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Patty Loveless - Sleepless Nights
| Slantmagazine |
| One of the most commonly used clichés in discussions of great vocalists is that they "can sing anything." And there's undeniably an element of truth to that conceit: Joan Osborne has tackled vintage R&B, Americana, pop standards and adult-top-40 styles on her last four albums, while country singer Trisha Yearwood is just about the only singer to imbue one of Dianne Warren's god-awful adult contemporary ballads with anything that resembles human emotion and has also made a killer reading of "Midnight Train to Georgia" a staple of her live shows. A list of artists like Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield, Linda Ronstadt and Solomon Burke, whose careers transcend genre boundaries, includes some of popular music's most capable voices....full text |
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| Allmusic |
| Who would have thought that recording an album of classic country tunes from a bygone era would be the most radical act a country artist could commit? When it's 2008 and contemporary country sounds are wound so deep in an identity crisis that threatens to exhaust every bit of its vitality and creativity. Since much of contemporary country borrows so heavily from the clichéd production standards -- not to mention compositional styles -- of '70s and '80s rock, both north and south of the Mason Dixon line, it takes a talent as big as Patty Loveless' to remind the punters where the music came from and what qualities make it timeless and immeasurably valuable....full text |
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| Billboard |
| In lesser hands this collection of country classics might have been badly mishandled, but in the willing arms of traditionalist extraordinaire Patty Loveless and producer/husband Emory Gordy Jr., the past is brought to new life. Loveless wisely doesn't try to mimic the originals, but she doesn't stray too far either, which makes for a comfortable yet fresh listening experience. While the highlights include a feminine turn on the Dickey Lee-penned "He Thinks I Still Care" (famously done by George Jones as "She Thinks I Still Care"), the steel guitar-laden and mournful "Crazy Arms" and Vince Gill's luscious harmony on the title track, which harks back to past vocal intertwining with Loveless, every cut is a newly mined gem in its own right. Especially tantalizing is her acoustic and raw turn on Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart."...full text |
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