After collaborating with Glen Ballard on 2001's Love, Shelby, Shelby Lynne has decided to do the lion's share of work on her eighth album, Identity Crisis, due September 16th.

The album began to take shape amid a break following Lynne's touring and promotional duty behind Love, Shelby. "If you have time to sit around like I did last year, you think about things you didn't think about the last five or six years," she said. "I got in touch with a lot of family that I didn't have any contact with at all. I started realizing what was important, and it is my family. And love."

Lynne wrote all twelve Crisis tracks, in addition to singing, playing all guitars and most of the drums. Some of the tracks were penned during the production of Love, Shelby, but deemed a poor fit with the pop-minded sound of that album. Crisis will be closer in mood to Lynne's confessional, Grammy-winning 2000 release, I Am Shelby Lynne. "I was listening to a lot of Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams," Lynne said. "They're all those poem kind of songs, no bridge, no nothing. When a hook comes to my head, I try to make a song of it."

In addition to Lynne's instrumental work, Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne plays on ten of the album's cuts, with Larry Antonio adding bass, and a small bit of percussion provided by Kevin Ricard.

Lynne is planning a tour behind the album, though no dates have been set. On a related note, Lynne makes a guest appearance on Show, the new live album by her sister Allison Moorer, adding vocals to "Bring Me All Your Lovin'," "Is Heaven Good Enough for You" and "Going Down."

Identity Crisis track listing:

Telephone
10 Rocks
If I Were Smart
Gonna Be Better
I Don't Think So
I'm Alive
I Will Stay
Lonesome
Evil Man
Buttons and Beaus
Baby
One With the Sun

ANDREW DANSBY
(June 25, 2003)