TAS Audiophile Demo Disc! TAS Recommended! Rated a 'Best Audiophile Label Recording' in the November 2009 issue of The Absolute Sound!
Elusive Disc Recommended! Stereophile March 2008 Recording of the Month!
Just a Little Lovin' is the first album by Shelby Lynne following her release from Capitol Records and her first with Lost Highway. Shelby covers Dusty Springfield songs on a simple, no-frills recording with her smooth, sultry voice. The album is rounded out by a solitary Lynne original, "Pretend." It was recorded straight to analog tape at Los Angeles' Capitol Studio A. Simply beautiful!
"One day back in the Spring of Â’05, I received an e-mail from Barry Manilow. We had met at a Grammy function a few years back. Turns out he digs my music. So we've kept in touch over the last couple of years. In Barry's e-mail he asked me if I had ever considered covering the Dusty Springfield songbook. I didn't respond at that time. I had just released my latest record on Capitol called Suit Yourself and was about to take off on the road for a few months. I couldn't wrap my head around anything but going on the road. But, somewhere in the back of my brain I kept the thought closely tucked away.
It wasn’t until May of ‘06 when I went to my manager Betty and asked her what she thought about the idea of recording the Dusty songs. She liked the idea, and thought I should do it. The thing is, I didn't want to just record these songs, I wanted to make the recording simple and important.
I needed the perfect producer, and hadn't figured that part out yet. I needed someone who would understand that these songs stand the test of time, and that Dusty Springfield is timeless. Phil Ramone would be that guy. The recording engineer - Al Schmitt - was chosen because this record had to sound perfect.
I had wanted to record at the Capitol building my whole career and this was the album to do it. All of the drama I had endured with Capitol Records up to this point finally came to an end. The very week we started recording this album, Capitol Records was no more. My deal with them ended, and for a while this record and I were without a label. That's where Lost Highway enters the picture. When they heard it, they loved it just the way it was. Plain and simple. Cut to tape and zero frills. So, we had a deal.
Dusty Springfield was a soulful singer. You can't ever fill her shoes. So I just set out to sing songs we all want to hear again. The road map I followed when cutting these, was the one she made years ago. It was easy. I just sang and let the songs do the work. I'm so glad I did. Dusty inspired it all." - Shelby Lynne, July 2007
"This is a measured, sweetly rendered set of songs featuring LynneÂ’s lovely, scarred vocal interpretations. Lynne and her producer, Phil Ramone, do right by the songs in stripping them down to the bare bones musical ensemble of guitar, bass, subtle keyboards and drums. The focus remains that oh-so-vivid and versatile voice." - Ken Capobianco, BCMusic
"Peeling back the sweeping orchestras and production to which we've grown so accustomed, Lynne and her empathetic rhythm section reinvent Dusty's material, underscoring the vulnerability and desperation at the core of her songs even as they enable us to hear them in a new key." - Bill Friskics-Warren, Tennessean.com
"The more you listen to Just a Little Lovin', the more it becomes clear that, while it's not a pairing that might have immediately sprung to mind...Lynne and Springfield aren't all that far apart in tone, delivery, and emotional wallop. While Dusty could ornament a musical line and accent lyrics in indelible ways that escape Lynne, the younger rebel does a creditable job of catching just enough of Dusty's mojo to show that she understands what made the originals so powerful." - Robert Baird, Stereophile Magazine, March 2008
"(Lynne) wields her flexible cords like a bullwhip and a balm, searing and soothing in the same phrase. She doesn't just take on Springfield classics like 'Breakfast in Bed' or 'The Look of Love.' Lynne goes one better, making the songs her own with clever phrasing and steamy tempos... Lovin' captures that vintage, elegant mood. Sonics are warm, wide, and rich in detail and transparency." - Neil Gader, The Absolute Sound, March 2008, Issue 180
Features:
• CD Format
 | 1. Just a Little Lovin' |
| | 2. Anyone Who Had a Heart |
| | 3. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me |
| | 4. I Only Want To Be With You |
| | 5. The Look of Love |
| | 6. Breakfast in Bed |
| | 7. Willie and Laura Mae Jones |
| | 8. I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore |
| | 9. Pretend |
| | 10. How Can I Be Sure |
