Mountain Soul
Encyclopedia
Mountain Soul is the eleventh album of original recordings by Patty Loveless
. The album was recorded between January and March 2001 and was released on June 26 in the United States
. It first charted on the Billboard
Top Country Albums chart on July 14 (peaking on July 28 at #19), and remaining on the charts for 87 weeks until March 8, 2003. Other country superstars also have done "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" such as Kathy Mattea
and Brad Paisley
. A follow up album, Mountain Soul II
was released in September 2009.
The album also charted on the main Top Billboard 200
chart, Top Bluegrass Album chart and the Top Internet Albums chart.
Rhapsody
ranked the album #9 on its "Country’s Best Albums of the Decade" list.
Country Universe, ranked the album #10.
The 9513 country music blog list it #6 on the "Top Country Albums of the Decade" list.
Roots gerne after the less than successful experiment in Country pop
on her 2000 release, Strong Heart
.
According to Loveless, "...we went back (to Kentucky) to do the photo shoot for the album cover for this particular project in March (2001). It's sort of like a little 'extra' along with the album I have out right now, Strong Heart. The reason I did the record was the fact that during my shows last year, and down through the years, I've been slowly doing one or two songs on each album that sort of has the mountain sort of tone to it. I would say, sort of that feel like the Stanley Brothers, or that feel of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs... Bill Monroe, and that combination of the real, real hardcore country music. And I was doing it during my shows, about three, four songs. The people would come up and ask, 'where can we get this kind of music?... that song that you did?', and I would say like, 'I haven't recorded it yet..' So I said, well, this is something I want to do. And, for those folks that are going to be listening, or looking out for some of the more acoustic type of mountain blues, or mountain soul.. is what I'm calling it Mountain Soul.
My family didn't move from Pikeville (KY) until I was 10. I lived there for quite some time. I still have some family back in Pikeville, and we recently just went back and we shot a photo session for a new project I've been working on. It's kind of a little, sentimental-type project for me. It's very rootsy. A kind of a country-combination of mountain music from the Appalachians.
I had so much fun doing it. It was all cut live. It was cut here in Tenenssee, at Lieper's Fork. And we had a BLAST! Ricky Scaggs came out and played mandolin and sang. Travis Tritt, he played guitar and sang. John Randall, you know he has a WONDERFUL voice and it's just great. We got to cut these wonderful old tunes and my husband and I wrote some songs for it and I was just thrilled to death to do it...."
"Out of Control Raging Fire" was previously recorded as a duet by Tracy Byrd and Dawn Sears
on Byrd's self-titled debut album
in 1993. The album also featured covers of Reno and Smiley
's "I Know You're Married", Dolly Parton
and Porter Wagoner
's "Someone That I Used to Know", Melba Montgomery
's "Raging Fire"; Darrell Scott
's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive", and Martina McBride
's "Cheap Wiskey".
"The Boys Are Back in Town", is a song that Loveless links her album to the traditional community dance, held in someone's home after the furniture and carpet had been picked up. In effect, the listener is invited into the living room.
"Two Coats", was previously available only on "The Apostle
" soundtrack album. It was written originally by Ralph Stanley
and was one of his gospel standards for years. A new arrangement for the song was written by her husband/producer, Emory Gordy, Jr.
"Sounds Of Lonlieness" is the only song Loveless recorded on two of her albums (it was the final cut on her 1987 self-titled Patty Loveless
) album, and instead of using her professional name, Loveless for the songwriting credits, she used her maiden name, Patty Ramey. This was a tribute to her father, because as a 15-year old girl, she wrote "Sounds Of Loneliness" for him.
The album contains rarely seen photographs of Loveless's father, a Kentucky coal miner who died of black lung disease, as well as stunning photos of the singer's Pikeville, Kentucky hometown.
Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless , is an American country music singer.Since her emergence on the country music scene in late 1986 with her first album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country movement, although she has also recorded albums in the Country pop and...
. The album was recorded between January and March 2001 and was released on June 26 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It first charted on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top Country Albums chart on July 14 (peaking on July 28 at #19), and remaining on the charts for 87 weeks until March 8, 2003. Other country superstars also have done "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" such as Kathy Mattea
Kathy Mattea
Kathleen Alice "Kathy" Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass performer who often brings folk, Celtic and traditional country sounds to her music. Active since 1983 as a recording artist, she has recorded seventeen albums and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot...
and Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
. A follow up album, Mountain Soul II
Mountain Soul II
Mountain Soul II is the sixteenth studio album by American country music singer Patty Loveless. The album was released on September 29, 2009. It is a follow-up to her previous album, Mountain Soul, released in 2001...
was released in September 2009.
The album also charted on the main Top Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, Top Bluegrass Album chart and the Top Internet Albums chart.
Rhapsody
Rhapsody (online music service)
Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...
ranked the album #9 on its "Country’s Best Albums of the Decade" list.
Country Universe, ranked the album #10.
The 9513 country music blog list it #6 on the "Top Country Albums of the Decade" list.
