Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer - Not Dark Yet

Styles: Vocal, Guitar
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:18
Size: 86,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:52)  1. My List
(2:23)  2. Every Time You Leave
(4:19)  3. Not Dark Yet
(2:57)  4. I'm Looking For Blue Eyes
(2:54)  5. Lungs
(4:03)  6. The Color Of A Cloudy Day
(2:34)  7. Silver Wings
(4:47)  8. Into My Arms
(5:38)  9. Lithium
(4:46) 10. Is It Too Much

Despite singing together since they were old enough to talk, it took a lifetime for sisters Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer to record together. United by blood, growing up in the backwoods of Alabama and sharing an unspeakable tragedy they witnessed their father take their mother's life and then his own their coming together on Not Dark Yet was perhaps inevitable, but it wasn't easy. The pair did a celebrated tour together in 2010 and tried to write a collective album afterwards. They ended up abandoning that project, but not the desire to collaborate. With empathic producer Teddy Thompson and a cannily chosen cast of studio aces among them guitarist Doug Pettibone, keyboardist Benmont Tench, and steel guitar player Ben Peeler  they deliver nine cover songs chosen from the canons of rock, country, Americana, and pop before closing with a lone original.  Commencing with the Killers' "My List," they deliver a love song as if facing one another, using the blood ties of sibling union as a hymn of commitment. Tench's piano and the twinned guitars of Pettibone and Val McCallum add a lonesome gospel feel to the languid, steely longing in the lyric. Jessi Colter's "I'm Looking for Blue Eyes" and Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings" are delivered with an intimate familiarity, as if the emotional truth these songs carry were part of their shared DNA. Bob Dylan's title track, penned as a metaphorical elegy to humanity, is underscored here. When Lynne follows her sister's lead, the mournful lyric is stretched toward ghost land where mercurial notions of loss and grief wrap around one another and bleed hard truths. 

Townes Van Zandt's "Lungs" is as steely as the original, but is articulated here through the clear lenses of country gospel and blues extending its reach out of death. Nick Cave's "Into My Arms" is a rootsy paean to enduring, committed love, while Nirvana's "Lithium" is not altogether successful because it's delivered with too much reverence. The album's lone original, "Is It Too Much," emerges as a whisper from the ether. Its lyric question addresses the unspeakable plainly, but it's sung as if the sisters are squarely facing one another, each completing the other's thoughts and sentences. They cover each other's grief with grief, and offer shelter and respite from the outside world that cannot hope to understand with the grain in their voices. They acknowledge a pain that can never be assuaged, just accepted as a shared transformative burden as they embrace it and one another. These two walk and stumble through that dark night, leaning together as the lyrics pour down like a river of tears. The song's question may never be answered, but its utterance is enough to guarantee another step for each. Not Dark Yet is a beacon, a glimmer of the possible. It's a stark, beautiful recording that hopefully proves something to both Lynne and Moorer: That what's here is a new beginning and that there is much more to explore. ~ Thom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/not-dark-yet-mw0003066831

Personnel:   Allison Moorer – lead vocals, harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, piano;  Shelby Lynne – lead vocals, harmony vocals, acoustic guitar;  Erik Deutsch – organ, piano;  Don Heffington – drums, percussion;  Michael Jerome – drums, percussion;  Val McCallum – acoustic guitar, electric guitar;   Ben Peeler – electric guitar, pedal steel guitar;   Doug Pettibone – acoustic guitar, electric guitar;  Taras Prodaniuk – bass;  Benmont Tench – keyboard, organ, piano, wurlitzer;  Teddy Thompson – producer, bass, drums, acoustic guitar, background vocals

Not Dark Yet

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Willie Nelson & Friends - Live And Kickin'

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:59
Size: 132.7 MB
Styles: Country, Assorted styles
Year: 2003
Art: Front

[3:12] 1. I Didn't Come Here (And I Ain't Leavin')
[4:32] 2. Night Life (With Eric Clapton)
[2:56] 3. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain (With Shania Twain)
[3:58] 4. Homeward Bound (With Paul Simon)
[3:34] 5. Beer For My Horses (With Toby Keith)
[4:35] 6. Crazy (With Diana Krall, Elvis Costello)
[4:26] 7. To All The Girls I've Loved Before (With Wyclef Jean)
[2:31] 8. Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want To Get Over You) (With Norah Jones)
[2:41] 9. She Loves My Automobile (With Zz Top)
[4:38] 10. Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground ( With Shelby Lynne)
[5:22] 11. A Song For You (With Leon Russell, Ray Charles)
[2:54] 12. I Couldn't Believe It Was True (With John Mellencamp)
[4:33] 13. Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning (With Kenny Chesney)
[2:34] 14. Run That By Me One More Time (With Ray Price)
[5:26] 15. One Time Too Many (With Steven Tyler)

