ballad singer Sheila Kay Adams. In 2018, Devine accompanied a group of WNC Appalachian song carriers to perform at the Library of Congress at the American Folk Life Center in Washington, DC.

In 2017, Devine received a graduate certificate in Gerontology from Appalachian State University, with aim to deepen her ability to provide meaningful music programming for older adults, and inter-generational groups. The adult day community folk choir designed and directed by Ash Devine, included over twenty older adult participants with various levels of memory loss and dementia related conditions. Devine has also developed a number of inter-generational programs, bringing together youth and older adults for community arts activities. One of those projects is Youth Clowns to Elders 2014, 2016, which sought to bring music, arts, and play to older adults living in the institutionalized setting. In addition to her concerts in folk venues, private events, and house concerts, Ash performs and teaches nationally in nursing homes, schools, homes for disabled, adult day care centers and community based events.

Ash’s unique background and ability to connect with her audiences through story and sound makes her music deeply relatable and emotionally compelling for people of all ages.