Classic Rewind: The Kendalls – ‘Heaven’s Just A Sin Away’

Secret tracks

Reading the comments section on one of the many country blogs I read, I came across a thought that resonated with me.  The comment was about when you find an album cut that you love as much or more than the album’s radio singles – the singles are usually the reason you bought the album in the first place.  But, when you do happen upon an album cut that you make your own, it’s like you have your own little secret, but one you want to share with the world.  I’ve never been greedy with my music, offering and even force-feeding it to my friends and acquaintances at times.

When I would buy a new album, I used to go through and try to pick which songs I thought would go to radio next, but I was never very good at that.  The songs I think would be hits and that the whole world would love usually get passed over for songs I don’t like as much.  But then those same songs are the ones that become the biggest hits.  So for that, I don’t think I’d make much of an A&R man for a Nashville label.  What I could do is pick songs that would resonate with the minority audiences like myself who want more substance than style in their songs, rather than choose those that appeal to everyman.

Trisha Yearwood’s albums rarely, if ever, have what is known as filler.  So if you’re picking up a Trisha Yearwood album at random and playing any song from one of them, odds are you’re going to find a gem of your own.  But I want to point you out a couple of them, both by Trisha Yearwood, I’ve already discovered over the years and implore you to share your own secret tracks with us.

First up is ‘Victim of the Game’, which Garth Brooks and Mark Sanders wrote, and Garth included on his sophomore album, No Fences.  Trisha’s reading of the song appears on her debut album.  This is such a great song that I’m surprised neither released it as a single, especially Trisha Yearwood, whose debut album didn’t contain the embarrassment of riches of her later albums.  The song tells the story of a heartbroken individual.  For most of the song, you think it’s about a friend consoling another friend and telling them all the things they did wrong, told in a second person perspective,’You know its really gettin’ to you/When you take to tellin lies‘.  It’s not until the final bridge of the song that you realize it’s the narrator herself who’s been heartbroken, ‘When I look into your eyes I can really feel your pain/Staring in the mirror at a victim of the game‘, and it’s herself she’s been trying to comfort all along.  It’s one of those songs you have to listen to all the way through every time and also packs an emotional punch with every listen.

Much has been said about the Hearts In Armor album, the first one that really made her a critical darling, and I agree that the album is one of Trisha’s finest moments and a masterpiece of modern country music.  But the songs everyone points to as the album’s greatest aren’t my personal favorites.  Sure, I think ‘Walkaway Joe’ is marvelous and that Trisha’s cover of Emmylou Harris’s ‘Woman Walk The Line’ is flawless, but I find myself drawn most to Jamie O’Hara’s ‘For Reasons I’ve Forgotten’.  The bluesy tune features harmony vocals from The Mavericks lead singer Raul Malo, who’s now making fine music of his own.

So those are a couple album cuts that are among my favorites, and I feel like they’re my own little secret.  I’ve loved them for a long time, and I wanted to share them with you.

What are some of your favorite album cuts that you feel are your own personal treasures?

Spotlight Artist: Patty Loveless

We are delighted to announce that Patty Loveless is our Spotlight Artist for October.

Born Patty Ramey in Kentucky in 1957, a coal miner’s daughter like her distant cousin Loretta Lynn, Patty started singing when, aged 12, she replaced her older sister in a duo with brother Roger. While still in her teens, she came to the attention of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, who encouraged her musical ambitions, before becoming the featured female vocalist with the Wilburn Brothers, following in Loretta’s footsteps. At 19 she broke away when she married the band’s drummer Terry Lovelace (a variation of whose name she adopted as her stage name), and she spent the next few years in North Carolina, singing a mixture of rock and country.

In the mid 1980s, as her marriage was failing, Patty found herself returning to the country music she had grown up on. Her brother Roger became her manager, and he got a demo tape to Tony Brown, head of A&R at MCA. Brown was impressed, and Patty was signed to the label in 1985, initially on a singles-only deal. He brought Emory Gordy Jr on board as co-producer, which was to prove the start of a personal and professional partnership which has endured to this day, and underlies much of Patty’s commercial and artistic success. Emory and Patty were married in 1989. Critically acclaimed right from the start, Patty’s commercial success developed more slowly, but by 1988, her singles were starting to hit the top 10 on a regular basis, and she was invited to join the Opry.

A major turning point came in 1992. Patty had just moved from MCA to Epic when she became aware that her vocal cords had been damaged. A potentially career-ending problem was averted by surgery which actually left her voice sounding better than ever. The records Patty Loveless released for Epic achieved new heights both artistically and commercially, and she was to be one of the most successful female country singers of the early and mid-1990s. She was named CMA Female Vocalist of the Year in 1996, and the ACM gave her the same honor in both 1996 and 1997.

Her radio success began to wind down in the late 90s, partly because the tide was starting to turn in a more pop direction. Patty also took a year or so off due to her husband’s serious illness. She released a bluegrass-based project, the original Mountain Soul, which was critically acclaimed, but neither this nor her more conventional country appealed to country radio as they deserved to, and Patty left Epic in 2005.

Patty then signed to Saguaro Road Records, for whom she has now released two excellent albums: her tribute to traditional country music, Sleepless Nights, which was many critics’ selection as album of the year in 2008, and most recently, Mountain Soul II.

During her career, Patty Loveless has shown an almost unparallelled ability to combine traditional country and bluegrass influences with contemporary sensibilities. We hope to share some of the highlights of Patty’s career with you over the next month.