Shelby LynneJust a Little Lovin’
Many cover records seem largely superfluous; Just a Little Lovin’ doesn’t. Country/soul singer Shelby Lynne’s album of Dusty Springfield covers doesn’t make you forget Dusty, and if anything, the contrast makes you appreciate Springfield’s singing even more. The reserved, exactly-so Springfield seems like a volcano of expansive passion by comparison. Lynne doesn’t sing to the cheap seats; she doesn’t even play to a club-sized room. Her performances are so intimate that they would make the most sense sung in her bedroom to one special someone—herself. On Just a Little Lovin’, she scales Springfield down by removing the strings, the horns, and the whole pop impulse to make the songs anything more than whispered hopes, dreams and heartbreak. The transformation works remarkably well. The soul in the grooves of Dusty in Memphis is manifested in Lynne’s vocals, and the elegance of Bacharach/David songs remain even after the bourgeois orchestrations are wiped away. Subscribe to offBeat and receive a FREE JazzFest CD! |
