Identity Crisis

After five albums spent trying with varying levels of enthusiasm to conform to Nashville’s expectations of her, Shelby Lynne was nowhere by 2000, which is exactly where her Grammy-winning country-soul gem, I Am Shelby Lynne, seemed to come from. She followed it with the slicked-up and relatively disappointing Love, Shelby, but Identity Crisis attempts to right the ship. With heavy debts to blues (“Evil Man”), gospel (“10 Rocks”), and soul (“Telephone”), it’s got a rougher feel than its predecessor. The heartbreak ballad “I Don’t Think So” wraps Lynne’s warm, wounded pipes around a gently plucked acoustic guitar and supple keyboard lines, while “Lonesome” is a sweeping, classic country ballad worthy of Patsy Cline or Willie Nelson. But while Identity Crisis shows Lynne’s remarkable grasp of her musical roots, it still lacks that firm shove of desperation. It’s deranged to suggest Lynne needs to hit rock bottom again in order to find inspiration, but unless she’s happy making the sort of ultra-palatable, wishy-washy suburban soul that Norah Jones has on lockdown, she’ll need to hit something.