Chelle Rose

Interview Recap

Calvin talks about how he was so impressed by Chelle (pronounced like “Shelly”) Rose’ music he had to invent a new genre name for it and he decided to call it Smoky Mountain Blues.

Chelle Rose talks about growing up in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, in Lenoir City, Tennessee just outside of Knoxville. She says that she also spent a lot of time during her childhood summers in Franklin NC where her grandmother’s family was from. She says she doesn’t feel close to mainstream Nashville and says “I don’t know those people.” Chelle Rose talks about how she came up through the rock clubs in East Nashville.

Chelle Rose talks about the types of music that inspired her the most growing up in the mountains of Tennessee. Chelle says all they had access to was local AM radio and because of that she has a lot of southern rock in her blood.

Chelle Rose sets up “Browder Holler Boy.” She says this track was written as an attempt to pacify the ghost of her deceased boyfriend from years past. She tells the story about how his ghost shook her bed in the middle of the night one night, but ever since she wrote this song he has left her alone.

[Calvin plays “Browder Holler Boy” from Ghost of Browder Holler]

Chelle Rose talks about her experience writing the chord progression on “Browder Holler Boy.” Chelle talks about how she’s drawn to minor keys and that she has to force her self to write in major keys sometimes to keep it mixed up some.

Chelle Rose talks about the musicians that she has met in Nashville that have given her guidance and inspiration. She says that when she moved to Nashville she had a list of people she wanted to see perform live. Townes Van Zandt was on the list. She talks about how he passed away shortly after she got there and how she sat on the back row of the funeral. Chelle Rose also talks about her admiration David Olney, Marshall Chapman, Denny Flowers, Lucinda Williams, and Malcolm Holcombe.

Chelle Rose talks about seeing Malcolm Holcombe live the first time. She says after a couple of songs he decided he’d rather go drink than play so he “bellied up to the bar.” She was disappointed that he’d stopped playing, but she joined him at the bar. Chelle says she talks about how he’s in a league of his own. Chelle Rose says he’s been a huge inspiration to ignore the trends and write your own music.

Chelle Rose sets up “Shady Grove Gonna Blow.” She says she was on the way to her ex-husband’s family farm near Manchester, Tennessee. That’s near where Bonnaroo takes place and a storm blew in. She says she wrote the song in her car on the side of the road writing the song her checkbook because she didn’t have anything else to write on. She remembers the smell of dirty rain and flood water.

[Calvin plays “Shady Grove Gonna Blow” from Ghost of Browder Holler]

Chelle Rose talks about the point in her life that she wasn’t turning back from music. She says she feels like she got a late start because she didn’t pick up a guitar until she was 25. She says that she likes to tell people that because sometimes people think it’s too late to start something new. She said that someone in her life that she loved told her that she wasn’t any good and couldn’t write, play, or sing. And while that hurt her, she thinks it’s important to look back on it. She said it took her a long time to get away from that and find people who were more supportive. And in 2008 she said made a definite decision to dedicate her life first.

Chelle Rose talks about how tough the music business is and her advice to aspiring artists is to pursue anything else at all that inspires you before trying music. She says, “don’t depend on anyone else to lift you up or believe in you enough to get you through or carry you. You have to believe in yourself.”

Chelle Rose sets up “Rufus Morgan,” which is about a distant cousin from Franklin County, NC. She says she remembers the stories people used to tell about him and the tone of voice people used when they spoke his name. She became obsessed with his work as a preacher and his contributions in Western, NC. She remembers seeing a video of him at 91 leading a hiking trip of kids and teaching them the responsibility to take care of the mountain. She said it was happy to have the McCrary sisters doing back up on this track.

Chelle Rose web site