Track listing
- "The Boys Are Back in Town" (Don Humphries, Pat Enright, Stuart Duncan) – 2:34
- "The Richest Fool Alive" (KostasKostasKostas Lazarides is a Greek-born American country music songwriter, known professionally as Kostas. He has written for several country music artists, including Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, and Travis Tritt, and has won eleven awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated...
, Bobby Boyd, Don Mealer) – 3:22 - "Daniel Prayed" (Ralph StanleyRalph StanleyRalph Stanley , also known as Dr. Ralph Stanley, is an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing.-Biography:...
) – 2:45 - "Someone I Used to Know" (Jack ClementJack ClementJack Henderson Clement is an American singer, songwriter, and a record and film producer.Raised and educated in Memphis, Jack Clement was performing at an early age...
) – 2:17- duet with Jon RandallJon RandallJon Randall Stewart is an American country music artist. Signed to RCA Records in 1995, he debuted that year with the album What You Don't Know. A second album for RCA, 1996's Great Day to Be Alive, was recorded but never released...
- duet with Jon Randall
- "Out of Control Raging Fire" (Kostas, Melba MontgomeryMelba MontgomeryMelba Montgomery is an American country music singer. She is best known for duet hit recordings in the 1960s with country music singer George Jones....
) – 3:33- duet with Travis TrittTravis TrittJames Travis Tritt is an American country music singer from Marietta, Georgia. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released two albums on Columbia Records and one for the defunct...
- duet with Travis Tritt
- "Rise Up Lazarus" (Emory Gordy Jr., Patty Loveless) – 2:21
- "Cheap Whiskey" (Jim Rushing, Gordy Jr.) – 3:42
- "Pretty Little Miss" (Gordy Jr., Loveless) – 2:41
- "I Know You're Married (But I Love You Still)" (Don Reno, Mack MaGaha) – 2:54
- duet with Travis Tritt
- "Sorrowful Angels" (Leslie SatcherLeslie SatcherLeslie Winn Satcher was born in 1962 in Paris, Texas. She has recorded two albums of her own and, in addition, she has co-written several singles for such artists as George Strait, Martina McBride, Pam Tillis, Gretchen Wilson, Patty Loveless, and Vince Gill....
, Tommy Conners) – 3:58 - "Soul of Constant Sorrow" (Gordy Jr., Loveless) – 3:04
- "You'll Never Leave HarlanHarlan, KentuckyHarlan is a city in Harlan County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,081 at the 2000 census and was estimated at 1,880 in 2007. It is the county seat of Harlan County.-History:...
Alive" (Darrell ScottDarrell ScottJames Darrell Scott known as Darrell Scott , the son of musician Wayne Scott with whom he has collaborated, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He moved as a child to East Gary, Indiana. He was playing professionally by his teens in Southern California, later living in...
) – 6:06 - "Two Coats" (arr. Gordy Jr., Loveless) – 3:18
- "Sounds of Loneliness" (Loveless; credited to Patty Ramey) – 3:48
Personnel
- Patty LovelessPatty LovelessPatty Loveless , is an American country music singer.Since her emergence on the country music scene in late 1986 with her first album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country movement, although she has also recorded albums in the Country pop and...
- vocals - Emory Gordy, Jr.Emory Gordy, Jr.Emory Gordy, Jr., born December 25, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American musician and music producer. Since 1989, he has been married to country music artist Patty Loveless. Gordy was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1992...
- guitar, bass, slack key guitar - Clarence "Tater" Tate - bass, fiddle, bass vocal
- Tim Hensley - mandolin, backing vocals
- Stuart DuncanStuart DuncanStuart Duncan is a bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band, he has been a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band since 1985, and is a much-in-demand session musician...
- mandolin, fiddle, backing vocals - Deanie Richardson - fiddle
- Rob Ickes - dobro
- Alan O'Bryant - banjo
- Carmella Ramsey - drone fiddle, backing vocals
- Gene Wooten - dobro
- Butch Lee - banjo, bass, mandolin
- Ricky SkaggsRicky SkaggsRickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
- mandolin, backing vocals - Jon RandallJon RandallJon Randall Stewart is an American country music artist. Signed to RCA Records in 1995, he debuted that year with the album What You Don't Know. A second album for RCA, 1996's Great Day to Be Alive, was recorded but never released...
- guitar, mandolin backing vocals - Earl ScruggsEarl ScruggsEarl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
- banjo - Travis TrittTravis TrittJames Travis Tritt is an American country music singer from Marietta, Georgia. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released two albums on Columbia Records and one for the defunct...
- duet vocal, lead/rhythm guitar, backing vocals - Biff Watson - guitar
- Steve Gibson - mandola
- Rebecca Lynn HowardRebecca Lynn HowardRebecca Lynn Howard is an American country music artist. She has charted seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and has released three studio albums...
