Shelby Lynne

I second CMO's suggestion of Loretta Lynns "Van Lear rose" It's the biggest surprises I've encountered in a while! Sounds like some Grateful Dead,Ryan Adams combo. Killer record! Almost puts Mick Jagger to shame! Never thought the queen of Country could sound like this! A must listen!

I'm a big Shelby Lynne (and Allison Moorer) fan, but the jury's still out for me on this one. Perhaps its because the sparse arrangements are such a departure from her prior works. The CD sounds very good and I still listening, but as of now i believe her two prior albums (Idenity Crisis and Suit Yourself) are better.

As to the earlier comments about Lynne not living up to her potential, I believe you can place Shelby Lynne's and Alison Moorer's lack of commercial success directly on the execs in Nashville who decided its easier to market meaningless drivel (generally speaking, of course).

I received a response from Doug Sax. The vinyl was sourced from a 96/24 digital cutting master that was made from the original analog tapes. It is NOT a pure analog LP.

I just played this through for the first time this morning. Comments here caused me to go for the CD version instead of risking a noisy LP. I think this is a very good album musically and sonically. The musicians are really top notch and the guitar playing by Dean Parks is, as always, fantastic. The whole album has got a really good "vibe"--a little like Nora Jones but with SOUL. While the recording quality is quite good (I'm sure the fact that Doug did the mastering has helped in this regard) I feel they missed the boat ever so slightly on her vocals. There is a lack of body and immediacy here that detracts ever so slightly from the experience. The vocals are good, just not great. It is the kind of deficiency one might expect from using a lesser quality mic--subtle but noticeable. Anyone else feel the vocals could have been a bit warmer, more focused and more immediate?

Hmm, I actually think the vocals are the best part of the LP.