Loveless is, thankfully, still 'too country'

Patty Loveless was one of them. A major hitmaker and country star from the mid-'80s to mid-'90s, she hung in there, scoring her last real hit only four years ago. But by then, country radio had all but given up on singers like her who, as her contemporary Vince Gill once told me, were deemed "too country" by country radio.

Fortunately for those of us who look beyond the dial for our high, lonesome fix, artists like them never gave up. Loveless, who turned 51 this year, found new life by returning to her Kentucky coal miner's daughter's roots. Her 2001 bluegrass album, "Mountain Soul," was a surprise, and, yes, a soulful turn that dovetailed nicely with the bluegrass revival brought on by the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack.

Since then, she's done projects that included a bluegrass Christmas album and covering a diverse array of noted contemporary songwriters, such as Steve Earle and Richard Thompson, on 2005's underappreciated "Dreamin' My Dreams."

Now Loveless is back with "Sleepless Nights: The Traditional Country Soul," out Tuesday, a loving collection of songs she grew up listening to on the radio. If it gives you insomnia, it's only because you can't get it out of your head.

The album's her first for indie Saguaro Road Records after years with Epic and MCA. It's a traditionalist's dream. But true to form, Loveless and husband-producer Emory Gordy Jr. manage to make it sound old and new at the same time.

The title track is a prime indication of where they're coming from -- it's a cover of an old Everly Brothers love song reinterpreted as a heart-wrencher by country-rock fusionist Gram Parsons and, later, Parsons' acolyte Emmylou Harris. Guided by her lovely crushed rose of a voice, you can almost hear the pieces falling from her broken heart. Gill's hurt harmonies don't help. Well, actually they do.

It's but one gem in a field of 14 precious songs from the so-called classic era of country in the '50s and '60s. She could do George Jones songs in her sleep. Her "He Thinks I Still Care" is eye-opening in its restrained indignation. Hank Locklin's "Please Help Me I'm Falling" is here, as are earthy interpretations of "Don't Let Me Cross Over" and Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart" -- songs women didn't sing back in those days, songs today's young country cover girls and boys might want to study.