Mountain Soul  (Audio Cassette) 
by Patty Loveless

Pikeville, Kentucky, native Patty Loveless has occasionally acknowledged her mountain-music roots on her frequently excellent albums of mainstream country. Hear, for instance, the pained, stoic version of Carter Stanley's "I'll Never Grow Tired of You" on Loveless's 1988 breakthrough, Honky Tonk Angel. Like too few of her 21st-century post-hillbilly peers could do, the singer makes Mountain Soul--an all-acoustic sampling of classics and a handful of new songs--far more than a nod to the style. Loveless's clear voice and sensitivity to narrative lyrics have made ballads her most fertile ground, and here she turns in as consistently affecting a disc as she's ever made. Whether offering a remake of Reno & Smiley's "I Know You're Married (But I Love You Still)," hard-country-influenced duets with Travis Tritt and Jon Randall ("Out of Control Raging Fire" and "Someone I Used to Know," respectively), or a rewritten "Soul of Constant Sorrow," she channels emotion in a straightforward way that could serve as a master class for many current vocalists. Even while celebrating a sound rooted in another time, though, Loveless takes an artistic chance or two: Darrell Scott's long, downbeat story song "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" isn't the record's best cut, but it's one of its most intriguing. --Rickey Wright