Country Music Blog: Shelby Lynne

Like a lot of people, I couldn't get a good seat at Stagecoach festival this year because I didn't buy a VIP seat. (In fact, I didn't realize there would be VIP seats.) So I spent most of the weekend milling around behind the throng of lawn chairs and blankets and wrote about the festival mostly from what I saw on the big screens. That's OK, too. At least I didn't have to walk as far to the barbecue contest. And I could easily hear music from the Eagles, John Fogerty, the Judds, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood and more.

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Shelby Lynne doesn't sing the Dusty Springfield classics on Just a Little Lovin' because they're easy. Nope. It's because she loves these songs. That's what she told her adoring Nashville crowd last Friday night (March 29). Sure, I enjoy the seductive songs about being in love, like "Breakfast in Bed" and "The Look of Love," but when she sings about not being loved back - that's the good stuff right there. Of course, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" is a classic in that genre, and I appreciate the understated reading she gives it here. The cool thing about this album is, regardless of whether or not you're in love, you'll find some music that you can relate to. And wow, what a singer.

Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin'

In an unintentional fundraiser, Dierks Bentley reports raising $300 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital at a recent Detroit concert.

Country artists should copy this celeb fundraising stunt: Sell yourself to the highest bidder like Scarlett Johansson is doing.

On Ryan Seacrest’s radio show, Billy Ray Cyrus comes clean on raising daughter Miley Cyrus with respect, privacy and no spanking.

Shelby Lynne knows the makings of a good party, and it ain’t iPods. It’s pot, wine and vinyl.

Gary Allan opens up, for 2 1/2 minutes anyway, in a CNN video about his journey from California to life in Nashville.

Hello. My name is Whitney … and I am addicted to music.

I know what you’re thinking. I’ve spent way too many hours watching Intervention on A&E, and I must confess, I have. But if you’re anything like me, when you discover new music, not necessarily new, but new to you, you become somewhat obsessed. I want to know everything about the artist, listen to all of their CDs, visit their Web site, see when they’re touring, tell all of my friends and wonder why in the world I had not discovered this magnificent music before now.

Recently, I have found myself overcome by Shelby Lynne. I haven’t had a good music obsession in some time, probably not since Mindy Smith and my slight preoccupation with Amy Winehouse, so I was excited when I discovered my new favorite.

Shelby Lynne’s latest single and video, “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” is simply beautiful and speaks to the soul. When I first saw the video, I felt as though I was watching the climactic scenes of some intense movie. It’s like I’m taking a tour of this picturesque, eerie home and peeking around each corner, not knowing what to expect. I notice dead flowers still in the vase and a grieving woman forcing herself to move on with her daily routine. She takes a shower, plays one of her records, talks on the phone. She later types a letter, only to eventually rip it in half and decides to turn to the bottle. She’s hurting and tries harder and harder to suppress the overbearing heartache that’s looming over her.

From the running water in the shower, to the steam from the teapot, to the piano and light drumming sounds in the background, it’s quite unusual and different from most music videos. And I have to say, it’s one of my favorites thus far. Everything is beautifully brought together, and each time I watch the video I notice something new and intriguing. In fact, I think I better watch it again … and again, and again.

Who says there aren’t many albums coming out in January? Thanks to the abundance of independent labels out there, my relentless hours in rental cars this month have been put to good use. Here’s a playlist of songs that are worth sharing. Some of these artists are new faces in the field, but I just had to include Ricky Nelson’s "Poor Little Fool" (oh yeah), since it showed up on a compilation of his love songs a few weeks ago. Let me cut to the chase -- Willie Nelson’s new song is really cool too. I’ve been told that there’s a duet album with Shelby Lynne and Willie Nelson in a vault somewhere, and if it ever surfaces, I will be a very happy fellow. But in the meantime, I have Shelby’s fantastic new CD, Just a Little Lovin’, which I have been listening to pretty much every day since I received it. Ironic, then, that I chose the song I did.

Here’s the playlist:

Ray Bonneville – "So Long Blues"
Drive By Truckers – "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife"
Andy Hall – "The Chase"
Malcolm Holcomb – "Baby Likes a Love Song"
Patty Larkin – "Waterside"
Shelby Lynne – "I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore"
Anne Murray and Jann Arden – "Somebody’s Always Saying Goodbye"
Ricky Nelson -- "Poor Little Fool"
Willie Nelson – "Always Now"
Jason Ringenberg – "One Less Heartache"
The SteelDrivers – "Heaven Sent"
Owen Temple – "Rivers Run From Many Waters"
IIIrd Tyme Out – "New Faces in the Field"
Rhonda Vincent – "Who’s Cryin’ Baby"
The Wrights – "Rewind"

“I didn’t choose these songs because they’re easy to sing.”

Shelby Lynne drew a good laugh from the audience at Hollywood’s intimate Ivar Theater last month when she apologized for missing a note or two in a concert paying tribute to the late Dusty Springfield. The apology was likely directed more at herself than the crowd; Shelby spent more time singing to the floor than to the seats, and the fact is that the imperfections in her performance -- they were comparatively small -- only added to the emotional content of her delivery.

Shelby, who won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2001, debuted on the country charts in 1988 before confounding observers with a series of stylistic reincarnations. Dusty’s country credentials are more tenuous; her recording of “Son of a Preacher Man” was cited among country’s 500 greatest singles in a 2003 Country Music Foundation book, Heartaches By The Number. As part of an English folk trio, The Springfields, Dusty hit the country charts exactly once, when “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” reached No. 16 in 1962.

The Hollywood concert was intended to help preview Shelby’s next album, Just A Little Lovin’, due on Feb. 5 on Lost Highway Records. Comprised mostly of Dusty remakes, save for one song written by Shelby, it’s a Norah Jones-style treatment of one of Britain’s great voices (Dusty joined the U.K. Music Hall of Fame exactly one year ago). Shelby picked out some of the songs from Dusty’s canon that are rife with engagingly unusual melodic twists, then gave them a stripped-down treatment that puts the focus almost entirely on the singer and song. That’s particularly unusual in a gadget-prone era of studio technology. Even more rewarding is that Shelby has the pipes to do it. On stage, there was no hiding, and she delivered in an appropriate manner -- oozing bereft sadness in the heartbreaking moments and belting in a quasi-Martina fashion when the songs required a more gutsy approach. Shelby is certainly allowed to apologize but it was unnecessary. Look for the album when it comes out. You’ll understand immediately.