Alicia Blue – Rose of Tennessee
Today, Alicia Blue shares her new single “Rose of Tennessee,” the next chapter from the Nashville singer-songwriter’s debut album Country Desire, which is produced by 4x Grammy-winner Shooter Jennings and out August 28.
Bolstered by an anthemic fiddle riff that almost sounds like a warning, “Rose of Tennessee” cleverly flips the script on the traditional Appalachian murder ballad, reimagining the song’s narrator as an anti-hero in love.
Alicia on the new single: “I love old country and folk tunes filled with all that good stuff, like death, murder and infidelity. The darker and sadder they are, the more they do it for me. ‘Lily Of The West’ is an old traditional song that greatly inspired ‘Rose of Tennessee,’ although I flipped things around a bit. Rose is the anti-hero full of strength, chaos and seduction. Her self-awareness is what makes her so worthy. Aubrey Richmond brought out that Appalachian sound with the riff on her fiddle that lets you know something ominous is coming. It’s also the hook that makes the ‘Rose of Tennessee,’ whoever she may be, so memorable and forever in our minds.”
As evidenced on earlier singles like the infectious “Backwards Again” and the tender “Kentucky Cowboy,” Country Desire navigates themes of longing, consequence and control in a blue-collar epic. After Shooter discovered Alicia’s early demos, he agreed to make the album after their first meeting, with no label and no budget. These sessions at Hollywood’s famed Sunset Sound studio pulled together powerhouse players including Jay Bellerose on drums (Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Ray LaMontagne), Brian Whelan on keys and textures (Dwight Yoakam), Ted Russell Kamp on bass (Sturgill Simpson, Tanya Tucker) and Greg Leisz on pedal steel (Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton), alongside Alicia’s guitarist Alex Labrie, each one serving the songs rather than polishing them.
What came out is a record obsessed with desire — not as fantasy, but as a force that distorts, drives and dismantles. On its inspiration, Alicia shares, “I’d say a lifetime of parts of myself that came to the surface, that needed airtime, the spotlight, so they could stop sitting in the driver’s seat. Parts that wanted the rush of a poetic life, at the cost of personal power and stability.” The end result is a debut that already sounds lived-in, hard-won and mythic.
Alicia is on the road this summer with her new music in tow, including at a pop-up show with Charley Crockett today at The Old Saloon in Emigrant, MT. Fresh off a run of dates supporting Crockett, she’ll also be making stops in Illinois, Wisconsin and more.
Hailing between the South Borderlands of Texas and the orange groves of Southern California, Alicia Blue is an artist whose voice carries a blue-collar directness shaped as much by mariachi and rancheras as by classic country.
Tour Dates:
July 1 – Emigrant, MT – The Old Saloon #
July 1 – Livingston, MT – Live from the Divide
July 5 – Berwyn, IL – American Music Festival
July 6 – Yorkville, IL – The Law Office Pub & Music Hall
July 7 – Rockford, IL – The Music Box
July 8 – Oshkosh, WI – Becket’s
July 9 – Sheboygan, WI – Levitt AMP Sheboygan Music Series
September 6 – New Braunfels, TX – Gruene Hall *
October 4 – Philadelphia, PA – Milk Boy +
# with Charley Crockett
* with Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Marfa
+ with Robert Ellis
#aliciabluemusic