The story of Shelby Lynne's life would make a Behind The Music feature that would be impossible to top. When she was 17 years old she witnessed her father murder her mother and then turn the gun on himself. Soon thereafter she married her high school sweetheart mainly to provide a home for her younger sister who was also an unfortunate spectator to her parents sudden demise.

Following the dissolution of her marriage she packed up a car and took her sister to Nashville. On the strength of a few demos she caught the interest of the Country music machine and recorded a string of 5 albums packaged uncomfortably as slick country songstress ala Reba McEntire. She enjoyed enough success to sustain her career, but with practically no control over her music and Epic Records' insistence on presenting her as a big-hair, mainstream would-be cross-over Diva her true genius was hidden beneath the hairspray and the machinations of the Nashville system.

Frustrated by her lack of control, she disappeared for nearly 5 years and moved to Palm Springs California. She eventually convinced Bill Botrell (best known for his early work with Sheryl Crow) to help her make an album her way. That album was I Am Shelby Lynne, my favorite of 2000 without a close second. An eclectic masterpiece of styles that to my way of thinking was a concept album the concept being an album where each song flowed together tied by one thing they all kicked ass. A concept that Norah Jones followed by the numbers a few years later.

For some reason she decided to produce her follow up with Alanis Morissette auteur Glen Ballard. The result of this collaboration, Love Shelby, wasn't exactly a bust, there are some standout tracks, but it was big and slick and once again it represented a significant detour from her strengths.

The aptly titled Identity Crisis finds Shelby once again taking firm hold of the reigns (she produced it herself) and returning to the formula that won me over so completely in 2000. This new release is a great record to be sure, but it's not quite as sure handed and lacks the killer hooks of I Am Shelby Lynne nevertheless I Am A Huge Shelby Lynne Fan. She's becoming the female version of Steve Earle. Everything Steve Earle does is cool because he's Steve Earle. My guess is that everything Shelby Lynne does for the rest of her career will be cool because she's Shelby Lynne.