Shelby Lynne: I Am Shelby Lynne (Mercury)

The declamatory nature of the album title is apt. Shelby Lynne is playing this for real. In the process, the 30-year-old Virginian with a tragic past has produced one of the albums of the year. This is naked emotion, forged in a cauldron of Memphis soul, Western swing, Spectorish pop, raggedy ass rock and a range of other genres, everything directed by a sure hand and a vivid imagination. Lynne has passed my way before; her 1993 album, Temptation, was a left-field country gem. Her musical ambitions have widened since then. This collection has shades of Ann Peebles, with touches of Rickie Lee Jones, a Beefhartian sense of rhythmic and mood exploration and an understanding of sweet melody that is as seductive as it is divine. With the exception of the pop lightweight, Gotta Get Back, this is music to savour.

Joe Breen