SHELBY LYNNE; "I Am Shelby Lynne" (Island). ***
It's hard to know exactly where to place a singer/performer as diverse as Shelby Lynne. A singer professionally for more than 10 years now, she's moved through a wide variety of genres almost effortlessly.Raised in Alabama, she started out as a country singer, teaming up with heavyweights George Jones and Randy Travis, as she slowly moved up the charts, then moving into jazz with more of a big band sound. Now, five albums into her career, she gives us "I Am Shelby Lynne," a happy conglomeration of both.
Maybe her reasoning behind the album's title is to re-introduce herself to those who have heard her in the past, while offering a friendly hello to radio listeners. Whatever the case, she's reinvented her sound once again.
Though compared to Patsy Cline in the past, Lynne rings more true to Dusty Springfield and Sheryl Crow on her new album. Already her first single, "Your Lies," has received heavy radio play, but not on country stations. She seems to have evolved into a more universal sound, one that is hard not to appreciate.
My only beef is, I'd like to here more of her. At just over 30 minutes and 10 songs long, the album seems a little lacking.
But it'd be nothing short of surprising if "I Am Shelby Lynne" didn't end up giving her the notoriety she deserves.