Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless (born Patricia Lee Ramey, January 4, 1957)[1][2] is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first few releases were unsuccessful, she broke through by decade's end with a cover of George Jones's "If My Heart Had Windows". Loveless issued five albums on MCA before moving to Epic Records in 1993, where she released nine more albums. Four of her albums—Honky Tonk Angel, Only What I Feel, When Fallen Angels Fly, and The Trouble with the Truth—are certified platinum in the United States. Loveless has charted 44 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including five which reached number one: "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", "Chains", "Blame It on Your Heart", "You Can Feel Bad", and "Lonely Too Long".
Patty Loveless
Loveless's music is defined by a mix of sounds, including neotraditional country, country pop, and bluegrass music, with her singing voice garnering favorable comparisons to Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris. Recurring songwriters whose work she has recorded include Matraca Berg, Kostas, Jim Lauderdale, and Steve Earle. She has collaborated with Vince Gill, George Jones, and Dwight Yoakam, among others. Nearly all of her albums were produced by her husband, Emory Gordy Jr. Although she largely retired from performing in 2009, Loveless has sporadically contributed to other artists' works in subsequent years. She has won five awards from the Country Music Association, two from the Academy of Country Music, and two Grammy Awards.
Loveless was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 22, 2023.
Career[edit]
1985–1990: early years[edit]
Loveless began recording music for MCA with production assistance from both Brown and Emory Gordy Jr., a producer whom Roger had befriended.[1] Prior to working with Loveless, Gordy was a member of Emmylou Harris's backing band, the Hot Band.[9] MCA Nashville released Loveless's debut single in late 1985 titled "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights".[2] This was followed by "Wicked Ways", "I Did", and "After All".[2] All four singles peaked outside the top 40 on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.[2] Because of their failures, MCA executives initially did not want to release an album. However, Loveless noted that "I Did" was highly popular among fans and concertgoers despite its low chart showing and successfully convinced label executives to allow the release of a full album.[10]
That album, the self-titled Patty Loveless, was released in 1986.[1] Gordy and Brown produced the project and were among the contributing musicians, as were guitarists Reggie Young and Richard Bennett.[8] Contributing songwriters included Guy Clark, Jo-El Sonnier, and Karen Staley.[11] Loveless had written "I Did" at age 17 after undergoing a breakup,[12] and it is the only single in her career that she wrote.[2] She had originally recorded "After All" as a demo for songwriters Jimbeau Hinson and Harry Stinson, who had intended for the song to be recorded by Reba McEntire. When McEntire chose not to record the song, the two songwriters allowed Loveless to keep it.[8] Loveless supported her debut album by touring with George Jones, which led to the two singing "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" together in concerts.[13] An uncredited review in Cashbox of "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" called it "a boot-tapper that shows off her strong voice and rhythmic phrasing."[14] The same magazine published a favorable review of "I Did", which stated that the song "really does seem to come from the heart" and had a "classic sound".[12] During the same period, she also divorced first husband, Terry Lovelace.[15]
Musical style[edit]
The editors of Country Music: The Encyclopedia describe Loveless as having a "straight-from-the-heart, strong yet vulnerable vocal style", which they compared favorably to Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells. The same entry noted that Loveless had commercial success with both upbeat songs and ballads, and stated that she "may not be one of the more flashy personalities around; nevertheless, the songs she chooses to sing and the way she chooses to sing them are some of the best of what modern 'traditional' country music is all about."[19] Steve Huey of Allmusic wrote that she "rose to stardom thanks to her blend of honky-tonk and country rock, not to mention a plaintive, emotional ballad style...but most critics agreed that she truly came into her own as an artist when she moved to Epic in the early '90s."[1] According to The Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music, she attributed her vocal tone to her upbringing in areas of Kentucky known for bluegrass music.[7]
In a review of Up Against My Heart, Alanna Nash described Loveless as having a "wild-and-wounded voice". She also wrote that "[l]ike neo-traditionalist Emmylou Harris, she isn't afraid of a sassy country rock beat or progressive lyrics that paint her as a woman who knows what she wants from love".[30] Nash also noted that Loveless had yet to win any industry awards at the time of the album's release, stating that "her lack of both flamboyance and any desire to play Nashville politics" may have been a factor.[30] Carole L. Phillips of The Cincinnati Post stated that Loveless "fus[es] the driving emotional intensity of rock with a throaty tenor".[50] Geoffrey Himes of The Washington Post noted a recurring theme of "loss" and "heartache" in the lyrics of Loveless's songs.[57] An uncredited article in The Courier-News of Bridgewater, New Jersey, stated that Loveless was "[b]lessed with a natural honky-tonk moan and heart-on-sleeve vocal honesty". The same article also described "The Lonely Side of Love", "Hurt Me Bad (In a Real Good Way)", and "Can't Stop Myself from Loving You" as more traditional in style than "rock-oriented" material like "Jealous Bone" or "Chains".[89]
Nash described Gordy's production style as "lean but muscular".[30] Loveless told CMA Close Up in 1996 that production sessions usually began with Gordy recording just her vocals and an acoustic guitar track to determine her vocal tone for each track before adding in other instruments.[19] Remz stated in a review of Long Stretch of Lonesome that Gordy "knows just what to do with his wife's voice—let it rip, but he doesn't overmilk it either."[49] Loveless told The Los Angeles Times in 1995 that she looks for songs with "realism" in the lyrics.[90] She also stated that she did not like recording songs about relationships if they cast men in a negative light; she said she initially rejected "You Don't Even Know Who I Am" for this reason until she realized the song's second verse showed the failing relationship from the male's perspective, as well.[90] As Loveless almost never wrote songs, she often enlisted Gordy's help in song selection and arrangement.[57]
Legacy[edit]
Because of her prolificacy in the 1990s, Loveless has been cited by several publications as having an influence on the subsequent generations of country music. In 2017, Taste of Country ranked her the 29th "most powerful woman" in country music, noting the critical success of the Mountain Soul albums. In the same article, Lauren Lucas stated that The Trouble with the Truth was a "huge influence" on her.[91] Carly Pearce has also cited Loveless as a career influence. The two collaborated on the song "Dear Miss Loretta" from Pearce's 2021 album 29: Written in Stone.[92][93]
Sara Evans, when discussing her plans to record a follow-up to her 2020 album Copy That, stated that she wanted said follow-up to have a more traditional country sound. In doing so, she also cited Loveless as one of her favorite artists, and said she wanted her upcoming album to sound like Loveless.[94] Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe had previously compared Evans's voice to that of Loveless in a review of Evans's 1998 single "No Place That Far".[95]
In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Loveless at number 177 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[96] In April 2023, the Country Music Association announced that Loveless, fellow singer Tanya Tucker, and songwriter Bob McDill were the three people chosen for induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame for the calendar year 2023. She was formally inducted by her friend Vince Gill at a medallion ceremony on November 22, 2023.[97]