Revelation Road

Lynne goes back to the old genre to bring back the former fame

Shelby Lynne has repeatedly shuffled her stylistic focuses, which not always gave what is considered a good result in music business, titles and awards from specialists, high sales of records, and recognition amongst listeners. However, Lynne enjoys that writing freedom that you rarely tend to find in pop music. On her fresh solo effort, Revelation Road, Lynne effortlessly and easily comes back to a genre she seemed to have abandoned forever, to emotional and thoughtful country. The singer has not let any living soul play part in the making of the album. She alone did the writing, sang the songs, played the instruments and mixed the CD in the studio. And of all the components, only the production might be somewhat on the weaker side due to Lynne’s deficit of experience only. The rest is executed so well that we have the reason to speak about Lynne reaching the level that she once conquered with her standout work I Am Shelby Lynne (2000).

Revelation Road is full of dramatic turns

Those who have followed Shelby Lynne’s music career closely enough know that the singer at times goes deep into emotional y sophisticated music where one can find plenty of references to her background. But even these listeners will be amazed at the seriousness and psychological complexity of Revelation Road. Once again, Shelby brings back to live most horrid scenes from her childhood. The singer and her sister were witnesses to their father killing their mother and then shooting himself down. Shelby avoids direct ties with those events, but songs like I’ll Hold Your Hand, and Heaven’s Only Day Down The Road expose this connection. As for the musical side of the matter, Lynne rests on country instruments and particular vocal manners from spiritual. This is specifically perceived through repetition of separate words and phrases. For about twenty times we can here ‘revelation’ in the title song, and as often she utters ‘woebeggone’ in the eponymous piece. This, beyond any doubt, serves boosting the suspense, but the story never has a tragic finale you are supposed to expect in such cases. On the contrary, the album closes with a wonderful ballad called I Won’t Leave You displaying the author’s belief in spiritual and emotional strength of a human.

A very special record in Shelby Lynne’s career

Shelby Lynne had to make Revelation Road all by herself as long as she wanted to reach the effect which is eventually produced by the new album. It was essential for the singer to make decisions and take up responsibility for each note and each sound of these eleven tracks. An outsider would never have got to the core of what Lynne was intended to convey to the audience through this work. The lyrical part of Revelation Road is going to raise a lot of debates for behind the rich and fascinating images and phrases there is a great variety of meanings to be interpreted variously. At the same time, the slant and the atmosphere of the record should not be an issue. We will process a great part of Shelby’s narration on intuitional or subconscious level, and this will once again witness to great music’s great powers. There can not be a lot of albums like that in a performer’s discography; but every time a musician takes up such a task, it becomes an extraordinary even in the entire career.