Shelby Lynne: she's neck and neck in the drama stakes with Courtney Love, and her new album is called Identity Crisis. She should have one every year - Interview

Shelby Lynne's life Is the stuff country songs are made of. When she was 17, her father fatally shot her mother, then took his own life in the family driveway. By 18, she was already married and divorced, raising her younger sister and struggling to make it as a country-pop singer in Nashville.

But four years ago--five albums into e singing career that she felt was creatively unsatisfying--Lynne made a bold move: She took off for California, where she recorded I Am Shelby Lynne (2000), a soulful statement of purpose that not only allowed her talents as a singer-songwriter to emerge more fully than ever before, but also dealt unflinchingly with her difficult past. Ironically, the reinvention netted the singer a Grammy in 2000 for Best New Artist, despite the fact that she had been making records for more than a decade.

Lynne's new record, Identity Crisis (Capitol), is yet another step in her evolution. Written and recorded in her home studio without the backing of a record label, it's her most personal work to date. Here, the 34-year-old performer talks with her good friend, actress Mary-Louise Parker, about making the record, her Nanny's green beans, and the things in life that she just can't live without.

MARY-LOUISE PARKER: Hey, Shelby!

SHELBY LYNNE: Hey, girl! What're you up to?

MLP: I'm in London. I've been listening to your album pretty much nonstop.

SL: I'm so glad you dig it!

MLP: I love that it was a real solo effort in a lot of ways.

SL: Yeah, that was really good. I didn't have anybody to answer to but me. [laughs]

MLP: So you got to finish it ...

SL: Then shop it to the record labels.

MLP: When you took it to them, you could just say, "Here's what I made."

SL: That's it. I thought that a lot of labels would probably want me to go in and change something, so I decided to turn it in completely finished because then I could say, "Nope, it's done."

MLP: Do you like to collaborate, or would you rather work alone?

SL: It's sometimes cool to have somebody around to say, "What do you think about this or that?" But I really enjoyed doing this record by myself. It gave me the confidence to know that I can write by myself if I need to.

MLP: What I love about it is that I felt these specific musical influences so strongly, but never like you were trying on somebody else's hat--they were in your blood.

SL: That's kind of the way it is. I listen to so much music. It's really an obsession. Old or new, I'm always listening to something.

MLP: What's an old album that you couldn't live without?

SL: Well, pretty much any Willie Nelson record. Anything by Frank Sinatra, like In the Wee Small Hours [1954]. And Chet Baker--I can always depend on him.

MLP: That's so weird because there was a time when all I could listen to was those guys and Tom Waits.

SL: Yeah. Tom Waits is pretty great. His music kind of puts you in a place.

MLP: You do that too. You present the song to the listener first, and then you kind of stand out of the way of it.

SL: I'm just in love with words and great songs. When I tour this time, I'm going to take out a different kind of band with more of an acoustic vibe. I want to take the songs I've written on the last three albums and present them the way I wrote them, which is on guitar. I mean, everybody can get the record, but if the song still stands alone, then you've really got something.

MLP: Did you read a lot as a kid?

SL: Yeah. I read a lot of Hemingway, Steinbeck--that kind of thing. When I hear a song, I go for the words immediately. I remember listening to Ray Charles doing an interview on the radio, and the dude asked him something like, "What is it that turns you on about a song?" And he goes, "Man, I've got to have a lyric."

MLP: Is there anyone you would love to sing with, even just one song?

SL: I was putting on my makeup today, and a David Bowie song came on the radio. I've got this whole David Bowie obsession. I'd love to sing with him because he's just such a character.

MLP: I'd love to hear you guys together.

SL: You know, most of the time I go for the males. I don't know why.

MLP: That's interesting because your voice is so female. Did you always sing like that?

SL: I've just been singing forever. I have some tapes--those little quarter-inch reel-to-reel things that your parents used to record you with when you were a kid--and I just put in this little makeshift studio in my house with an old-school recorder so I could hear them. I just always knew I'd be singing.

MLP: Before anyone heard you sing?

SL: Yeah. It's just so natural to me. I felt the same way [about it] then as I do now.

MLP: Did you listen to a lot of Patsy Cline?

SL: Not until I was older. My mama had a couple of her records. Patsy's just a great, great singer. That's a voice that came from angels.

MLP: But you're mostly drawn to male singers.

SL: Yeah, mostly the fellas. I would love to hook up with somebody like Chrissie Hynde. But females are hard for me. I don't think I've ever even written with a chick.

MLP: Why do you think that is?

SL: I don't know. I guess, whatever situation I was in, I was the chick.

MLP: I'd love to hear you with Willie [Nelson].

SL: We've done some stuff together--I guess it was 13, 14 years ago. We got together one weekend and recorded standards in his studio in Austin.

MLP: Wow, I'd love to hear that. I remember when my dad brought home Stardust [1978].

SL: Willie Nelson is one of my favorite people: How can this dude do the whole outlaw thing, become famous for "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," and then turn around and do Stardust?

MLP: You know what I love on your record? That song, "Telephone." It reminds me of when you dial somebody and half of you is going, "Please don't pick up the phone."

SL: That's exactly where it came from. You can't stop yourself from making that call. But when you do call and they answer, oh boy ...

MLP: Did you have a good high school experience?

SL: Oh, no! I hated school so much. There's no way to even describe it. I can remember my mama dropping me off in first grade on the first day of school. I cried from that day until graduation.

MLP: Yeah. I graduated early because I just wasn't good at it. I never got invited to any good parties or dances. I felt invisible.

SL: Oh, you were one of those too? Too bad we didn't go to school together.

MLP: So, I want to ask you some stupid questions for fun. If you were going to outer space and you were going to take three foods, what would you take?

SL: Okay, I have to take my Boddington's beer. It's English ale.

MLP: That's so funny because I would take Corona. Beer's a food. Why not?

SL: You have to have something to drink. I'd have to take cheese, too.

MLP: Cheese?

SL: It's a necessary evil, but it doesn't run my life. [both laugh] I would also have to take some of my Nanny's green beans. She does them the best I've ever had.

MLP: And if you were going to take three records ...

SL: Well, I'd have to take Stardust and a Frank Sinatra album. I'd also have to take my own records. Everyone would say I can't take my own, but fuck it, I'm taking my own. [both laugh]

MLP: Would you take photos or letters?

SL: Definitely letters. I have every letter that my grandmother has written me since 1987.

MLP: Where does she live?

SL: Southern Alabama.

MLP: I might be doing this road trip hack to Austin, and if I stop in Alabama somewhere, is there one place I should go?

SL: Stop by Nanny's house.

MLP: Will she make some beans?

SL: Oh, yeah, and some biscuits.

MLP: You said the magic words: biscuits, beer, and beans.

SL: And cheese.

MLP: We're going to outer space,

SL: There you go.

MLP: Well, let me know when you're going to be in New York. I'd love to come see you.

SL: Okay, I'll call and remind you.

MLP: Cool Take care, Shelby.

SL: Bye.

MLP: Bye.

Mary-Louise Parker continues in her Emmy-nominated role on NBC's The West Wing this fall.

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