- backing vocals - Jeff White - guitar
- Darrell Scott - dobro, banjo
- Jeff White - backing vocals
- Tom Britt - slide guitar
Chart performance
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 19 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 159 |
Release notes
2001 found Loveless recording in the BluegrassBluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
Roots gerne after the less than successful experiment in Country pop
Country pop
Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to Top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to...
on her 2000 release, Strong Heart
Strong Heart
Strong Heart is the tenth album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. The album was released on August 29, 2000 in the United States. It first charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart on September 16 , and remaining on the charts for 34 weeks until May 19, 2001. The album also...
.
According to Loveless, "...we went back (to Kentucky) to do the photo shoot for the album cover for this particular project in March (2001). It's sort of like a little 'extra' along with the album I have out right now, Strong Heart. The reason I did the record was the fact that during my shows last year, and down through the years, I've been slowly doing one or two songs on each album that sort of has the mountain sort of tone to it. I would say, sort of that feel like the Stanley Brothers, or that feel of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs... Bill Monroe, and that combination of the real, real hardcore country music. And I was doing it during my shows, about three, four songs. The people would come up and ask, 'where can we get this kind of music?... that song that you did?', and I would say like, 'I haven't recorded it yet..' So I said, well, this is something I want to do. And, for those folks that are going to be listening, or looking out for some of the more acoustic type of mountain blues, or mountain soul.. is what I'm calling it Mountain Soul.
My family didn't move from Pikeville (KY) until I was 10. I lived there for quite some time. I still have some family back in Pikeville, and we recently just went back and we shot a photo session for a new project I've been working on. It's kind of a little, sentimental-type project for me. It's very rootsy. A kind of a country-combination of mountain music from the Appalachians.
I had so much fun doing it. It was all cut live. It was cut here in Tenenssee, at Lieper's Fork. And we had a BLAST! Ricky Scaggs came out and played mandolin and sang. Travis Tritt, he played guitar and sang. John Randall, you know he has a WONDERFUL voice and it's just great. We got to cut these wonderful old tunes and my husband and I wrote some songs for it and I was just thrilled to death to do it...."
"Out of Control Raging Fire" was previously recorded as a duet by Tracy Byrd and Dawn Sears
Dawn Sears
Dawn Sears is an American country music artist. In addition to her work as a backing vocalist in Vince Gill's band, Dawn has recorded three solo studio albums, of which two were released on major labels...
on Byrd's self-titled debut album
Tracy Byrd (album)
Tracy Byrd is the self-titled debut album of American country music artist Tracy Byrd. In order of release, the singles from this album were "That's the Thing About a Memory", "Someone to Give My Love To" , "Holdin' Heaven", and "Why Don't That Telephone Ring"...
in 1993. The album also featured covers of Reno and Smiley
Reno and Smiley
Reno and Smiley were a musical duo composed of Don Reno and Red Smiley. They were one of the most acclaimed duos in country music of the 1950s and early '60s.-How They Met:...
's "I Know You're Married", Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and Porter Wagoner
Porter Wagoner
Porter Wayne Wagoner was a popular American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. He introduced the young Dolly Parton near the beginning of her career on his long-running television show, and they were a well-known duet throughout the late 1960s and...
's "Someone That I Used to Know", Melba Montgomery
Melba Montgomery
Melba Montgomery is an American country music singer. She is best known for duet hit recordings in the 1960s with country music singer George Jones....
's "Raging Fire"; Darrell Scott
Darrell Scott
James Darrell Scott known as Darrell Scott , the son of musician Wayne Scott with whom he has collaborated, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He moved as a child to East Gary, Indiana. He was playing professionally by his teens in Southern California, later living in...
's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive", and Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....
's "Cheap Wiskey".
"The Boys Are Back in Town", is a song that Loveless links her album to the traditional community dance, held in someone's home after the furniture and carpet had been picked up. In effect, the listener is invited into the living room.
"Two Coats", was previously available only on "The Apostle
The Apostle
The Apostle is a 1997 American drama film written and directed by Robert Duvall, who stars in the title role. John Beasley, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Bob Thornton, June Carter Cash, Miranda Richardson and Billy Joe Shaver also appear...
" soundtrack album. It was written originally by Ralph Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Stanley , also known as Dr. Ralph Stanley, is an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing.-Biography:...
and was one of his gospel standards for years. A new arrangement for the song was written by her husband/producer, Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr., born December 25, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American musician and music producer. Since 1989, he has been married to country music artist Patty Loveless. Gordy was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1992...
"Sounds Of Lonlieness" is the only song Loveless recorded on two of her albums (it was the final cut on her 1987 self-titled Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless (album)
Patty Loveless is the self-titled debut album from country music artist Patty Loveless. It was released in 1986. Among its tracks were Billboard Top Country Singles minor hits, "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights," "I Did," "After All," and "Wicked Ways." The album peaked at #35 on the Top Country Albums...
) album, and instead of using her professional name, Loveless for the songwriting credits, she used her maiden name, Patty Ramey. This was a tribute to her father, because as a 15-year old girl, she wrote "Sounds Of Loneliness" for him.
The album contains rarely seen photographs of Loveless's father, a Kentucky coal miner who died of black lung disease, as well as stunning photos of the singer's Pikeville, Kentucky hometown.