Shelby Lynne: I Am Shelby Lynne

Shelby Lynne began her solo career with bright hopes and diminishing returns. Touted as one of the most promising country stars of the late '80s, Lynne released several albums to critical acclaim and commercial indifference between 1989 and 1995, then disappeared. It's little wonder, then, that her Island debut would arrive with a title declaring her identity. Those who knew her before might have forgotten by now, while everyone else probably needs to be clued in. Fortunately, Lynne has the material to back up the declaration, and in erstwhile Sheryl Crow producer Bill Bottrell (who co-writes most of these tracks), she's found a partner in tune with her genre-blurring aspirations, liberally mixing elements of country, blues, R&B, and lounge-infused jazz, yet still accommodating the occasional drum machine and synthesizer. Comparisons to Crow are inevitable and not entirely undeserved: Both possess a savvy sense of how to make a song work regardless of style, and both have voices equally suited to blowing out speakers (as evidenced by I Am's opening track, "Your Lies") and cooing heartbroken lullabies (as evidenced by I Am's closing track, "Black Light Blue"). Still, Lynne seldom seems to follow anyone's path but her own. It's probably no coincidence that the greatest fault of the album's only weak track, "Gotta Get Back," is an excessive eagerness to please, because elsewhere the album radiates with the joyful sound of a singer finally getting around to doing what she's wanted to do for a long time.