Shelby Lynne is sitting on the couch next to her collaborator and friend Karen Fairchild, who’s supposed to be promoting a greatest hits project from her own popular country vocal group, Little Big Town. And yet, here Fairchild is talking up the new music Lynne’s made, specifically Lynne's fluent transitions between poetically bluesy spoken passages and handsome, stirring hooks. “She'll just start singing some beautiful melody,” Fairchild marvels.
Lynne responds with appreciation for what Fairchild’s mere presence does for her own creativity. “She just walks in and everything feels better,” she says. “The other day, she texted me and said, ‘Are you OK?’” Lynne says of Fairchild’s protectiveness.
“And I said, ‘Hell no. I'm not OK. But I'll be there Thursday [for this interview].
’” It’s practically unheard of for an artist to be managed by another currently in-demand star the way Lynne is by Fairchild. “She didn’t have anybody,” Fairchild explains, “and I get very passionate about people that need opportunity and need to get back out there and share their talent.” Lynne has her own theory of why the arrangement’s working.
“[Who] better to understand what it’s like than another artist?” An extra measure of empathy is necessary, Lynne recognizes, because she’s not the easiest client to manage. “ I haven't ever thought of myself as anybody but an old, grouchy Alabama woman that sings pretty good,” she says with a hint of mi.