One of the world’s greatest country singers is revisiting the sounds of her Kentucky girlhood.

Patty Loveless has been on a journey that takes her back to a simpler place and time, the days when she was beginning to explore the sounds that would later bring her awards, millions in sales and wide critical acclaim. That journey has resulted in Sleepless Nights: The Traditional Country Soul of Patty Loveless, a roots-music collection of striking power and finesse.

Picture a little girl in Pikeville, KY, sitting on the floor with her guitar in hand. Around her are strewn vinyl record albums that she is playing repeatedly, intently memorizing their lyrics and melodies.

“This is how it used to be in my bedroom when I was a little girl,” Patty recalls. “I used to go in there and lay out the records and just listen to them over and over, until I learned the song, like everybody does.

“That’s what the whole concept for this album was, to take me back to that period in my life. Another reason I wanted to do a record such as this is that there are so many young people coming along today in country music. I don’t want them to forget where it all came from. I want to give these young people a good image of country’s past.”

And so the gifted stylist applies her one-of-a-kind Appalachian alto to classic honky-tonk George Jones chestnuts such as “He Thinks I Still Care” and “Color of the Blues.” On Sleepless Nights, you’ll find classic country waltzes like the cautionary female tale “I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know” and the yield-not-to-temptation “cheating” song “Don’t Let Me Cross Over.”

Patty revels in the harmony-drenched “Sleepless Nights” and “The Pain of Loving You.” But her stark, solo performances of the drinking standard “There Stands the Glass” and the Hank Williams heartache immortal “Cold, Cold Heart” are ringing reminders of her spine-tingling power as an interpreter. “That’s All it Took” is a classic country shuffle, while “Why Baby Why” finds her confidently belting in a proto-rockabilly style.

Patty’s entire repertoire has been characterized by fierce emotional honesty. On this collection, this quality is perhaps best illustrated in her gripping readings of “The Next in Line” and “There Goes My Everything.” From “Crazy Arms” to “Please Help Me I’m Falling,” these are all songs that gleam with pure-country authenticity. And who better to sing them than Patty Loveless?

“Well, it does feel natural,” she admits. “We had a really good time. I hadn’t been in the studio in a while. I think 2004 was the last time, when we were recording [2005’s] Dreamin’ My Dreams album. It was all very relaxed. There was no pressure.”

“We” includes Emory Gordy Jr. As has been the case with almost all of Patty’s records, he is her full partner. Her record producer since 1985 and her husband since 1989, Emory has been by Patty’s side throughout her career. He plays bass, guitar, accordion, mandolin, piano, percussion and organ. Emory has been a member of Elvis Presley’s TCB band. He has also toured with Emmylou Harris, Neil Diamond and Rodney Crowell. He has produced successful records for
dozens of stars, including Vince Gill, Alabama, Bill Monroe, Steve Earle, George Jones, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Roy Orbison. In addition, Emory is the co-writer of the pop standard “Traces.” Initially a hit for the Classics IV in 1969, it has since been recorded by more than 50 artists. Emory is also the co-writer of such notable songs as Martina McBride’s “Cheap Whiskey” and Wynonna’s “When I Reach the Place I’m Going.”

For Sleepless Nights, Emory came up with a highly original casting idea. He decided to mix classic “old school,” Nashville Sound instrumentalists such as Harold Bradley, Pig Robbins and Billy Linneman with former Patty Loveless bandmembers like Jedd Hughes, Guthrie Trapp, Pete Finney, Deanie Richardson and Carmella Ramsey. Then he “sweetened” the sound with such contemporary studio pros as Biff Watson, Steve Gibson, John Hobbs and Al Perkins. ackground
vocalists include everyone from superstar Vince Gill to newcomers like neighbor Jim Iler and 15-year-old Sydni Perry.

The result is a sound perfectly captured in the record’s subtitle, “traditional country soul.” This is, indeed, music to enrich the spirit.. It draws from the deep well of its singer’s experience. The original inspiration for the project was to pay homage to Patty’s older sister, Dottie.

