Classic country music is one of the best vehicles out there for conveying heartbreak, and in Philly, few understand this better than Chelsea Mitchell. The singer-songwriter behind Dirty Dollhouse has been a prominent voice on the scene for the past decade — and then some, considering she released music as far back as 2005 under her own name — and her latest, The End, is her strongest work to date.

Released last month on Renaissance Records, the album details the collapse of love through nuanced vignettes and aching details delivered in her signature twang. “Birthday,” which opens up the band’s Key Studio Sessions performance, presents a deeply relatable story: thinking wistfully about a lost love as the calendar turns forward another year. “For Carolina” looks at the decisions we make in life and love, and imagines what might have happened if we’d acted differently. It can be heavy — particularly at this moment in history — but also tenderly hopeful, and more than a little humorous; the album art, which shows Mitchell reclined on a couch, holding a vinyl copy of Joni’s Blue, as a mushroom cloud blooms in the background, illustrates the healing power of music in even the most desperate times.

With a soaring voice landing in between alto and soprano, and an affinity for the greats — from Patsy to Brandi — Mitchell pours her heart into this music, backed by drummer and vocalist Eric Lawry, bassist Joshua Machiz, and guitarist Pete Hall. In this session, we also hear “Bad Girl,” a bootstomping cha-cha about wanting a middle ground between the freedom of wild spontaneity and the security of settling down; and we hear “Lake Michigan,” a haunting heartbreaker about the depths of abandonment.

Dirty Dollhouse plays its album release party for The End on Friday, November 22nd at Johnny Brenda’s; they’ll share the bill with Bren and Dominy, and tickets can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar. Order The End on vinyl here, revisit Dirty Dollhouse’s first visit to the Key Studio Sessions back in 2014 here. And for more, read about Mitchell’s other musical pursuit; proprieter of Newtown Book and Record Exchange in Bucks County.

Sug Daniels: “Bishop’s Collar” (The Key Studio Sessions)