Ashley Monroe on Her Musical 'Fresh Start' Following Cancer: 'I'm Happy, Thankful and Feel Amazing' (Exclusive)

"Especially after what has happened, music just has a whole new spin on it in my heart," the country star tells PEOPLE

The eyes of Ashley Monroe turn a deeper green when she is happy.

"I am happy, I am thankful, and I feel amazing," the 37-year-old tells PEOPLE in a recent interview about her vibrant appearance in the music video for her new single "Over Everything." "I didn't lose my hair at all, but I could tell around the edges, it just thinned out. My hair now came back with a whole other texture — it's curly. It won't be straightened. It feels like a fresh start in a lot of ways."

Certainly, the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter is not complaining, because she knows a blessing when she feels one. Truth be told, Monroe’s eyes have seen far too much in her life thus far, from her father’s death when she was just 13 years old to her 2021 diagnosis of Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM), a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma also known as lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma.

"I think I was even losing some hair before I even started chemo,” continues Monroe, who finished six months of chemo treatments in December of 2021 after being diagnosed in June of that same year. “I was really anemic and looking back, I was getting dizzy all the time and feeling super tired. So now, I've got healthy blood pumping through my veins. I felt like it took a while to get all the toxins and stuff out of my body, but now I have energy."

Related: Ashley Monroe Announces Cancer Scans Came Back 'Amazing and Normal,' Hopes Illness Is 'Gone Forever'

And it’s this newfound energy that is now going towards caring for her 6-year-old son Dalton.

"He's so precious,” Monroe says of her child with her husband of 10 years, former Chicago White Sox pitcher John Danks. "Dalton is such an old soul. He loves history and he doesn't like to lose." She laughs, adding, "He’s got John's competitive nature, which I don't have, but I think it's cool. And he's pretty good at throwing."

Her son also loves his new accordion.

"He plays it just by ear," Monroe explains of Dalton’s obvious musical talents. "He hums all the time, and sometimes we make sick beats and stuff. But yeah, his melodies are really pretty, so we'll see."

Monroe is the first to admit that she feels somewhat relieved to see her little boy flourishing, as it was he who had to watch his mother fight blood cancer. "I would do chemo and I would come home and just go straight to bed, and it was so hard to hear Dalton in the next room. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't hardly move." She pauses. "I always knew in the back of my mind that I was doing this so I could be better, and I could be better for him on the other side. I have peace with that."

Related: Ashley Monroe Celebrates End of Chemo Treatment: 'I've Never Been More Thankful'

And while the physical ramifications of her battle have begun to subside, Monroe admits that the mental challenges remain.

"When it gets close to those days when I have to go to Vanderbilt [Ingram Cancer Center] to get checked, my body starts panicking,” says Monroe, who returns for a recheck approximately every three months. "[My body] just starts panicking that it's going to have to go through it all over again. And every now and then, I’ll even start thinking about how I hope that doesn't have to ever happen again. But if it does, I know I can get through it."

Certainly, it was music that helped her get through it, and music that continues to play a vital piece in her journey to ultimate healing.

"I'm so overwhelmed with how much I'm obsessed with what I'm currently working on,” says Monroe. “It kind of feels like that going home thing. It feels good. And especially after what has happened, music just has a whole new spin on it in my heart."

Now having released her first single following her critically acclaimed 2021 album Rosegold, Monroe says that "Over Everything" touches on that spot in one’s life in which life might not be perfect, but it’s still beautiful.

Related: The Pistol Annies Say They Should 'Thank Sia Big Time' For Making Their Christmas Album 'Happen'

"Sometimes your heart gets tired," says Monroe, who has been writing with bestie (and Pistol Annies bandmate) Miranda Lambert as of late.

"There's a lot of challenges in life. When I sing 'Over Everything,' it's almost like I just give myself permission to feel tired, but hopeful in the same breath."

Will she and Danks add to the exhaustion with an eventual second child?

"I don't know,” she says with a somewhat deep breath. "I don't really think about it, but I would be sad if I thought I couldn't. I'm just at that point. I feel like… I don't know. Probably not. But who knows. We can plan and plan and plan, but still yet, sometimes that’s not the plan."

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Read the original article on People.