Nominally considered a country artist, Shelby has been willfully independent throughout her career, with the turning point being her now 10-year-old album I Am Shelby Lynne, which brought her before a rock/Americana audience. Nevertheless, a Christmas album tends to bring the country out in a girl or guy brought up below the Mason-Dixon line, so I approached this 2010 release with some trepidation. My conclusion is that, in a perfect world, I should call this a country album and be done with it, but in the 21st century, "country" music is no longer a distinct musical genre, but is more of a personal identity thing. Much so-called country music today is either warmed-over rock or warmed-over pop music featuring people singing in pronounced Southern accents along with the occasional fiddle or steel guitar lick. Declaring you're a country fan nowadays seems to be more in line with declaring you're a Prius driver than in simply identifying what kind of music you like. In that world, there's no way this is a country album. Shelby wears her Southern influences like a favorite Christmas sweater, but there's touches of folk, swing, blues and light rock here as well. It is on the mellow side for the Mistletunes audience, but it's made with a complete lack of artifice, which is another reason why you'll never hear it on your local country station. Shelby sticks mostly with obvious song choices from the canon, but she makes room for two originals, "Ain't Nothin' Like Christmas," a nice swingy hand-clapper, and "Xmas," a bluesy ballad led by a wah-wah guitar figure and Dave Koz sax solo that talks about the struggles of putting presents under the tree for the kids. I absolutely guarantee you this song is the only time you'll ever hear a nominally country artist mention a "ghetto blaster" in the lyrics. Too bad she couldn't find a way to get her more humorous Christmas original, "Squat," onto this album. (Once again, thanks to Hip Christmas for the link.)
Merry Christmas, Shelby Lynne (Everso-Fontana)
Nominally considered a country artist, Shelby has been willfully independent throughout her career, with the turning point being her now 10-year-old album I Am Shelby Lynne, which brought her before a rock/Americana audience. Nevertheless, a Christmas album tends to bring the country out in a girl or guy brought up below the Mason-Dixon line, so I approached this 2010 release with some trepidation. My conclusion is that, in a perfect world, I should call this a country album and be done with it, but in the 21st century, "country" music is no longer a distinct musical genre, but is more of a personal identity thing. Much so-called country music today is either warmed-over rock or warmed-over pop music featuring people singing in pronounced Southern accents along with the occasional fiddle or steel guitar lick. Declaring you're a country fan nowadays seems to be more in line with declaring you're a Prius driver than in simply identifying what kind of music you like. In that world, there's no way this is a country album. Shelby wears her Southern influences like a favorite Christmas sweater, but there's touches of folk, swing, blues and light rock here as well. It is on the mellow side for the Mistletunes audience, but it's made with a complete lack of artifice, which is another reason why you'll never hear it on your local country station. Shelby sticks mostly with obvious song choices from the canon, but she makes room for two originals, "Ain't Nothin' Like Christmas," a nice swingy hand-clapper, and "Xmas," a bluesy ballad led by a wah-wah guitar figure and Dave Koz sax solo that talks about the struggles of putting presents under the tree for the kids. I absolutely guarantee you this song is the only time you'll ever hear a nominally country artist mention a "ghetto blaster" in the lyrics. Too bad she couldn't find a way to get her more humorous Christmas original, "Squat," onto this album. (Once again, thanks to Hip Christmas for the link.)
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