"Honey," it said, "that'ssome real deep stuff." These days, Lynne lives in Palm Springs, where the arid climate contrasts sharply with the wet, muggy summers in Frankville. "An LA string-sound would have beenwrong." If "Where I'm From" recalls Lynne's childhood fondly, the album's Billie Holiday-influenced coda "Black Lite Blue" is a sublimemeditation which it's difficult not to associate with the loss of her parents. These were the work of the Argentineveteran George Del Barrio, now in his late sixties. With its references to logmen cutting timber and the Tom Bigbee river whichseparated her parents when they were growing up, "Where I'm From" finds Lynne transporting herself back to rural Alabama.

"That'swhy I insisted that George worked with Southern string-players from Memphis", she explains. Discerningly produced by Betty's husband Bill Bottrel, it's a classic-sounding record which drawsinspiration from such disparate talents as Dusty Springfield, Billie Holiday and Hank Williams. What's immediately pleasing is thehonesty of the album, and the way that it side-steps corporate gloss. Fittingly, Mojo magazine described it as "a must-have for anyonewho thinks that they can't make soul like they used to". In Lynne's view, much of the album's magic emanates from its inspired string arrangements. Her ex-marine father shot her mother, then turned the gun on himself.Understandably, she's still rather guarded about the tragedy, and when her manager Betty sits in on our interview, I wonder if it's todeflect intrusive questions. "What I will say is this," Lynne says, cueing-up a quote I've read elsewhere. "Whatever happened to meback then made me the woman I am today." As often with bereavement, the death of Shelby's parents kick-started a highly significant chain of events.

At 18 she married herchildhood sweetheart, Kenneth, but they were divorced after 18 months. Next, she moved to Nashville, pursuing a childhood dream tomake records. "It wasn't a culture shock, because I'd always been ready," she says. "I went there on my feet." Through a combination of determination and self-belief, she made contacts quickly while demo-ing tunes for local "songwriterdudes". Bizarrely, she found herself on Nashville Now, country music's equivalent of Top Of The Pops, within a few months. Thisexposure led to work with such luminaries as George Jones and Tammy Wynette, and soon she was duetting with Jones on a singleproduced by country legend Billy Sherill. "It was called 'If I Could Bottle This Up', and said, if I could bottle your love up, I'd make amillion dollars," she smiles.