Gary Quinn, ‘Shame’ [Exclusive Premiere]

British country singer-songwriter Gary Quinn is premiering his new single "Shame" exclusively with The Boot.

"Shame" is a mid-tempo, traditional-sounding track with a prominent drum beat that finds Quinn lamenting that, despite knowing better, he keeps finding himself in the same bad situation: "It's such a shame / Shame on you / For making me / Such a fool / To fall in love with you," he sings in the song's chorus.

The kicker, though, is that Quinn knows it's his fault: "All this hurt / All this pain / Is so much worse / 'Cause I've been here more than once with you," the chorus of "Shame" continues. "You're not to blame, that's why it's such a shame / Oh, shame on me."

Quinn felt compelled to write "Shame" as he watched someone keep making the same mistake over and over again, "getting hurt but never learning from it." He was also inspired by Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now."

"Although, in their song, it all ends ‘happily ever after,’ I felt that it sounded like someone might get hurt," Quinn explains. "Hence, "Shame" was born almost as a reply to "Need You Now," and the subject needed a little more of an edgy sound on the recording, which I feel we achieved, and I’m pretty excited about people hearing it."

A native of Northern Ireland, Quinn cites U.S. country artists such as Brad Paisley, Hal Ketchum and more as influences. He's won a number of British Country Music Awards -- and is nominated in multiple categories for the 2016 ceremony -- and was a runner-up in the 2010 Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival International Songwriting Competition. Quinn has also shared the stage with acts such as Kristian Bush, Clint Black and songwriter Bob DiPiero.

Quinn is currently working on a new EP, I Remember, and he says he's "fired up" about the project.

"Although I’ve retained a lot of the ‘Gary Quinn’ sound from my debut album, I think the team has also added a little more edge to some of the recordings, "Shame" for example," Quinn notes. "I feel I’ve also held true to the lyrics being the strongest part of the song, which is core to why I’m, first and foremost, a country fan, and then a country performer.

"It’s a very personal project," he adds, "and the tracks cover different times in my own life though to now, so it’s almost a reflective piece of work."

"Shame" will be released on Friday (July 22); it is available for pre-order via iTunes now. Fans can keep up with all of Quinn's goings-on through his official website.

Listen to Gary Quinn, "Shame":