I Am Shelby Lynne is the sixth studio album by Shelby Lynne

Shelby Lynne

Shelby Lynne is an American singer, songwriter and actress. The success of the 1999 album I Am Shelby Lynne led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, even though she had been active in the music industry for some time...

, released on April 10, 1999 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and on January 25, 2000 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. After several years of lackluster results from recording various styles of country music in and around Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, Lynne co-wrote and recorded this album in Palm Springs, California

Palm Springs, California

Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...

, incorporating confessional lyrics with musical elements from blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 and rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

. Lynne collaborated on this album with producer Bill Bottrell

Bill Bottrell

Bill Bottrell is an American record producer, songwriter and musician, probably best known for his Grammy Award-winning collaborations with Michael Jackson, E.L.O. and Sheryl Crow.- Biography :...

, who had previously worked with Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...

 on her debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club

Tuesday Night Music Club

Tuesday Night Music Club is the debut album from American singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow, released on August 3, 1993. The lead single "Run, Baby, Run" was not particularly successful...

.

The album is considered to be her breakout work, and the catalyst toward Lynne receiving her first career Grammy award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 as Best New Artist

Grammy Award for Best New Artist

The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967...

 of 2000

Grammy Awards of 2001

The 43rd Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001. Steely Dan was the biggest winner winning three awards including Album of the Year for Two Against Nature. U2 was also a big winner winning three awards as well; including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Beautiful Day. Dr...

. The award came more than a decade after Lynne's debut album, 1990's Sunrise.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...

 gave the album a star rating of four out of five. He described the album as a sign of Lynne's reinvention of herself as a "tough and sexy singer", comparing her to Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...

 and Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...

. He praised Bill Bottrell's production of the album and said that Lynne "finally sounds comfortable in her writing and voice", and that with this album, she has "finally [found] her groove".

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

s Parke Puterbaugh gave the album three and a half stars out of a possible five. He said that the album had more jazz and soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 about it than country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

, but that it had "a genuine evocation of country". He said that the tracks "[seduce] you ... rather than bowling you over". He praised Lynne's harmonies, calling them "nothing less than righteous."

Track listing

1. "Your Lies" (Bill Bottrell
   Bill Bottrell
   Bill Bottrell is an American record producer, songwriter and musician, probably best known for his Grammy Award-winning collaborations with Michael Jackson, E.L.O. and Sheryl Crow.- Biography :...
   
   , Shelby Lynne) — 2:54
2. "Leavin'" (Lynne) — 3:11
3. "Life Is Bad" (Bottrell, Fritz, Lynne) — 3:18
4. "Thought It Would Be Easier" (Bottrell, Lynne) — 3:55
5. "Gotta Get Back" (Bottrell, Lynne, Overstreet) — 3:37
6. "Why Can't You Be?" (Bottrell, Lynne) — 4:19
7. "Lookin' Up" (Bottrell, Lynne) — 3:28
8. "Dream Some" (Joyce, Lynne, Overstreet) — 4:12
9. "Where I'm From" (Bottrell, Lynne) — 3:49
10. "Black Light Blue" (Bottrell, Lynne) — 3:23

Personnel

Music

• Bill Bottrell
  Bill Bottrell
  Bill Bottrell is an American record producer, songwriter and musician, probably best known for his Grammy Award-winning collaborations with Michael Jackson, E.L.O. and Sheryl Crow.- Biography :...
  
  — organ, bass, guitar, harmonica, percussion, pedal steel, drums, keyboards, vocals, background vocals, 12 string guitar, snare drums, clapping, stomping
• Jameson Brandt — string contractor
• Greg d'Augenlli — flute, horn, keyboards, string bass
• George Del Barrio — arranger, conductor, string arrangements
• Roger Fritz — dobro
  Dobro
  Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
  
  , guitar, slide guitar, slide mandolin
• Jay Joyce — organ, bass, guitar, keyboards
• Shelby Lynne — acoustic guitar, guitar, electric guitar, vocals, background vocals, clapping, stomping
• Dorothy Overstreet — drums, snare drums

Production

• Bill Bottrell — producer, mixing
• Mark Cross
  Mark Cross
  Mark Cross is a hard rock and heavy metal drummer. He was born to an English father and German mother, raised in Germany and later moved to Greece...
  
   — engineer, mixing
• Terry Doty — project administrator
• Ivy Scoff —project coordinator

Design

• Thomas Bird — art direction
• Rick Lecoat
  Rick Lecoat
  Rick Lecoat is a graphic designer and the creative director of the London-based design studio, 'Shark Attack'. Born in Jersey in 1969, Lecoat moved to London to study at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design...
  
   — design
• Rick Patrick — art direction
• Rankin
  Rankin (photographer)
  John Rankin Waddell, working name Rankin, born 1966, is a British portrait and fashion photographer.-Life and career:Waddell was brought up in St Albans, Hertfordshire. At the age of 21, whilst studying accounting at Brighton Polytechnic, he realized that his interests lay elsewhere and dropped...
  
   — photography

Singles

• "Leavin'" - Release Date: May 9, 2000
• 1. "Leavin'"
• 2. "Life Is Bad" (Live)
• 3. "Black Light Blue" (Live)

• "Gotta Get Back"
• 1. album version (3:36)
• 2. remix (3:37)
• 3. call out research hook (:10)