Shelby Lynne

I Am Shelby Lynne (2000) A–

Suit Yourself (2005) B+

1. Gotta Get Back
2. Johnny Met June
3. Your Lies
4. Where I'm From

Shelby Lynne has more sex in her voice than any of her colleagues (excepting Shania, who can't hold a candle to Lynne's tone and range). This seems to be a recent development: on her early tracks, she sounds like a very good yet generic country singer. When, as a rising 20-year-old, she duets with George Jones on "If I Could Bottle This Up", she holds her own, but there's no question who the star is. Signing to Epic, she proved she could do gritty ("Lonely Weekends") and lonesome ("Don't Mind If I Do"). She didn't prove she could sell, and headed off to indie purgatory.

Twelve years into her career, I Am Shelby Lynne was her breakthrough, where producer Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club), in addition to being an invaluable co-writer, found settings to demonstrate the singularity of her voice. "Your Lies" benefits the most, with strings-to-the-wall and self-harmonisation and big drums. But in the sparer arrangements, Lynne steps up, beginning "Where I'm From" with "Heaven knows this ain't no Margaret Mitchell", before singing something in French about boats floating by -- from what I can tell her French is mangled, but man does it sound like a downhome idyllic. In between these poles is "Gotta Get Back", which she phrases immaculately: belting the first half of the chorus, then calming down without losing any force of will.

Her work since achieving fame has been mixed. Love, Shelby, recorded with Glen Ballard, was her MOR/cheesecake move, which was widely panned (except in England). Identity Crisis saw her take control as sole writer and producer, a move which showed signs of paying dividends with Suit Yourself. "Johnny Met June", from that album, is a celebratory eulogy for Mr and Mrs Cash that ties together two kinds of immortality: the beliefs of the Christian and the artist. Even if you credit at most one of these, you might find this her best writing yet. Lynne has gone on to play Johnny Cash's mother in Walk the Line; naturally her few tossed off bars were the best singing in the movie.