Shine a Little Light on Patty

I don't know how you folks feel but, to me, mainstream country music pretty much begins and ends with Patty Loveless (the current stuff, I'm saying). I mean, sure, you've got a lot of big stars with big voices and shit but, seriously, I ask you, can you actually call more than 1-2% of it art? Hell, half of it isn't even country music, for Christ! It's pop - inane/predictable pop, at that. Couple that with the absolutely pablum-filled song lyrics that wouldn't even cut it for a second-grader and, yeah, it's extremely discouraging, frankly........................................................Which brings me back, of course, to Ms. Loveless. Here, me-buckos, is an artist of the genre who's actually stayed faithful to it. Sure, she's achieved a fair amount of notoriety and success but, no, none of it, not a speck of it, has been arrived at cheaply. She gets nothing but the best songs from the best songwriters out there, and when she sings them she makes them her own. Look, I don't know if Patty Loveless is one of the best technical singers out there, how many octaves she has, whether or not she can crack a wine glass, etc.. But I do in fact know what these ears have been hearing - and, yes, that's a country singer that I would absolutely put on a par with 1) Loretta Lynn, 2) Patsy Cline, 3) Tammy Wynette, and, yeah, even George Jones.....................................................And, no, don't even get me going on those afore-mentioned song interpretation skills. Suffice it to say that, genre aside, I'd put her on a par with vintage Bonnie Raitt and Jennifer Warnes. And if you don't believe me, just listen to the way that she hugs, bends with, and caresses such songs as "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" (harmonizing with George Jones, ironically), "My Heart Will Never Break That Way Again", "Sorrowful Angels", and especially, ESPECIALLY, "A Thousand Times a Day". In fact, I challenge you. Find me one person who could have sung that song with more conviction. I mean, seriously, folks, when she sings "I've given you up for good, just like I said I would", she means it. Or at least she clearly thinks she does.