Monday, July 26, 2010

What Country Music Should Be (Part One)

An old blog from 2008.


I went to a concert last weekend, and it was amazing.

It's what country music should be, instead of the pop-tinged junk they play day after day on the radio, and on television.

I've been a fan of country music for a long time, or at least certain artists. These artists aren't having their music played on the radio as much as I would like.

It seems that if you aren't twenty-something in the industry, you don't count.

To me, this is a load of crap.

The person I went to see the other night was Patty Loveless, who, to me has one of the best voices ever.

She was in town promoting her new album, Sleepless Nights. It's an album that features some of the best country songs ever written.

She started her set with the George Jones classic, Why Baby Why. The song is also the opening track on the album. She performed six songs during the show, and she didn't disappoint me one bit.

She closed the show, and her album with the Hank Williams song, Cold, Cold Heart.

Patty had a string of hits in the early to mid-1990's, and then all at once radio seemed to drop her. Her albums have always been critically praised, even if they didn't sell well.

After radio finished with her, she decided to follow her own path. In 2001, she released a bluegrass album titled, Mountain Soul. Many critics have said it was the best album of her career.

She has released four albums since then, and after the disappointing sales of her last album, Dreaming My Dreams, she parted ways with her record company and decided to take some time off. She wasn't sure she would ever record music again.

During her three year hiatus, she dealt with the deaths of two family members, and the illness of another. It was because of these events that she decided it was time to get back to making music. For me, her new album was worth the wait..

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