Photo Credit: Randee St. Nicholas

By Paul Freeman

Shelby Lynne’s latest brilliant album is titled “Tears, Lies and Alibis.” Those are three things not in this Grammy-winning singer-songwriter’s repertoire. She prefers a strong, honest, no-excuses approach.

Lynne brings audiences a distinctive blend of country, soul and rock. She never allows an album’s production to overpower finely crafted songs.

Her previous record company, Lost Highway, wanted her to bring in an outside producer. “Most labels do, especially if you’re a woman. Labels don’t know anything about art. They don’t care about art. They care about money.”

Determined to produce the album herself, Lynne formed her own label, Everso Records. “It’s something that I wish I would have done years ago. I’d just had it with the labels. This allows me more creative energy. And I can make as many records as I want to make, whenever I want to make them. I don’t have to ask permission.

“I’ll just keep doing the same thing I’ve been doing. I’m pretty much providing records for the same people that I’ve been providing records for for 20 years, gathering some new ones along the way. Every time I open my mouth to sing, I gather new people. But I’m just doing what I’ve always been doing. I just happen to be in control of it and I might be able to make a living now.

Her philosophy clashes with that of the corporate music world. “I want to make great records that stand up through the years. Labels are all about the hot new thing of the moment. They’re not really into longevity or working on a career. You’re usually good for one record and then you’re out the door.

“I’ve been around 20 years. I try to make records that aren’t trendy. Every time I pick up a pen, I want to write classic songs. I wouldn’t know how to make a hit record.”

Lynne describes the essential qualities of a timeless song. “You have to be honest first, then make a decent record, something that’s pleasant to the ear, pleasant to the heart and soul, or stirs up the emotions somehow. Not every song is pleasant, but it certainly should make you have some kind of feeling. I have to be moved first, before I can move an audience. And I’m a pretty tough audience.”

She senses when a song she’s writing is complete. “ it’s not hard for me at all to let it go. I’m usually ready to get it out. I know when I’m finished and I’m usually ready to see what she’ll turn into.”

She doesn’t hesitate to reveal her innermost feelings in music. “I wouldn’t be doing my job, if I held back. I don’t have a problem baring my soul in songs. I’m lucky I get to do that.

“I feel like the more emotional a song is, the better it is. It’s hard for some people to really get into it, to feel pain or feel something that’s really heavy. But I don’t have a problem with that. That’s what life is. Life is a painful predicament. It’s not coming up roses every time. I tend to not write about things coming up roses. I write about the real stuff. That’s painful.”

“Family Tree” comes out of pain. Her own family hasn’t responded to the seething lyrics . “They’re probably too overwhelmed and too guilty to deal with it,” Lynne said. “But I was sick of my family. And it’s easy to see in the words, they pissed me off. I don’t have anything to do with my family. My sister (singer-songwriter Allison Moorer) and I have a close relationship. That’s about all I want.”

“I hope it opens doors for a lot of people that hear it. You can deny it or lie about it, but everybody feels that way about their family. Family's the worst thing in the world. They judge you. They look down at you, no matter what your accomplishments. There’s always family that you can’t ever satisfy. So you just decide, ‘I don’t need you in my world. Goodbye... and P.S., I’m writing a song about you that’s scathing. I hope you cry and fall on the the floor when you hear it.”

Being an artist, Lynne faces judges everywhere. She shuts them out. “I don’t sit around and read reviews, good or bad. I learned long ago - I don’t read press. That’s just one other dude’s opinion. It’s not going to keep me from doing what I do.”

The ‘”Loser Dreamer” song came from a discussion with a band member. “We were talking about the music business and relationships - how those two worlds collide. It doesn’t work. A musician’s a different animal than a regular life. I know a lot of players who are loser dreamers. And I’m certainly one. If you’re a musician, It consumes you. It’s what you are, who you are, in your being.”

Lynne doesn’t grapple with that. She accepts it. “It doesn’t bother me. It’s who I am. It’s what I am. Take it or leave it.”

“Ole 97” was inspired by Jack Daniels. “Well, you listen to the song and you know where it comes from. You can’t write a song like that and not know what it’s about. I’ve consumed a lot of whiskey in my time. I don’t do that anymore... But you write what you know.”

On a lighter note, “Something To Be Said About Airstreams” is a fun tune that captures the American spirit of adventure.

“It’s about the freedom we have to get in the Airstream and go anywhere we want in this country and be free. We take it for granted.”

Though Lynne earns enthusiastic reactions from audiences, she doesn’t take that for granted. “I never let a band get comfortable. I’m certainly never comfortable. I have an outline every night, of what I’m going to do. But, depending on the venue and audience, I change the set. I have some people that might want to go to three gigs in a row and I’m determined that they will never see the same show.

“So there’s a lot of thought that goes into what I’m doing up there. To me, the most important thing about a show is the audience. In order to be a great performer, you have to be a great audience first. So I always put my butt in their seat and try to do the best show I possibly can. I try to hire players that are ready for anything. That’s the way we roll.”

When she’s off the road, a garden and her dogs keep Lynne occupied at her Palm Springs desert home. She also collects record albums, having accumulated more than 1,000.

“I love listening to the vinyl. And, you know, I try to fight everything till the last bloody, bloody blow. I still record analog. I use tape when I make records. I appreciate the digital world and I have a lot of digital equipment, but as long as they make tape, I’m not going to record with Pro Tools, because I enjoy the way analog sounds. That’s not saying I won’t use Pro Tools, because I have. But, as far as making albums goes, I really enjoy using the tape.

“It just sounds better to me. And it’s more than just that. I have my own studio and it’s a whole kind of a comfort zone in the tape machine. Most people think I’m crazy. But I’m used to that, too, and I really don’t give a damn what they think.”

Film fans thought she gave a beautiful performance as Johnny Cash’s mother in “Walk The Line.” Will there be more movie work?

“There’s always a chance, if the right one comes along. That one just happened to be one of the right things at the right time. People ask me all the time to do things, but they’re not necessarily the right things. It’s like going out there every week and making a cover record. It has to be the right thing, the right song, the right time. So I don’t close the door. I’m just a musician first.”

As for her goal, she said, “I think I’ve achieved it. I’ve made a name for myself. I’ve made a living for myself. And I keep learning, learning how to make better songs, how to do better shows. I’m older. I’m almost 42 years old. And I think I’m finally getting the hang of it.

“I want to do records until I can’t open my mouth and sing anymore. I just want to keep it real and keep it soulful. I don’t worry about what anybody else is thinkin’ or doin’. I have my own game going.”