Since her last album in 2010, Elizabeth Cook’s life has been uncharacteristically tumultuous. A divorce, six deaths, and a fire at her family’s homestead left the country musician in a state of mind she wasn’t used to.

“I had been shielded from tragedy for a long time,” she says. “And then I got repeated doses in a short amount of time. It changes a person.”

Cook returns this week with “Exodus of Venus,” an 11-song collection she was finally able to write and record in the past year, after getting her life back on track. The album premieres today on Speakeasy below.

Most of the songs were written last spring, aside from “Methadone Blues,” “Tabitha Tuder’s Mama,” and the title track, which she says has been percolating for years. She laid down the basic tracks over the course of three days this past November with an all-star backing band that included Matt Chamberlain (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam) on drums and Willie Weeks (Eric Clapton, David Bowie) on bass.

Since her debut album in 2000, Cook has performed at the Grand Ole Opry hundreds of times as well as transitioned into a side gig as the voice of Tammi on Adult Swim’s animated series “Squidbillies.”