Shelby Lynne
(Everso)
Shelby Lynne can pretty much find musicians to play on her records if she wants to. Heck, for last year's quite enjoyable Tears, Lies, and Alibis, she got Muscle Shoals soul legends Spooner Oldham and David Hood to bring some of their mojo to the mix. Thus, the decision to write, perform, and produce a new record entirely by her lonesome is one taken with care and foresight, not out of necessity.
It also just happens to result in the finest work she's done at least since 2000's game-changing I Am Shelby Lynne. The songs are intensely personal, her singing has never been more consistently on point, and the arrangements are sparse yet densely evocative. Not one single note on this record fails to contribute something to the overall mood.
It's not as though Lynne hasn't mined her tragic childhood and love affairs for songcraft before. But somehow, everything is of a piece this time. A childhood tale of helping her younger sister Allison (Moorer, now Steve Earle's wife and a terrific recording artist in her own right) through a particularly tough fight between her parents resonates with the hurt of a seemingly perfect lover walking away which matches a memory so painful she wants to revisit it just so she can run away from it a second time.
Lynne's melodies aren't going to invite comparison to those of Burt Bacharach, but her simple tunes give her lyrics enough room to fall straight into the listener's subconscious, evoking every ache and sorrow being described or implied. And, invariably, they give way to delicious hook lines which serve as relief from the downbeat tone without necessarily implying that suffering won't return frequently.
The limitations of Lynne's skills as an instrumentalist work perfectly with her emotionally devastating vocal prowess. Guitar solos consist of a couple of notes appropriately spaced. Drums and other percussion instruments are used infrequently, and never with a dominating backbeat. Mandolin and other tones provide color without virtuosity. It's not as though these songs couldn't stand up to better musicianship; it's just that they don't need any further elaboration to get their messages across.
Shelby Lynne is running her own record label now, and after releasing both Tears, Lies, and Alibis and a Christmas album last year, she's followed up with this solo project fairly quickly. It's nice to know she can do whatever her musical heart desires from this point on, as she is once again declaring her songwriting and singing identity to be firmly under her control.
DOWNLOAD: "Woebegone," "I Want to Go Back," "I'll Hold Your Head." STEVE PICK
