Shelby Means

Kentucky-born, Wyoming-raised Shelby Means has been around the music biz for a while. She’s a former member of the acclaimed band Della Mae and more recently has served as the bass player with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway.

Thus, it’s no surprise that her debut album is such an accomplished and assured outing. Means has a supple, expressive voice that lends itself to a wide stylistic range on these songs, all but two of which she wrote or cowrote.  As far as the two covers go, she’s equally at home with the George Jones oldie “The Old Old House” as she is with Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons.”

She also shines on the sassy “Wild Tiger Style,” the regretful “Suitcase Blues,” the wistful “High Plains Wyoming,” the Celtic-flavored “Fisherman’s Daughter” and the nostalgic “5-String Wake Up Call.”

The arrangements throughout are meticulous and feature a stellar cast of characters from one cut to the next. These include Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, Sam Bush, Michael Cleveland, Ronnie McCoury, Billy Strings and Tim O’Brien.