Strong Heart

Infobox Album | Name = Strong Heart
Type = studio
Artist = Patty Loveless


Released = August 29, 2000
Recorded =
Genre = Country/Country pop
Length =
Label = Epic
Producer = Emory Gordy, Jr.
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0jftxqrkldte link]
Last album = ""
(2000)
This album = "Strong Heart"
(2000)
Next album = "Mountain Soul"
(2001) |

"Strong Heart" is the tenth album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. The album was released on August 29th, 2000 in the United States. It first charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart on September 16th (peaking at #13), and remaining on the charts for 34 weeks until May 19, 2001. The album also charted briefly on the main Top Billboard 200 chart. [ [http://www.billboard.biz Billboard.biz - Music Business - Billboard Charts - Album Sales - Concert Tours ] ]

Track listing

#"You're So Cool" (Matraca Berg, Carolyn Dawn Johnson) – 4:01
#"The Last Thing on My Mind" (Craig Wiseman, Al Anderson) – 3:22
#"My Heart Will Never Break This Way Again" (Gary Harrison, Matraca Berg) – 4:15
#"You Don't Get No More" (Emory Gordy, Jr., Patty Loveless) – 3:26
#"That's the Kind of Mood I'm In" (Rick Giles, Tim Nichols, Giles Godard) – 3:31
#"Thirsty" (Stewart Harris, Thom Hardwell) – 4:55
#"Strong Heart" (Kris Tyler, Gordy, Jr.) – 5:41
#"The Key of Love" (Gordy, Jr., Anderson) – 3:39
#"She Never Stopped Loving Him" (Wally Wilson, Danny Orton) – 4:53
#"Pieces on the Ground" (John Bunzow) – 4:34

Personnel

*Al Anderson – electric guitar
*Richard Bennett – electric guitar
*Matraca Berg – background vocals
*Jerry Douglas – Dobro, steel guitar
*Dan Dugmore – steel guitar
*Stuart Duncan – fiddle
*Steve Earle – harmonica
*Paul Franklin – steel guitar
*Steve Gibson – electric guitar
*Emory Gordy, Jr. – bass guitar
*Kenny Greenberg – electric guitar
*Owen Hale – drums
*Jimmy Hall – harmonica
*Tim Hensley – background vocals
*Rebecca Lynn Howard – background vocals
*John Barlow Jarvis – keyboards
*Carolyn Dawn Johnson – background vocals
*Craig Krampf – drums
*Jennifer Kummer – french horn
*Mike Lawler – keyboards
*Butch Lee – acoustic guitar
*Claire Lynch – background vocals
*Liana Manis – background vocals
*Brent Mason – electric guitar
*Steve Nathan – keyboards
*Craig Nelson – double bass
*Leslie Norton – french horn
*Russ Pahl – electric guitar
*Carmella Ramsey – background vocals
*Mike Rojas – piano, keyboards
*Ricky Skaggs – background vocals
*Steuart Smith – electric guitar
*Bobby Taylor – english horn
*Billy Thomas – background vocals
*Travis Tritt – background vocals
*Biff Watson – acoustic guitar
*Trisha Yearwood – background vocals
*Curtis Young – background vocals

Release notes

Recording sessions for the album started in June 1998 and it was originally planned for a spring 1999 release. Initially, Loveless collaborated with Vince Gill in a series of recording sessions, which were produced by Gill. The recordings for the album were finished in November 1998 and they were submitted to Sony/Epic (her label at the time) in early January 1999. However, legal problems were encountered with these recordings that forced the cancellation of the Loveless/Gill collaboration.

As Loveless had not had a release of new material since the 1997 "Long Stretch of Lonesome" album, Loveless and her husband/producer Emory Gordy, Jr. put together a compilation album "Classics", that included the "My Kind of Woman, My Kind of Man" duet that Gill had included on his "The Key" album; along with two new songs, "Can't Get Enough" and "I Just Wanna Be Loved by You", which were songs already licensed by Loveless to record.

