Kentucky Girl

With four platinum albums under her belt, Patty Loveless is continuing to prove her music is still as priceless as precious metal to the country music world.

Since her early childhood in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, Loveless has been tied to the country music scene. She recalls listening and singing along with artists at the Grand Ole Opry as her mother mopped the floors.

In the late ‘80s and throughout the ‘90s, the songstress dominated the country charts with hits such as “Don’t Toss Us Away,” “Timber, I’m Falling In Love,” “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye,” and “I Try To Think About Elvis.”

Loveless’ newest album, Mountain Soul II, is a self-proclaimed continuation, not duplicate of Mountain Soul, which was a creation closely tied to her upbringing in Kentucky.

Both CDs reach out to the listeners that prefer the music of her roots with a more Appalachian, bluegrass sound, rather than that of mainstream country.

“I was blessed to be able to expose my music to people who normally don’t listen to country music,” Loveless says. “They loved the more organic, roots-y thing, but they don’t listen to mainstream country. I met quite a few people who told me that. They kept wanting me to try and recapture that sound. They’d say, ‘When are you going to do another record like this? We love this album.’ I guess they kind of talked me into it.”

Connections to her real life as a coal miner’s daughter can be heard in the album’s introductory track, “Busted,” using lyrics from Harlan Howard’s 1962 original.

“My father loved the mountain bluegrass sound of the Stanley Brothers, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, and Bill Monroe,” Loveless, 52, explains. “He took me to see Lester, Earl & the Foggy Mountain Boys perform on top of a concession stand during an intermission at a local drive-in theater. I was only six years old, and I can still remember that moment to this day.”

Mountain Soul II’s new, distinct sound comes with a unique ensemble of artistic talents.

Fiddlers Stuart Duncan and Deanie Richardson, Dobro player Rob Ickes, as well as the vocal discovery of 16-year-old Sydni Perry are just a few backing Loveless up on this signature sound.

Although the sound may be a detour, the song genres are not. The album’s seventh track, “Friends In Gloryland,” is an example of one of the traditional gospel songs the album features. A more folksy sound can be heard in Barbara Keith’s “Bramble And The Rose.” Loveless performs a moving harmony with Emmylou Harris in the artist’s original song, “Diamond In My Crown.”