Shelby Lynne

An apt title for Shelby Lynne's eighth album, which sees her going from gritty country soul to heavy organ grinding folk ditties, to somber jazz to old school Nashville-styled songs. Although her direction is all over the place, Lynne ties Identity Crisis together with an acoustic thread.

Shelby Lynne, like K.D. Lang and Willie Nelson before her, is making a career out of freeing
country from its own constrictions. With Identity Crisis, she tears the form down to its roots
-- acoustic guitars, touches of old gospel and blues, and a gorgeously bummed, torchlit
ambience. "Lonesome" is a soulful echo of Patsy Cline, but most of the album is more like
"I'm Alive," where Lynne speed-drawls a hard lyric over roiling gusts from a vinta... More >