{"id":1491,"date":"2010-09-12T18:45:36","date_gmt":"2010-09-13T01:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=1491"},"modified":"2010-09-12T18:45:36","modified_gmt":"2010-09-13T01:45:36","slug":"shelby-lynne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2010\/09\/shelby-lynne\/","title":{"rendered":"Shelby Lynne"},"content":{"rendered":"

SHELBY LYNNE<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\u201cHell, no\u201d to record labels, hello to independence<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Shelby Lynne doesn\u2019t mince words when discussing the showdown that ensued when she presented her new album, Tears, Lies, and Alibis<\/em>, to her record company\u2014only to see it rejected. \u201cWhen Lost Highway said they didn\u2019t want the record, I said, \u2018That\u2019s fine, I\u2019ll just do my own thing. I\u2019m tired of this shit,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Twenty-four hours later, once and for all fed up after shuffling among five different record companies over the course of her 20-year career, she declared her intention to leave the label and release the album on her own. \u201cAs soon as I knew they weren\u2019t going to put out the record that I worked so hard on, that\u2019s when I started digging in,\u201d she says. \u201cRecord labels don\u2019t want to put out records that are good. They want to put out records that will sell. Gone are the days when a record label will say: \u2018We believe in you, you\u2019re a great artist who makes great records and we just want to have you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Buoyed by optimism, confidence and determination, the Alabama native elected to create her own label, Everso Records, to release Tears<\/em>. The 10-song collection is by turns sassy, soulful and unabashedly\u00a0introspective. \u201cThe songs come from what I know, within my life,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s how I see it in my head and feel it in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sound is appropriately stripped down, which was part of the problem\u2014she says that Lost Highway asked her to re-record it with a big-name producer. \u201cI had Phil Ramone produce my last album [2008\u2019s Just a Little Lovin\u2019<\/em>] and you don\u2019t really get any bigger than that,\u201d she says. \u201cBut this is the answer I got: \u2018Well, you just set the standard so high \u2026\u2019 It was hard to get a big-name producer when they cut the budget in half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynne has never hesitated to follow her muse in any direction. She initially found fame as a mainstream country singer, but made her true breakthrough with 2000\u2019s old-school soul turn I Am Shelby Lynne<\/em>\u2014which, in a classic example of music-business logic, helped her win the Best New Artist Grammy a full decade into her career. Along the way she has also touched upon pop, Americana, jazz, swing and blues. Today, as the captain of her recording destiny, she can continue to pursue her artistic ambitions without commercial calculation.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m as happy as I can be,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m free. I can do my own thing and make my fans happy because I\u2019m not going to be held back by this ridiculous corporate thing. If I want to record seven records a year, I can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her new independence also means she\u2019s finally able to participate in all parts of the process, musical and otherwise. \u201cI know exactly what\u2019s going on, who\u2019s doing what, where the money\u2019s going\u2014and it feels great,\u201d she says. \u201cHell, if I don\u2019t know how to do a record company by now, I might as well go work at the Waffle House. Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with the\u00a0Waffle House!\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, lots of artists say they don\u2019t want a record label. What if some nice company came along tomorrow with an especially tempting offer?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, no, hell<\/em> no,\u201d she declares. \u201cI don\u2019t give a damn about that. When I make up my mind, I can\u2019t go back. It\u2019s time for me to move on from that big machine. I\u2019d rather have a smaller machine and actually get what I\u2019m doing out to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Lee Zimmerman<\/strong><\/p>\n

May 2010 Issue of <\/span>M Music & Musicians<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHELBY LYNNE \u201cHell, no\u201d to record labels, hello to independence Shelby Lynne doesn\u2019t mince words when discussing the showdown that ensued when she presented her new album, Tears, Lies, and Alibis, to her record company\u2014only to see it rejected. \u201cWhen Lost Highway said they didn\u2019t want the record, I said, \u2018That\u2019s fine, I\u2019ll just do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1034,1037,1035,1036,1033,70,1031,1032],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}