by Lawrence Specker -- Press-Register
[Shelby Lynne, 8 tonight, WorkPlay Theatre. 500 23rd St. South; $20 in advance, $22 at the door; with Findley Brown; 380-4082.]
The opening image of Shelby Lynne's newest album is of a woman finding comfort in long-awaited desert rainstorm.
For Lynne’s fans, “Tears, Lies, and Alibis” may feel like just such a shower, one that restores some green to a dusty landscape and emotional balance to an observer. No surprise: Making it sometimes felt that way to her.
It’s not that Lynne has been gone, exactly. In 2008, she released “Just a Little Lovin’,” a critically acclaimed tribute to vocalist Dusty Springfield. But Lynne’s last album of original material was “Suit Yourself,” way back in 2005.
For nearly 20 years, this Grammy-winning child of south Alabama had been famous — sometimes infamous — for stubbornly being herself. But hard as it might be to imagine, she went through a spell where she had trouble finding her own voice.
In promotional materials, Lynne describes the time after “Just a Little Lovin’” was finished in 2007:
“I had a whole year to sit around. And that’s pretty much what I did. I would stare at the sky, sit in the sun, cook, garden, pick up my guitar and wait on something to happen. Nothing was happening. I was starting to think I was in trouble.”
Lynne, in a recent interview, said the critical moment came in a conversation with Brian Harrison, a collaborator and friend who works as a bassist and studio engineer.
“We were talking one Sunday and he said, ‘Yeah, that old girlfriend I had, she just called me a loser dreamer.’ And I said, ‘Well, aren’t we all?’”
She knocked out a song titled “Loser Dreamer.” And the floodgates opened.
“I’m grateful to that song,” she said. “It got me writing again.”
“I wrote a lot of songs for this record,” Lynne said. “That was not intentional, it’s just that when I got on a roll they started coming. You get lucky sometimes like that.”
In the end, she picked 10 that she thought hung together best. They were worked up first at her home studio in Rancho Mirage, Calif.; then she took them to Nashville, where another group of musicians added their contributions. These included bassist David Hood and organist Spooner Oldham, famed for their studio work in Muscle Shoals.
The resulting album might seem a bit sparse on the first listen. But then one picks up on the reality that the arrangements are in fact quite rich — they just aren’t flashy.
“It is real mellow — laid back, nothing really fancy going on,” Lynne said. “You know, I just tried to choose instruments that would complement the lyrics. I guess the thing with producing records is knowing when to stop. It’s not doing too much.”
“In the end, if the song is good, you can mainly let it do the work for you,” she said.
“Tears, Lies, and Alibis” stands as a summation of Lynne’s career so far. The best songs show both her self-contained personality and her distinctive, clear voice. These include the opener, “Rains Came,” and “Loser Dreamer,” with its wistful yet hopeful feel.
Other standouts include “Alibi,” one of two new songs she previewed at the Mobile Saenger Theatre in September; “Something to be Said,” an ode to the freedom offered by Airstream trailers; and “Home Sweet Home,” which contains lines any weary traveler can relate to: “sick and tired of hotel rooms/ I can’t stand my suitcase.”
Harmonies on a couple of tracks, “Alibi” and “Home Sweet Home,” gently recall the production of “I Am Shelby Lynne,” the breakout album that gave her new life after a sputtering Nashville career and won her a Grammy. But the overall sense of take-me-as-I-am individuality is very much of a piece with the more recent albums “Identity Crisis” and “Suit Yourself.”
In one important dimension, “Tears, Lies, and Alibis” does represent a complete breakaway. When Lynne and her most recent label, Lost Highway, couldn’t come to an agreement, she started her own label to release it. As the president and CEO of Everso Records she’s finally fully in the driver’s seat.
“I’m so proud,” she said. “I’ve got the greatest feeling about it. It’s going to be a good deal.”
For the moment, she’s not planning to develop other artists. “It takes a lot of money to do a good album justice,” she said, “And right now I’m spending it all on mine.”
But being the boss definitely means she can say “yes” to herself where others have said “no.” And so Lynne the CEO has given Lynne the artist the green light to do a Christmas album.
“I’m so excited about that,” she said. “I was on labels for 20 years and they would never allow me to do a Christmas album. So now that I’m on my own ... label, y’all will be getting a Christmas album this year. And I’m very happy.”
Lawrence Specker writes for the Press-Register.