For his 70th birthday gala, Willie Nelson decided to celebrate by inviting a cast of musical stars to join him in duets on a televised concert. In keeping with Nelson's eclecticism, only a few of the famous participants are country artists (Shania Twain, Toby Keith, and old pal Ray Price). How much is added to his classic "Crazy" by guests Diana Krall and Elvis Costello (then-hot celebrity couple of the moment) is an open question; what's really important is the well-deserved recognition Nelson receives from the musical world's biggest names. If you're a hardcore Willie fan, you've probably already got a couple of earlier live versions of, for example, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," but part of Live and Kickin's purpose is to expose fans of Nelson's duet partners to the magic they've been missing out on for many decades. In that, it's a success. ~John Bush

Live And Kickin'

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Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin'

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 38:53
Size: 89.0 MB
Styles: Adult contemporary, Contemporary country
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[5:17] 1. Just A Little Lovin'
[3:32] 2. Anyone Who Had A Heart
[4:10] 3. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
[3:50] 4. I Only Want To Be With You
[3:20] 5. The Look Of Love
[3:20] 6. Breakfast In Bed
[4:07] 7. Willie And Lauramae Jones
[4:35] 8. I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore
[3:06] 9. Pretend
[3:33] 10. How Can I Be Sure

Shelby Lynne has followed her own sometimes reckless, always adventuresome muse throughout her career. Just a Little Lovin' is her personal homage to the late, legendary Dusty Springfield. Nine of its ten cuts are inextricably linked to the late British vocalist whose sway Lynne came under years ago, but a chance conversation with Barry Manilow -- of all people -- led to the making of this record. Lynne doesn't attempt to sound like Springfield. She uses her own phrasing and rhythmic sensibility. Four cuts here come from the Dusty in Memphis period, as well as the title track to The Look of Love and some of her mid-'60s British hits that were not released in America. All these songs, with the exception of the self-penned "Pretend," were recorded by Springfield. The album was recorded in the Capitol Records studio with Frank Sinatra's microphone and producer Phil Ramone. Lynne's aesthetic sense serves her well: most singers automatically shoot for "Son of a Preacher Man," but Lynne steers clear. She does, however, tackle some truly monolithic Springfield hits: "Just a Little Lovin'," "Breakfast in Bed," "Willie and Laura Mae Jones," and "I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore." Lynne's readings are close, intimate. They're understated but more direct. Ramone used a small quartet in guitarist Dean Parks, keyboardist Rob Mathes, drummer Gregg Field, and bassist Kevin Axt to give her that edge. Lynne's delivery takes these songs straight to the listener's belly. The taut but easy sensuality in her voice adds a very different dimension to them.

When she gets to the in-the-pocket feel of "Breakfast in Bed," she comes at the tune's subject with an up-front sexual expression -- Springfield's trademark vulnerability is willfully absent. A Rhodes and Parks' guitar give her plenty of room to pour out the lyric. "Willie and Laura Mae Jones" has a rough, swampy earthiness; Lynne adds her guitar to its sparse, slow growl. Springfield recorded this tome about interracial love when the subject was taboo in America. She made it palatable with her innocent delivery. Lynne gets at Tony Joe White's lyric with a bluesy toughness expressing incredulity toward injustice. Randy Newman's "I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore" carries inside it the trace of both Lynne's Southern homeland and her adopted West Coast residency. She can tell this heartbreaking tale as if it were her own while uncannily recalling Springfield's empathy. Signature Springfield pieces such as "I Only Want to Be with You" are astonishing for their contrast. The bubbly, poppy original version is slowed here; it offers the impression of genuine surprise by an unsuspecting protagonist. The jazzy piano and Parks' lush guitar lines entwine perfectly. Springfield's version of "The Look of Love" has remained unchallenged for more than 40 years. Lynne doesn't even try. Instead she offers tribute. It's not as sultry as the original was, but feels honest and hungry in stripping off the lyric's mask with her voice. "How Can I Be Sure" by the Rascals -- cut as a British-only single by Springfield -- is startling: Lynne sings it accompanied only by Parks' guitar. It's a radical but fitting closer. Just a Little Lovin' is the finest tribute Springfield has ever received on tape. That such a fine singer and songwriter interpreted her in such an empathic and sophisticated manner is respect personified. Ramone's care with the project is, as usual, celebratory. The multidimensional persona Lynne usually displays on her records is still here in spades. Her diversity, confidence, and wide-ranging ability are the standard to aspire to. ~Thom Jurek

Just A Little Lovin'

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