Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Long before Chappell Roan picked up the nickname of “your favorite singer’s favorite singer,” that was how people thought of Shelby Lynne, the Alabama-bred singer-songwriter who long ago reset the bar for voices that expressively explore the crossroads between country and soul.
Her 2000 breakthrough album “I Am Shelby Lynne” helped win her the best new artist Grammy, though in truth she’d had a long career before that, making her way through the Nashville system from her teen years on, and certainly has been active since, pursuing an ever-more-independent career outside of any pop or country mainstream.
Lynne claims she thought her record-making days were more or less done prior to finding herself in the studio for her new album, “Consequences of the Crown.” She had moved back from California to Nashville after a quarter-century absence to be near her sister, fellow singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, but also to get a songwriting publishing contract.
It was at a series of writing sessions with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, recording artist Ashley Monroe and producer-engineer Gena Johnson that she was basically informed that she was making a record, whether she wanted or expected to or not.
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