During the recording sessions of "Can't Get Enough", several alternative takes were made of the song in a more pop/rock & roll genre which Loveless and Gordy believed came out well. Sensing that country music had moved closer to the pop genre, and seeing the success of artists such as Shania Twain with a sold-out tour and a multimillion-selling album, "Come on Over." Loveless and Gordy went back into the studio in early 2000 with a collection of new material and recorded Strong Heart, which has a decidedly Country pop overtone.

The album was emblematic of country music in 2000. It was a time when the industry was wondering whether excellence and commercialism could go together, as they did in the past. Depending on your point of view, the album is either refreshingly diverse or perilously scattered as it struggles to hit that bull's-eye.

The fan reaction to this album was a decidedly mixed one, which as well as radio saw the album as "too pop", and it was her lowest-selling album since she switched to Epic Records seven years earlier.

The album contains a wide variety of styles, the best of which is the wonderfully bluesy "You Don't Get No More," written by Loveless and her husband-producer Emory Gordy Jr.

The frothy pop of "You're So Cool," the song that invited the Twain comparison. It's got what it takes to become a hit single, but there is an element of desperation in its gimmicky production. The song evokes memories of James Dean, Bob Dylan and other icons of cool to capture the feeling of romantic infatuation. There is some wheezy Dylan-style harmonica (played expertly by Steve Earle) thrown in as a musical joke. [Entertainment Weekly, Aug 26th, 2000]

According to Loveless, "...One is a song that Emory and I wrote together called You Don't Get No More.I don't hear it as a single, you know? I could be wrong... but it's fun for me. It's very swampy and has a greasy feel to it-a kind of dirty feel to it. Especially with Mr. Jimmy Hall on harmonica on it. There are a lot of wonderful musicians on her that make it come alive and make it fun: Steuart Smith on guitar, my own keyboard player Mike Rojas who's been out on the road with me, Jerry Douglas and Dan Dugmore on lap steel. We have some great musicians. They give it that swampy feel. It couldn't go any other way. I tell you though, Emory is really responsible for the feel of it because he had this weird tuning going on with his bass guitar and all the other musicians were going, "Man, what are you doing?" and they were all trying to copy his licks.". [The Columbus Ohio Dispatch, August 11th, 2000]

"Another song that rocks is The Key of Love, which Emory and Al Anderson wrote. The reason I think that we were going in that direction this time is me. I would play records by a lot of blues artists. I'd play some of Bonnie Raitt and say, 'She's so cool. I'd love to find that little knack they have and merge it into what I'm doing today in country.' That's what I love about Linda Ronstadt, especially the Heart Like a Wheel album. It showed an edgy side of her but then also a country side. They were able to mix it up and I'm all for mixing. i feel like this record, out of all the records I've done, is the most adult one I've done. It's for the adult who's young at heart, like myself. That's what it's all about. Sometimes we look at our age and think, 'Oh, I'm aging. I have to act my age.' No you don't. It's what you feel in your heart. All the songs on this album are what I feel in my heart. The first cut, You're So Cool, is basically about a grown woman who gets a crush. There's nothing wrong with that. We all do still get crushes. I look at Harrison Ford and get a big, huge crush." [The Columbus Ohio Dispatch, August 11th, 2000]

The single, "That's the Kind of Mood I'm In," made it to #71 on the Billboard Top Pop Singles chart and #13 on the Top Country Singles chart. The only other song to chart was the #20 Country single "The Last Thing on My Mind."

References

External links

*YouTube|t5a_I6UBfHg|"That's The Kind Of Mood I'm In" Official Music Video
*YouTube|ubg8mFVUIrs|"The Last Thing On My Mind" Official Music Video

*YouTube|iJvzBNrzpSE|"My Heart Will Never Break This Way Again" performance
*YouTube|E_ggmLxQS64|"You Don't Get No More" performance
*YouTube|1Ch6L24FVLg|"That's The Kind Of Mood I'm In" performance

* Recorded Live At Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in Nashville, 31 August 2000 (Audio Only): [http://boomp3.com/listen/eo0ex9f/she-never-stopped-loving-him-live-august She Never Stopped Loving Him] : [http://boomp3.com/listen/dqkxb1f/strong-heart-single-live-august Strong Heart (Single)] : [http://boomp3.com/listen/b9fmbs3/thirsty-live-august Thirsty (Duet with Travis Tritt)]