Caroll Shelby

The Definitive Collection Review by Mark Deming
Shelby Lynne started her career as a promising mainstream country singer and today she's a critically respected and genre-defying singer/songwriter; charting the trajectory of her career isn't a simple matter, and Lynne's installment in Hip-O's The Definitive Collection isn't entirely successful in doing so, though it's still an admirably thorough look at her work to date. The Definitive Collection starts out with five tunes from Lynne's years with Epic and Morgan Creek, and on these songs one can almost hear the strain as she struggles against the cookie-cutter production and cut-rate songwriting that Nashville was foisting upon her, though the strength of her voice and soulful touch of her phrasing still shines through. Seven of the ten songs from 2000's I Am Shelby Lynne follow, and the difference is like night and day – not only is the production far more imaginative and sympathetic, but the songs (all written or co-written by Lynne) are smart, heartfelt, and personal in a way her previous work had never been.

By the time Shelby Lynne won her Best New Artist Grammy, she'd already completed six albums and had over a decade of recording experience under her belt. Yet in a way, the award was appropriate, since I Am Shelby Lynne was the album that finally found her taking control of her music, following years of casting about in search of an identity. Lynne's work ranged through country, blues, Southern soul, roots rock, Western swing, jazz, and adult contemporary pop; naturally, that eclecticism made her difficult to market, and it also resulted in pressure to record more commercial, radio-friendly material that didn't really suit her.

Despite singing together since they were old enough to talk, it took a lifetime for sisters Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer to record together. United by blood, growing up in the backwoods of Alabama and sharing an unspeakable tragedy – they witnessed their father take their mother's life and then his own – their coming together on Not Dark Yet was perhaps inevitable, but it wasn't easy. The pair did a celebrated tour together in 2010 and tried to write a collective album afterwards. They ended up abandoning that project, but not the desire to collaborate.