''Suit Yourself'' is the ninth studio album by

Shelby Lynne Shelby Lynne (born Shelby Lynn Moorer, October 22, 1968) is an American singer and songwriter and the older sister of singer-songwriter Allison Moorer. The success of her pop rock album '' I Am Shelby Lynne'' (1999) led to her winning the Grammy A ...

, released on May 24, 2005. The album is the second consecutive self-produced album for Lynne, and one of two recorded for release by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. (The album's follow-up, '' Just a Little Lovin''', was also recorded at Capitol, but would be distributed elsewhere due to the label's corporate restructuring.) The album received mainly positive reviews from critics with an average Metacritic rating of 76/100. Lynne wrote music and lyrics for ten of the album's songs, including "Johnny Met June", a tribute to the relationship of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

and

June Carter Cash Valerie June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was an American country singer and songwriter. A five-time Grammy Award–winner, she was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. Prior to her marria ...

which was written on the day of Johnny Cash's death. Though the album does not explicitly state the title of its final track, "Track 12" is a cover of "

Rainy Night in Georgia "Rainy Night in Georgia" is a song written by Tony Joe White in 1967 and popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970. It was originally released by White on his 1969 album, '' Continued'', on Monument Records, shortly before Benton's hit ...

" written by

Tony Joe White Tony Joe White (July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018), nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit " Polk Salad Annie" and for "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but which was first ...

, who also composed the album's fifth song, "Old Times Sake." In 2016, "Johnny Met June" was featured in a PSA for Sandy Hook Promise. As a result, the song entered #20 in Billboard's Country Streaming Songs.

Critical reception

Thom Jurek of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

concludes a lengthy review with, "''Suit Yourself'' is aptly named, Lynne dressed herself this time out with great players and finely wrought songs, and put it all together on her own. This is her finest moment yet." Jason Schneider of ''Exclaim'' reviews this album and says, "This has always been how Lynne's sultry voice sounds best, and the intimacy she captures throughout the album is heart-melting at times." T.J. Simon of ''The Music Box'' gives the album 3½ out of a possible 5 stars and concludes with, "Another impressive element of Suit Yourself is that Lynne produced the effort herself, and the mix is perfect. On future releases, Lynne would be wise to distance herself further from standard country fare and instead emphasize her soulful side, but in the meantime, there’s a lot to enjoy on Suit Yourself.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

–

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, lead vocals, background vocals * Brian Harrison –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Bryan Owings –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Benmont Tench Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Early years Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin M ...

– keyboards * Robby Turner –

dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

* Michael Ward – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

– electric guitar,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

Production

*Shelby Lynne – Producer *Elizabeth Jordan – Executive Producer *Ron McMaster – Mastering *Jim Marshall – Photography *Brian Harrison – Mixer, Engineer *Andy Borham – Mixer *Eric Roinestad – Art Direction, Design *Ron Laffitte – A&R *Mary Fagot – Creative Director Track information and credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums Shelby Lynne albums Capitol Records albums