Posted on 19 Sep 2009
Sequels are common in the world of movies. More often than not, they’re not worth the wait. That makes the new album from Patty Loveless, Mountain Soul 2, all the more special due to the fact that it lives up to its predecessor, 2001’s Mountain Soul.
The singer admits that while she took a musical risk by releasing the bluegrass album for Epic eight years ago, it was well worth it. “It actually gained another audience for me,” she says proudly, “along with fans I already had.” The success of the disc led to Loveless being invited to be a part of the Down From The Mountain tour, which she has fond memories of to this day. “It gave me the opportunity to go on tour with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, and Alison Krauss—-everybody you could think of was on that tour,” she recalls. The disc was not that much of a musical stretch for the Pikeville, KY native. “Over the years, I had been performing this kind of music in my show. We did about four or five things in an intimate setting on stage. It got to where a lot of the fans wanted to know where they could buy recordings of what we were doing. It was kind of their demand that led us to do the first one, and once again, their demands and requests that led us to record Mountain Soul 2.”
While both albums share the same title, Loveless admits there are some differences. “I felt like I couldn’t duplicate the first album,” she told LimeWire Music Blog. “The reason we ended up calling it Mountain Soul 2 is that we wanted those who were already fans of the first one to have an idea what the music content was going to be in this record. I believe there’s some music on this record that sits itself apart from the first one.” Citing tracks such as “Prisoner’s Tears,” she also singles out “Bramble And The Rose” as being something a little different for her. “That’s the first folk-type thing I’ve ever done. The other thing that is different is two songs I do acappella—“Friends “In Gloryland,” and “We Are All Children Of Abraham,” which Emory (Gordy Jr., Loveless’s longtime producer, as well as husband) and I wrote. It sort of lends itself to the old call and repeat type of worship that went on in the Primitive Baptist Churches, where the preacher would line up the lyrics to a song, and the congregation would join in and sing, which Ralph Stanley continues to do a lot of that to this day, like his version of “Amazing Grace.”
Another musical highlight of the album is her take on Harlan Howard’s “Busted.” A country hit for Johnny Cash and John Conlee in 1963 and 1982, respectively, as well as a classic recording from Ray Charles, fans of the song might hear a little something different on Patty’s version. “The subject and lyrics are quite different,” she said. “It’s about coal mines rather than cotton.” She didn’t have to rewrite a classic, however, as the original lyrics were about coal mining. “My husband, Emory, got together with Harlan and they were writing together, and started talking about songs, and Emory brought up ‘Busted,’ and said “What a twist this would have been had it been about coal mines, and Harlan presented to him the original lyrics.” It turns out that the “Man In Black” had a little something to do with the change. “The reason Harlan changed it was that he had pitched it to Johnny Cash…and Johnny called Harlan, and said this is a great song, but I know nothing about coal mining. Harlan asked him ‘Well, what do you know about?” and he said “cotton,” and that’s where the lyrics were changed to cotton.” It’s a definite high point on the album.
While being a bluegrass album makes it more acoustic than some of Loveless’s previous efforts, there are a few similarities to her prior work on Mountain Soul 2. One Loveless theme is her love of George Jones music, as she covers two Jones cuts from years’ past—“When The Last Curtain Falls,” and “Half Over You.” That being said, George Jones wasn’t the first to record either of them—that distinction belongs to Loveless herself. “With ‘When The Last Curtain Falls,’ I had done the original demo for that to pitch to George. My husband and Jim Rushing wrote the song together, so Emory was trying to get a cut on George. ‘Half Over You’ was another one that I had actually recorded in the past. It’s such a great classic song. I had recorded it for my very first MCA album, and George ended up recording the song, as well—which it was intended for George Jones—Karen Staley was hoping he’s get the opportunity to hear it, but I recorded it first.” That’s not a coincidence. The two are huge fans of each other, winning several awards for their classic 1997 collaboration “You Don’t Seem To Miss Me.” In fact, Loveless’s first top-ten hit was a cover of “If My Heart Had Windows,” and on her last effort, the Grammy-nominated Sleepless Nights, she covered several songs with ties to the “Possum.” Of her love of the legend, she says that “We keep following each other in this family circle…I consider George Jones almost a part of my family, because I grew up listening to him along with my older siblings, and my parents. He was a big name in the household.”
