RIFFS: Loveless goes Appalachian on new album

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By Andrew Leahey

During the first 10 years of her career, Patty Loveless was arguably the most popular woman in country music. Her albums found a balance between contemporary flair and traditional trappings, a mix that earned her comparisons to Patsy Cline and sent five of her songs to the top of the country charts. At the height of her popularity, she even turned a potentially career-ending procedure — corrective throat surgery — into liquid gold, recovering from the process with improved vocals and stronger album sales.

In recent years, however, Nashville has shifted its attention to younger, pop-influenced stars. Neo-traditionalists like Miss Loveless seldom top the charts nowadays, but the Kentucky native still maintains a healthy touring schedule and substantial audience. She also continues looking to the past for inspiration.

"I've been in contemporary country music for so many years," she says from her new home in Georgia, "but I have great appreciation for bluegrass, Appalachian and mountain-type music. I'm from that area of Kentucky where a lot of the music came from."

Inspired by the likes of Molly O'Day, the Stanley Brothers, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Miss Loveless chose to pay tribute to her Kentucky beginnings with "Mountain Soul." The album was released in 2001, several months after the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" helped resurrect the popularity of Depression-era country music. "Mountain Soul" took its songs from a similar era, sticking largely to bluegrass and roots music.

Such earthy, vintage music struck a chord with Miss Loveless' fans, many of whom requested that she issue a similar album in the near future. Eight years later, she happily acquiesced by recording "Mountain Soul II" in four inspired days.

"A lot of the guests I had on the album — Vince Gill, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Carl Jackson — were playing instruments as well as singing," she says. "The record was done the way people used to do it."

With its a cappella spirituals and old-timey folk songs, "Mountain Soul II" evokes a bygone era. Flashes of guitar, Dobro, mandolin and banjo give the album a homespun, down-to-earth ambience, while the production technique of Emory Gordon Jr. — Miss Loveless' longtime producer and husband of 20 years — is simple and appropriately unpolished.

To support the album, Miss Loveless has scheduled a short tour of her favorite East Coast venues. This time, however, she has made some changes to suit the new material.

"My band has played the Birchmere many times, but this is the first time we've gone out without a drummer," she says, noting the tour's emphasis on acoustic instruments. "Things are a little more intimate. We'll still be doing older songs that had electric instruments in the original version, but we've had to rework the songs to figure out which other instruments work best."

While the Birchmere may be a long drive from Miss Loveless' Georgia home, she says "Mountain Soul II" will bring a piece of Kentucky into every venue.