20 Signs of Life From 2003

In 2000, when Shelby Lynne returned to recording after an absence of some five years, she chose to name her comeback I Am Shelby Lynne. The title was a definite statement; a declaration—“this music is who I am.” It doubtless looked back on a time when she was in Nashville making her first records, a time during which she battled with her label over her music's direction.

So what can one make of her new record's title, which, thematically, seems a complete reversal from the message I Am conveyed? Why did she choose Identity Crisis? “I didn’t name it,” she points out. “My manager did. I’m not very good at that. When she heard it, she said ‘there’s 12 different personalities here; it’s like an identity crisis.’… I’m not having an identity crisis. But the album is definitely having one.”

This is, by far, the most eclectic record Lynne has ever made. It moves from the jazzy pop of opener “Telephone” straight into the boogie-woogie gospel of “10 Rocks.” There’s also the noisy scrawl of “Gotta Be Better,” the electric blues of “Evil Man,” and the shimmering acoustic pop of “One With the Sun.” Lynne also taps into her country roots with the folky “Baby” and the Owen Bradley-esque Nashvegas sound of “Lonesome”—a remarkable song featuring the slip-note piano of Little Feat’s Billy Payne.

There is, however, a consistent simplicity, even sparseness, to the record. It was a quality Lynne was shooting for. “I recorded and did it really fast; it was the easiest record I’ve ever made,” she explains. “The songs all started with my guitar ... I knew I wasn’t going to put drums on ... and sometimes I would stack on an acoustic part just to give it a little more meat. But it’s just really simple.”