Revelation Road
Recorded to two-inch tape at her Palm Desert, Calif., home studio while also self-produced and performed, *Revelation Road* is the most intimate album of Shelby Lynne’s career. She learned on the job, playing banjo, congas, drums, and mandolin for the first time and still sounding like a seasoned pro. Of course, the central attraction is Lynne’s expressive singing, which has drawn favorable comparisons to Dusty Springfield as well as the usual array of classic country singers. The title track plays like an ageless folk tune, with a snaking melody and arrangement. “Lead Me Love” captures a bossa nova groove for a seductive late-night croon. “Heaven’s Only Days Down the Road” is the album’s heaviest track, as it explores the pain and suffering brought on by her father killing her mother and then committing suicide. The ballad “I Won’t Leave You” is a taste of reassurance against the odds. “I Want To Go Back” puts it bluntly: “Does my heart need these scars to keep me alive?” It’s an album of straight confessionals and minimal but stirring musical accompaniment.
Discover Revelation Road by Shelby Lynne released in 2011. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
Sometimes singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne tells her stories in clear and precise terms so that one clearly understands the characters, setting, and...