It’s been almost ten years since her last album made it all the way to the GRAMMYS. The new release, Empty Pair of Shoes, is a collection of self-penned songs offered up on her own kitchen table label, Thrill Hill Records. 
   Although all Claire Lynch recordings have included her originals, this is the first time the collection bears her name on every song. Co-writers include Pamela Brown-Hayes, Becky Buller, Cathy Fink, Carl Jones, Dawn Kenney, & Jon Weisberger.
   A few here offer her signature “tug at the soul” (Season of Sleep, Empty Pair of Shoes) and a touch of spirituality (Suffer the Children). But Lynch also delves into frivolity and her love of swing (Blue Lights of Love, One Mistake at a Time), and even the risqué (Sugar Blues Tomorrow).
   As she says in her liners, “There are the usual guidelines for putting an album together – an overarching theme for example, or a group of genre-specific songs. But I chose to ignore the rules and offer this assortment instead.”