Nashville Music Scene

Oh be still, my beating heart–the great Shelby Lynne is coming to the Belcourt, and my sweet man has already gotten tickets for us!! My understanding is that Shelby will be doing Dusty Springfield covers, which suits me just fine. I’d listen to that girl sing the words off a cereal box. Also, word is that she will have a new album out in early 2008. I’ve been lucky enough to see her at the Ryman a couple of times, and she just absolutely blows me away. I cannot for the life of me understand why she is not a huge star, other that she isn’t obsessed with selling out and sucking up to get there, because she has more talent in her little toe than most folks flooding the airwaves have in their entire being. I’ve heard the stories about her being difficult to work with, blah blah blah, but when you’re dealing with a real, true talent, sometimes that comes with the territory. And I’m not saying they’re true or not, just that what everybody sees things differently. Shelby was signed to Epic a hundred years ago when I was a lowly A & R intern there (this was when it was still CBS Records, before Sony bought them out), and she won the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Female Vocalist in 1990. But as so often the case in Nashville with a great talent, she couldn’t be put in just one box, and didn’t want to follow the paint by numbers you are a country star picture. And I am soooo glad she didn’t. Shelby has so much depth and soul, she can sing anything. 1999’s I am Shelby Lynne, which led to her Grammy for Best New Artist (talk about paying dues), is one of my top 10 desert island discs. Get your tickets quick, they won’t last long!

Comments Off