A lot of the publicity surrounding this year's "I Am Shelby Lynne" tended to speak dismissively of her earlier Nashville-recorded efforts. Even Lynne herself has described her previous work as being "sterile." Well, this is the only previous Lynne CD that I've heard, but it certainly can't be dismissed out of hand. I don't have so much C&W in my collection that I can speak authoritatively about what's authentic sounding and what's not, but this '89 release sure sounds good to me.

Lynne was just a teenager when she debuted, and the young girl on the cover of this CD sure does seem a little awkward and tentative (hand tucked in pocket of an oversized deerskin jacket), but she sings with an impressive authority that indicates that she knows the genre inside and out. I know a lot of people find such "maturity" in a young singer suspect. Could Lynne really have "lived" those songs at her young age? It's the same critique that has been levied against LeAnn Rimes in recent years, and it is something of a canard--certainly in the case of Shelby Lynne's early work.

Look, every once in a while, you see a talented young actor in a high school play, skillfully playing a role seemingly beyond his or her life experience. It's called "imagination" or "empathy," and it applies to singers as well. The songs on "Sunrise" are not teenage plaints, but Lynne finds the emotional core in such tracks as "Little Bits and Pieces" and "The Hurtin Side." She's also adept at handling the obligatory C&W novelty number like "Where It Hurts." Sure, you're thinking, "But this is a kid singing about all this desertion, divorce, and heartache," and then you remember, well, 17-year olds may know nothing about divorce, but they're often past masters in the heartache department.

Shelby Lynne's freshman CD certainly did not predict the fiercely independent artist who subsequently developed. However, as a country set by a promising young singer, it's still interesting 16 years later. Lynne sounds particularly mature on Billy Sherrill's "This Time I Almost Made It," a tear-in-your-beer weeper also covered by Barbara Mandrell & Tammy Wynette. Eddy Arnold, Patsy Cline & Ray Charles all recorded Floyd Tillman's "I Love You So Much It Hurts." Shelby brings a studied sadness to the mix until she blows the emotional roof off on "There's nothing I can do." "I'm Confessin'" also has that great classic country sound. Shelby Lynne's first disc is worth going back to pick up, particularly if you want to see how far she's come! Enjoy!

Awesome debut album by an awesome artist! I encourage you to get to know Shelby Lynne through this and her other excellent works. One of the best performers out there today. I've never been able to understand why Shelby Lynne is not at "superstar" status. See her live, if you can! She's that good!!

I bought this CD back in 1990, and thought it was a good CD,

I have listened to her most recent CD's that I had

borrowed from Libraries and have decided that her earlier

works are the best. (such as "Sunrise")