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Patty Loveless has always had a little edge over most country singers. Whether she's covering a honky-tonk classic, rock 'n' roll or bluegrass or gospel number, she sounds totally believable.

"It was a natural for me," says Loveless from her home in rural Georgia, which she shares with her husband and producer Emory Gordy Jr. "I was brought up on this form of music. I used to listen to it around the house with my family. Mom and Daddy were more drawn to bluegrass, folk music, the Carter Family, the Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Molly O'Day and Kitty Wells. My older brothers and sisters were listening to '50s and '60s rock 'n' roll - and the popular music of the '60s as well, and I absorbed it all."

Loveless was born Patty Lee Ramey in Pikeville, Ky. in 1957. Her father was a coal miner (he died of black lung in 1979). Loveless' siblings Roger and Dottie were an aspiring music act and when Dottie quit performing, Patty stepped into her role. After graduating from high school in the mid-1970s Loveless moved to Nashville and became part of a touring show with country performers the Wilburn Brothers. Loveless eventually married the Wilburn's drummer, Terry Lovelace, and Patty adapted Lovelace's last name into a new stage name.

In 1985, Loveless signed with MCA Records, but it wasn't until her second album, "If My Heart Had Windows" (1987), that she began a string of country hits that lasted into the present decade.

In 2001, Loveless recorded "Mountain Soul," which featured Loveless and acclaimed acoustic artists performing in a bluegrass and old-time country style. While it spawned no hits, it was acclaimed by critics and beloved by fans.

She says her new album, "Mountain Soul II," was recorded because fans kept asking for another album like the first "Mountain Soul."

The first "Mountain Soul" record had included old-time country greats Gene Wooten and Tater Tate. Both died before Loveless decided to record the second "Soul."

"Every time I hear that record and hear them playing I just think, 'They live on through their music,'" says Loveless.

But she says the group on this record "was not a shabby group of musicians."

The disc's contributors include: Vince Gill, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Del McCoury and sons Ronnie and Rob McCoury, fiddler Jason Carter and Loveless' own longtime fiddler Dean Richardson.

"It was kind of like coming to my house and having a barbecue and everyone getting together to pick," says Loveless of the sessions. "I think that's the spirit we were able to capture in the studio. We did it in a way that it would be as live as possible and 90 percent of what you hear is live."

Loveless says the hardest thing she has to deal with now is fitting in all the songs that audiences want to hear in a two-hour concert.

"Some people are calling out songs and if I have time, I'll do some of them. It's not a request-type thing, but we do try to have a kind of living room feel."

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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