Shelby Lynne is such a country outlaw that she won’t even let you call her “country” anymore. It’s possible that the Grammy she won for I Am Shelby Lynne in 2000 was the last sign that she was a Nashville sweetheart: On her raw new folk-rock album Tears, Lies, and Alibis, she’d rather people think of her as just another old-fashioned singer-songwriter who drinks a lot and hits on trailers.
Vulture reports show Shelby Lynne’s responses to a series of questions on the subject. But when they talked to the California desert drifter, she was just as excited about Airstream trailers, Jack Daniels, and Willie Nelson as Waylon Jennings might have been. I guess the outlaw part is still true.
Have you been in relationships with women who tried to tie you down? She said –
“I don’t talk about my personal life. But the relationships I’ve had have usually been with other musicians. It’s just easier that way.”
On “Old #7,” you sing about another of your great loves: Jack Daniels. Lynne answered –
“Whiskey used to be my drink of choice, but it’s not as often now. I’ve always said I write songs about what I knew at the time, and this time, I knew a lot about Jack Daniels. You’re either a whiskey drinker or a wine drinker, you’re not both, and I’m a whiskey drinker, because I hang out with the boys and I drink to get drunk. But if you’re in a mean mood, that brown liquid’s not gonna be your friend.”
I heard that listening to Willie Nelson’s Willie and Family as a kid made you want to be an outlaw. Are you still an outlaw? Shelby Lynne replied –
“Well, I think that’s one of the best live albums ever recorded. But I was an outlaw way before I heard that record, it’s just something in your blood. I’m not big on law enforcement, I look good in leather and now I’m going up against the corporate man with my own label. So you bet I’m still an outlaw. Now more than ever. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
This wraps up our coverage of Shelby Lynne talking about her life as an Outlaw.
