Patty Loveless Fans Encourage a 'Mountain Soul' Revival
by Vernell Hackett
Patty Loveless possesses one of the purest voices in country music. Never was that more evident than eight years ago when she released 'Mountain Soul,' a rootsy album of classic country and Appalachian folk tunes. Now the Kentucky native carries on that tradition with a new project, 'Mountain Soul II.'

"When we were approached by the label [Saguaro Road] to do another record, I wasn't ready to, to tell you the truth," Patty tells The Boot. "It just seemed a little soon to me, because we had just released 'Sleepless Nights' in September of '08. But on our tour, a lot of people asked me if I was ever going to do another record along the lines of 'Mountain Soul.' I had been telling them that I would consider it, so after thinking about it we offered the label this idea, and they gave it their blessing."

Emory Gordy Jr., Patty's husband and musical collaborator of 20 years -- and a member of Elvis Presley's band in the early 1970s, once again produced the project, helping her achieve the goal of not crafting just another 'Mountain Soul,' but of exploring a wider range of material, all the while deepening the roots of the original project. "I didn't want people to think I was trying to duplicate that album, because you can't ever do that," Patty insists. "At first I didn't want to call it 'Mountain Soul II,' because I was afraid fans would think that's what I was doing. The songs on this album have more lyric content, and music which I consider more contemporary. They are a mixture of Appalachian, bluegrass, gospel, spiritual and acoustic, but there's also a little bit of electric guitar and steel. There are no drums, just like the first one."

In addition to traditional gospel tunes such as 'Working on a Building' and a stirring a capella rendition of '(We Are All) Children of Abraham,' which sounds traditional, but is actually a new song, Patty reaches back to uncover the never-before-recorded original lyrics of the late, great songwriter Harlan Howard's classic, 'Busted.' Joining her on the classic song are bluegrass legend Del McCoury and his sons, Ronnie and Rob.

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If you missed Patty on Prairie Home Companion this weekend, you still have a chance to listen in. Archives for the show go up on Mondays- click here to listen in tomorrow. Patty does a total of four songs on the program, two in the last half hour of the first portion of the show, and two in the first half hour of the second portion of the show.

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We've got some reviews and photos from Patty's current tour coming in.

Thanks to Dave, we have some photos of Patty, Emory & the band at their show back in August in Saint Agreve, France.



And then, Richard has sent us another excellent review of her show in Charlottesville, VA on September 20th. You can read it right here. Terry sent in the few photos he was able to get before security got onto him for his camera at the Charlottesville show, which are now in the gallery.

We have PLNer's going to all of the dates that she currently has scheduled, so we anticipate a lot of reviews coming in!

Lastly, our very own PLN'er, Steve up in Boston did an excellent review of Mountain Soul II, which Country Universe used on their site. Be sure to head over and read his review!

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Patty Loveless Finds Her Inner Rhythm on Mountain Soul II
New Album Features Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Del McCoury
October 1, 2009
Written by Craig Shelburne

In a mere four days in a Nashville studio, Patty Loveless and her producer, husband Emory Gordy Jr., completed the bulk of her new acoustic album, Mountain Soul II. "It felt like everybody who came in was just dropping into my house and we were all performing together and singing together," she says.

Who wouldn't keep an open-door policy when your friends include Vince Gill, Del McCoury and a host of Nashville's A-list session musicians? And for the final track, Emmylou Harris lent her distinctive harmonies to one of her own early compositions, "Diamond in My Crown." Yet Loveless believes there's an additional reason the album feels so loose and live.

"There were some things on here that vocally I wanted to tweak a little bit, but I didn't have the opportunity," she says. "And maybe it was meant for me not to touch it any more, for the fact that a week later, I developed laryngitis for two weeks. Could not speak, could not talk, could not do anything. So what you hear is what you get."

With her expressive alto and a reverence for traditional country music, Loveless landed 20 Top 10 hits throughout the 1980s and 1990s, such as "Timber, I'm Falling in Love," "Chains," "Blame It on Your Heart," "You Can Feel Bad" and "Lonely Too Long." Eight years following the original Mountain Soul album, the Kentucky native talks about finding inner rhythm, learning from Ralph Stanley and the childhood concert that changed her life.

CMT: There are no drums on this record, so how did you keep everybody synched up in the studio?

Loveless: I continued as with Mountain Soul -- acoustic. There are no drums on that one. The thing of it is that everybody had to find their inner tempo. I found that there were a couple of the musicians that noticed it was pretty odd not playing with a drummer. Of course, that would have been the electric guitar player because there are a couple of electric instruments on a couple of songs. But the fact is, it was strange that you had to count on that inner tempo -- that inner self -- and we all followed each other. It actually was not that different.

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Bristol VA/TN -- Country music artist Patty Loveless was recently honored during a reception before her performance at the 9th annual Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion. She was presented with a proclamation naming Saturday September 19, 2009 as "Patty Loveless Day" in Bristol from the Mayor of the Cities of Bristol Virginia and Tennessee. Phyllis Qualls-Brooks, Assistant Commissioner of Tourist Development, also presented a proclamation honoring Ms. Loveless' many achievements on behalf of Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen.

Patty Loveless has recorded over fourteen albums, including four which were certified platinum and two certified gold, and had over forty singles on the Billboard Country charts, including five Number Ones. She is the 65th member of the Grand Ole Opry and a member of the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance's Artistic Council.

The reception to honor Ms. Loveless was sponsored by the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance, Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, and The United Company.

The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to telling the story of the living musical heritage of the Appalachian mountains and the cultural traditions that sustain it. The BCMA is funded in part by grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, and National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, call (276) 645-0111 or visit online at www.BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org.

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