Who can blame Shelby Lynne for bragging a little bit?
"Hell, so far this record's been out a week," she says, "and I've sold as many as I did the last record that Lost Highway put out." By "this record" she means Tears, Lies and Alibis, her third self-produced album and the first one on her very own indie label, Everso.
This was supposed to be Lynne's second album on Lost Highway, after 2008's Dusty Springfield-inspired covers set Just a Little Lovin'. She's frank and indignant when offering her explanation as to why it didn't end up that way. "This last time," she says, "they weren't really into my producing the record myself, because they just didn't want that. They think it's got to have a big name on it, a man's name on it, in order to be any good. I refused to compromise on that level, because when you cut the budget in half, I mean, who's gonna produce for that kind of money? Nobody.
"So I just decided that I had no choice but to do it on my own. It wasn't my first choice, believe me. But if there's no money, there's no money. When I played it for Lost Highway, they still wanted to bring in somebody else. And I just said no. And that's when they passed. And I'm glad they did. Goddamn. I'm free. Free at last."
There's no mistaking how satisfied Lynne sounds with the situation she's in. Her debut as owner and operator of Everso marks the first time she's been completely free from hearing what she calls "the big fat no," and the first time she's been at the front of the line when it comes to getting paid. So if the album sales are respectable too, that's just icing on the cake.
"Yeah, I kinda have my hands on knowing a little bit from record to record how one might do," she says. "You know what? I really don't think about that. I don't care if I'm a millionaire. I just want to stay in the black. Because when you're on a record label, you're never in the black. You never see a dime. There's one thing you can count on, and it's not making any money. And I've never been about the money, but, you know, sometimes it does come down to the rent."
Lynne recorded a lot of Tears, Lies and Alibis in her home studio in Rancho Mirage, Calif. And what money there was went to one of her biggest priorities — the players. She hired musicians she knew and trusted, like guitarist John Jackson, bassist Brian Harrison and drummers Bryan Owings and Kenny Malone, plus a couple of fairly legendary Swampers she hadn't had the chance to work with before, Spooner Oldham on keyboards and David Hood on bass.
"I mean, if there's one thing I've learned about producing records, it's knowing how to spend the money right and make the right decisions," she says. "The first thing you have to have is the songs; the second thing you have to have is the vibe; and the third thing you have to have is great players."
This is the most stripped down of the three albums Lynne has produced herself, the other two being 2003's Identity Crisis and 2005's Suit Yourself. When it comes to arrangements and accompaniment, central tracks "Like a Fool," "Alibi" and "Loser Dreamer" have the lightest of touches, where "Lonesome," on Identity Crisis, was swathed in countrypolitan strings. One hopes she'll be able to go big again — as big, even, as her 2000 tour de force I Am Shelby Lynne — if and when she wants to.
"I don't know what I'll do next, but ... I might put strings on something or add some personality in a different kind of musical way," she says. "I don't know. I don't really have any plans on how we're doing it; It's just that that kind of production suited these songs. I'm not saying that this style of record-making is gonna be my only style I do. Because, you know, I like all kinds of production."
It's probably not a coincidence that Lynne perfected her independence — adding running her label to writing her material, purposefully not living in a major music industry hub like Nashville or L.A. and producing herself — just after she entered her 40s and marked two decades in the music industry. She laughs, "Yeah, I definitely feel like I'm in the captain's chair." Her reputation is well-established — not just for being intelligent and knowing her mind, but also for writing songs with emotional punch and singing with intuitive pop refinement and Southern-tinged sensuality, gifts that surely outlast business relationships.
"I think 10 years ago I still had my eye on the big huge, huge thing," she says. "Now I'm very accepting of the way things are. And whatever might come, big or small, it's all my baby."
Email music@nashvillescene.com.