“My sister Dottie has been gone 12 years now. She died in ’96 when she was only 48 years old. She was a great singer. I recall going to hear her sing when I was about 7 years old. I went to Fort Knox with my brother. She got up and sang and had that whole audience just mesmerized. She did some Patsy Cline and Brenda Lee and Connie Smith songs. When I experienced her doing that, I thought, ‘Wow. I want to do that.’”

Dottie and Patty’s older brother Roger formed a duet. They moved to Louisville to pursue a career. But whenever they returned to Pikeville, they brought records with them. Little Patty eagerly absorbed them all. When Dottie married at 19 and retired, Roger chose Patty as his new partner.

Grand Ole Opry stars The Wilburn Brothers heard the duo and invited Patty and Roger to visit them in Nashville. Patty was 14 when she and Roger took them up on the offer. But the Wilburns were out of town when the siblings arrived. Patty sang for Porter Wagoner, who took them under his wing. She has fond memories of singing with him and his duet partner, Dolly Parton.

The Wilburns signed Patty as a staff songwriter for their song-publishing company and took her on the road as the female vocalist in their troupe. She replaced Loretta Lynn, who is her distant cousin. Patty worked for the Wilburns during her last three years of high school.

“For my 16th birthday, Doyle Wilburn gave me studio time to record some of the songs I had written. Pig Robbins and Billy Linneman both played on that recording session! Those were my first Nashville recordings.”

After her high school graduation, she married a drummer and moved to North Carolina. For the next eight years she fronted rock bands. Around 1983, Patty resumed writing country songs. In 1985, brother Roger took a tape of her tunes to producers Tony Brown and, fatefully, Emory Gordy Jr.

Co-produced by Tony and Emory, Patty’s 1988 revival of the George Jones oldie “If My Heart Had Windows” became her first top-10 hit. She joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry that year.

By the mid-1990s, Patty and Emory were inseparable. He produced her 1993 Only What I Feel collection and its big hits “Blame it on Your Heart” and “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye.” The album became her first Platinum Record. Their Platinum 1995 album When Fallen Angels Fly yielded the massive radio favorites “I Try to Think About Elvis” and “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am” and was named the CMA Album of the Year. “You Can Feel Bad” and “Lonely Too Long” both became Number-One hits in 1996. They were on The Trouble with the Truth,” the Platinum record that earned her the CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year award.

From Long Stretch of Lonesome came her collaboration with George Jones, “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me.” It won the 1998 CMA award for Vocal Event of the Year. She won this award again in 1999 for singing “My Kind of Woman, My Kind of Man” with her frequent vocal partner Vince Gill. The Emory-produced Strong Heart (2000) was followed by her bluegrass-music masterpieces Mountain Soul (2001) and Bluegrass & White Snow (2002). On the first named was Patty’s revival of “Just Someone I Used to Know,” one of the tunes she had harmonized with Porter and Dolly as a teenager.

Patty and Emory’s more recent collaborations in the studio have included her much-acclaimed albums On Your Way Home, which included the Grammy-nominated title track for Best Female Country Performance (2003) and Dreamin’ My Dreams (2005). They rehearsed music for both CDs at their home studio in Dallas, Georgia. Atlanta native Emory Gordy Jr. was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1992. Patty Loveless joined him as a member of that Hall of Fame in 2005.

Emory’s mother died that year. Patty’s mother died in 2006.

“It was pretty devastating,” says Patty. “When your loved ones start passing away, you try to recapture memories.”

The idea of paying tribute to her mentor sister had been percolating for more than a decade. Now it seemed to be more timely than ever. Over the years, the couple had drawn up a list of more than 500 songs to consider. Now this was winnowed down to 47, then 17 and finally to the 14 that comprise Sleepless Nights: The Traditional Country Soul of Patty Loveless.

“It was difficult, because over the years we’ve been listening and collecting. I had a hard time choosing. But I guess the good side of it is that if we do a second record like this, we’ll have plenty more to select from.”

 

 

 

 

 

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