Chelle Rose, ‘Paintsville Table’ [Exclusive Premiere]

Chelle Rose is revealing her newest single, "Paintsville Table," to The Boot's readers first.

"Paintsville Table" is the opening song on Rose's forthcoming new album, Blue Ridge Blood. In the song, she sings achingly, “Ain’t no sunshine in the gut of that mountain / Daddy begged his boy be anything but a miner / But his lady got a baby in the belly / So he’ll trade his dream to a black lung thief / To put food on the Paintsville table."

"The kids and I had left the suburbs for Leiper’s Fork, the most East Tennessee-like community in Middle Tennessee. I needed a quiet, down-home change of scenery to restore my spirit while navigating a nasty divorce," Rose recalls to The Boot of how "Paintsville Table" came to be. "I turned on the TV and caught a Diane Sawyer documentary on the limited opportunities for families in Paintsville, Ky., and it set me straight up. My perception changed, realizing my troubles were few, and Paintsville stole my heart."

Rose, who counts among her heroes Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle and Alejandro Escovedo, brings something different to the country music table: Her contralto vocals are gritty, her lyrics are vulnerable, and her mountain upbringing is evident throughout Blue Ridge Blood, a project that has been four years in the works. Set for release on Aug. 5 on Lil' Damsel Records, the 11-track disc delves into Rose's family history -- the darkness and light that is in every single family. During the making of the album, Rose was diagnosed with a thyroid disease, met her birth father, dove deep into her family's roots and became engaged.

"Nobody goes through this life unscathed," she admits. "I wouldn’t trade any of it. It’s all intertwined.”

Blue Ridge Blood is available for pre-order on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Rose's official website.

Listen to Chelle Rose, "Paintsville Table":