Singer Shelby Lynne reflects on personal struggles, new album and friendships: “I’m where I need to be”

After years of personal struggles, Grammy winner Shelby Lynne thought her recording career may be over. 

But with the help of some friends, the singer-songwriter released her new album, “Consequences of the Crown,” earlier this year, which is her 17th studio album.

Lynne’s breakout album “I am Shelby Lynne” came after a difficult decision to leave Nashville 25 years ago.

Personal struggles

Lynne, now 56, was 19 when she signed a record deal in Nashville. Her first single was a duet with George Jones.

Despite that early success, Lynne’s private life was weighed down by a secret and family tragedy. Coming up in Nashville in the late 1980s, Lynne had to hide the fact that she was gay. She also kept her family history in the shadows. In 1986, she lost both her parents when her father shot and killed her mother and then turned the gun on himself.

The only constant and way to cope for Lynne was music.

“I think that’s why I would turn mean as hell … just protect, protect, protect. I didn’t know what trauma was, or PTSD. I just knew I had to sing,” Lynne said.

Frustrated with Nashville, Lynne moved to California and changed genres. It worked. In 2000, she made the album that still defines her. “I Am Shelby Lynne,” widely considered a soul-pop masterpiece, helped her win a Grammy for best new artist. 

Lynne says music “saved me a hundred times,” but she struggled with commercial success, sobriety and the legacy of her parents.

“I mean, now I’m at peace with it, because I love them and it allows me to miss them,” she said. “It took me just like a gong in the head going, you know, they did the best they could. They did.”

Return to Nashville

When Lynne left Nashville, she wasn’t planning on coming back. However, after years of living in California, she quietly returned to the South in 2018.

“To be quite honest, I didn’t know if Nashville was mad at me,” she said.

It’s in Nashville where Lynne confronted sobriety and accepted help from friends, something she has never found easy to do.

“I still got the devil in me, but people like Ashley [Monroe] and Karen [Fairchild] and Gena [Johnson] saved me. They saw me when I was here at my worst and I was really just trying to start over,” she said.

Songwriters Karen Fairchild of “Little Big Town” and Ashley Monroe started writing with Lynne upon her return.

It was Fairchild and Monroe that pushed Lynne to make new music.

“We kept kind of bugging her about it,” Fairchild said. 

“‘We want a Shelby record,'” Monroe remembered telling Lynne. “She’s like, ‘Nobody wants that.’ We do.”

That persistence paid off. 

“I was so nervous because, I mean, I’ve held her at the very top of all my lists,” Monroe said. 

Their respect was also matched by their intimidation of working with one of their idols.

“It’s like everybody has this reverence for her,” Fairchild said of Lynne. “And also like, there’s fear… because she’s a force.”

Fairchild and Monroe met with Lynne at the studio of engineer Gena Johnson to help create the album. Though hesitant about making new music, with a little help from her friends, Lynne eventually saw it all taking shape.

“It was on ‘Butterfly’ when she was like, ready to recognize that was a record coming to life,” Fairchild said.

This fall at the Americana Awards, Lynne was one of the Lifetime Achievement honorees.

She said she finally feels like she fits in Nashville.

“I’m where I need to be,” Lynne said. “It is a great feeling. And it also means I can unpack those boxes in the garage. “