Sleepless Nights

For the most part the song selection is good on this cd. Patty Loveless has a nice traditional voice that is very enjoyable, but occasionally the songs begin to sound a little the same in the delivery.

My girl wanted tickets to see Patty when she was in our town in October. So, I bought a couple of good ones and they hung on the refrigerator for a couple of months until the day of the show.

Understand that I liked Patty just fine before the show. She wasn't Emmylou, but good, good, good. I didn't even know about "Sleepless Nights" when we walked through the doors of the Carolina Theater. "That's All it Took" lived up to it's name and more. I kept hearing these fine old songs and kept thinking "Where did this come from?"

No kidding, we went home from the show, turned on the computer and downloaded the record. Burned it, put it in the car, and listened to it for THREE WEEKS straight. It's true. Every song is a gem. Even Emmylou's song, and nobody (but Patty now) can sing Emmylou. Almost all of these tunes are the best versions of the songs that I've ever heard.

I've heard it said that you can tell how good a girl country singer is by counting how many syllables she can make out of a one syllable word. It's a good test and by this and every other measure Patty Loveless is great. Buy two copies just in case you lose one or like someone enough to give them one.

Patty Loveless digs way back into country music history with her latest album, Sleepless Nights. Somewhat like Martina MacBride's Timeless, Loveless treats the old tunes respectfully and still leaves her stamp on them. It's country--no mixture of pop at all--with lots of steel guitar and generally spare arrangement. Doing so lets the song and Patty's powerful, unpretentious voice be the focus.

There are several George Jones tunes, some Porter and Dolly, Hank Williams, and Webb Pierce. "There Stands the Glass" is an unexpected treat, and her treatment of "The Pain of Loving You" has Patty Loveless classic written all over it. She's not doing any "sound-alikes" on this album--they're all her! But she's also not reinventing the songs. Rather, she's remaining true to the songs and to herself, and it's a wonderful blend.

If you're looking for something revolutionary, this is not it. If you're looking for REAL country music, this is it. Forget the Top 40. This is someone who knows what country is and how it's to be done. And Patty has never sounded better.

this is a realy good CD especially if you like Traditional County and
old country. Love it

Great set of standarns - some covered (and written) by Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris, and others. Did some do better? Sure, but Patty does very well. I guess there are some who might be turned off by this style of singing (too much emoting?) but it sounds exactly right to me. Now where's my beer and my lady - I feel the urge to dance.