Another artist that Loveless covers on the new project…..is herself. Five tracks on the album have appeared on previous Loveless releases, as she re-cut four tracks for the album, and added “Big Chance,” from her final Sony album Dreamin’ My Dreams, released in 2005. When asked if she had any difficulty re-recording some of the cuts in a new style, she admitted that “The only song that I found that was real difficult for me was in trying to hear it with a little more grassier sound for me was ‘Blue Memories,’ a song that was a single for me off of On Down The Line back in 1990. I was a little reluctant to go in and record that one in that manner. Emory was trying to convince me, but once I got in the studio and started working with Vince Gill and Rebecca Lynn Howard, that convinced me even more that the song could be done in a more bluegrass manner. ‘Feelings Of Love’ was from On Down The Line, as well. I had performed it on a John Denver Christmas special back in 1991, and I did it in an acoustic manner, with John playing guitar.” Her husband was watching Loveless performances on YouTube one night, when he saw the clip for the first time. “He just fell in love with the song, and though it would be a wonderful song to re-record again, and do it in that acoustic manner.”
Appearing on Mountain Soul 2 is a virtual who’s who of country and bluegrass, such as Del McCoury, Al Perkins, and Jon Randall, as well as the aforementioned Gill and Howard, frequent Loveless collaborators. Of the two, she has nothing but praise. “Well, with Vince, I’ve been singing with him for a long time, as it’s like brother and sister, and Rebecca Lynn, she’s from my neck of the woods in Salyersville. Who knows, she and I could be related very easily. I love her to death! I think she’s one of the most awesome voices. What a talent! I’m very, very proud of her. It just seems our voices are so natural together.” And the circle continues to grow. “There’s another girl is singing on the record, Sydney Perry, who’s gonna be out on the fall tour with me, and she’s only 16 years old, and has a true natural voice for country or Bluegrass. She’s just like Rebecca.”
Surrounding herself with talent like that might seem a little intimidating, but Loveless thinks it drives her. “It’s always been that way for me. I try to be prepared when I go into the studio, and know the song. I hate the whole idea of having to look at a lyric. I do glance at them, but as far as performing goes, I like to close my eyes, and try to know my stuff when I come in. I’ve had musicians over the years that have played on my past records that I want to impress—to be able to hang with the best. That makes me want to sing that much better, but at the same time, it frees me up. I’m like ‘Yes, they know their stuff, and they allow me to do what I need to do.”
At this stage in her career, what Loveless can focus entirely on what she needs to do to feed her creative fix. She credits her new label partnership with Saguaro Road Records for this, saying that “Well, I feel that after all these years of being in music. I look at the more youthful and more contemporary country artists that are coming on. I look back on it, and realize I’ve had some wonderful years in the music business, but now I’m able to have some freedom to be a little more artistic, and not have to worry about a single. I had always wanted to be artistic about the making of my records, but you have to stop and think and give as far as what people are listening to and listening for. I feel like I’ve got a really wonderful fan base that allows me to do music that I want to record.”
That’s not to say that Loveless minds being in the mainstream. She is a frequent harmony singer on albums by artists such as Jones and Alan Jackson, and her duets with George Strait (“House Of Cash”) and Jimmy Wayne (“No Good For Me”) have been highlights on their recent albums. “I still dabble. It just depends…I love Jimmy’s voice, and think he’s wonderful, and Vince can call me up anytime. I sang with Bob Seger on his last record. I’m open to it, and I enjoy doing that. That’s what I think is so great about someone like Emmylou Harris—the way she opens her doors to many different genres of music.
As Mountain Soul 2 is set to make an impact with Loveless fans both new and longtime, she’s grateful for the fans she has, and she hopes she has been an influence on some of them to tip their hat to the classics every now and then. “These young people today just amaze me. I’m just so proud to know I have such a youthful following. It’s great to know that they will continue on. I encourage a lot of young people to try to experience a lot of this music from the past. Hopefully, with Mountain Soul 2, it will continue to inspire them to revisit some of this music.”
-By Chuck Daupin
