If one had to sum up the life of singer/ songwriter Shelby Lynne with one brief description, it could best be defined as a compelling verse to one very long country song.
Lynne's life and career as a professional musician - spanning 13 years - is the stuff country songs are made of.
Signed to a record deal as an 18-year-old from a small town in Alabama, Lynne had already endured what most never see in a lifetime by that point. About one year earlier, her father shot and killed her mother and turned the gun on himself in the family driveway.
She migrated to the famed Mecca of country music with her new husband, both of whom were 18. Shortly after her arrival, Lynne performed on Ralph Emery's "Nashville Now," a nightly television music and interview program. Several record producers caught the appearance and Lynne was offered four record deals within a week.
She initially signed with Epic Records and cut several albums under the label. After years of artistic differences and conflicts, Lynne got out of her contract with Epic and signed to the independent Morgan Creek label based on the West Coast. There she recorded a Nashville favorite, 1993's "Temptation."
Morgan Creek eventually went out of business and transferred her contract to the independent Magnatone. She then recorded 1995's "Restless" which never lived up to its predecessor. Feeling like she was hitting rock bottom, Lynne rented a $250-a-month room near the waterfront in Mobile, Ala., where she spent nearly a year staring at the Mobile Bay under the influence of various substances.
She eventually started writing songs again. MCA Nashville heard the material and offered her a contract, but she turned it down.
Rather, she sent her demos to producer Bill Bottrell, whom she liked for his work on Sheryl Crow's debut album.
Lynne later traveled to Bottrell's home in Northern California and the two worked on the acclaimed 2000 release "I am Shelby Lynne," an album that earned her a 2001 Grammy for Best New Artist.
Lynne immediately followed the work with "Love Shelby," a record cut under the production guise of Glen Ballard who is mostly known for his celebrated work with Alanis Morrisette on "Jagged Little Pill."
The work, comprising mostly refined rock and pop songs, generated divided reactions among her fan base and tanked in the commercial arena.
Recording and touring for both albums took five years and by the end, Lynne settled into her home in Palm Springs for a much-needed break. The time off proved productive for Lynne, who experienced creative bursts of inspiration, and began writing tunes that would make their way onto her next record, "Identity Crisis" (Capitol Records, 2003).
Wy sat down with Lynne and talked about her latest work, and the divergent artists who have shaped her style and partly fed her inspiration.
Wy: You produced this album by yourself and I would think these projects do have the potential of becoming challenging when the only opinion you have is your own. How did you approach the process?
Lynne: You know, it's the easiest stuff I've ever done, and you know why? There's no one else to argue with. Once I was satisfied, then I would bounce it off of me and then I would ask me about it and then I'd ask me about it again and then we all agreed.
In listening to 'Identity Crisis,' I can hear influences of some musically diverse people, but at the same time it's still signature Shelby Lynne. I love being able to listen to someone's work who's not worried about being inspired or influenced by someone else.
Oh, yeah, I mean how do you do it otherwise? I'm such a music fan that it would be difficult for me to be here period if I didn't admire people or dig on their work, and it does come out in my music. I'm proud of that. I have so many influences it's insane. I go from Elvis to Pink Floyd to Patsy Cline to Hank Williams.
The one thing that I got from this record is that it seems as though you're a really good music listener. So, how would you describe the relationship between being a listener of music and being a creator of music?
Well, I think in order to be a good musician, you have to be a good listener and in order to put on a great show, you have to be a good audience member. So in order to put on a good show, you have to be able to appreciate a good show. It's the same things with records. In order to make a decent record, you have to love a decent record.
The song 'Telephone' is great because for me it captures that feeling of calling someone, but hoping they don't answer.
Yes, that's it. The whole song is about that thing of not being able to stop yourself. No matter what, you're going to get drunk one night and make that call and then you think, 'God, I wish I hadn't.' But it's too late because you're thinking, 'God, maybe they won't answer,' but they do and now you're stuck. I think I did it last night. That's the beast of the telephone; it just happens and we all do it.
I was really drawn to the song 'If I Were Smart' and I think it's because I could really identify with the lyrics. I wanted to know if the lyrics on this album are based on older life experiences or if they are based on recent experiences.
Well, that's a good question because I think the songs on this record kind of reflect my whole life. Whichever song is brought up to me, I can think about an experience and then I can also relate that song to other experiences that had the same effect on me. I don't know how to write anything that's not personal and every song has something to do with me in that it either happened to me recently or in the past.
For me, the song 'I Don't Think So' is about stopping an unhealthy relationship which has turned into an endless cycle of bad behavior. I think it's different from other songs I've heard on the topic since it seems like you're talking about it as it's happening rather than talking about it after you've realized it.
The song is a conversation that's taking place, and it's about when I decided to sit down with that person and say 'I'm not going to do this anymore, goodbye.'
The tone of the music also matches so well with the lyrics. I wanted to know if you usually start out with the lyrics and build the music around them or if it's the other way around or if they both come at the same time.
It comes both ways and every song is different. I don't have a set pattern. I sit down with a guitar with nothing in my head and find some music that I like, or I have these words lying around for days, weeks or months and then develop them into songs. There's no particular form or method.
With the song 'I'm Alive,' you really slip into a character who kind of wants to get past the pain of a lost love, but it's also the realization that things could be worse. I'm wondering how you get back to the time and place when this happened? Since it might have not happened yesterday, it could have happened 10 years ago.
I love the written word whether it's books, song or poetry. I always see a visual in other works and with my songs I definitely do because it kind of comes with it for me. I can't imagine if the brain had nothing to do with it, and there was no visual. You'd just be out in limbo; there wouldn't be anything to attach it to. There would be no color, no form, nothing to see. So it's all visual for me and I have little movies going on inside my mind.
The song 'I Will Stay' reminds me of Jeff Buckley and something like 'Lonesome' reminds me of Patsy Cline. So because you have different singing styles, what about them do you like?
Well, when the song has written itself, it says, 'OK, I need you to sing me like this.' I guess I get into character mode. It's kind of like reading a movie part and you have to become a character, but of course I'm no actor. But in my mind, when I'm singing a song, I'm playing the role. I don't know if there is anything necessarily about my voice that I like. I haven't really thought about it. I feel like it's all right and it gets the job done. It's more about interpreting the message of the song and if it's tolerable, I'll go with it.
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