Patty Loveless Album: “The Trouble With The Truth”

From start to finish, this album is an absolute gem. An immediate thrust into the cajun-infused, toe-stompin' "Tear-Stained Letter", followed-up by the title track, a haunting experience of realizing your dishonest self has caught up with you. "It has ruined the taste of the sweetest lies, burned through my best alibis. Every sin that I deny, keeps hanging' round my door". Songs written by John Leventhal (co-writer of Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home") and Matraca Berg (co-writer of Deanna Carter's "Strawberry Wine") join forces with Patty's tender, yet powerful Appalachian vocals. The best cut is "A Thousand Times A Day", a woman's triumph over her battle through heartache. "I've given you up for good, just like I said I would, the night you walked away. Forgetting you is not that hard to do, I've done it a thousand times a day". If there's one album that deserves to be in your country music collection, it's this one.

The Trouble With The Truth is an excellent album by one of country music's finest female vocalists, Patty Loveless. This is a fine acheivement in her career. The songs are real, sung with such emotion and conviction that any listener could find comfort in its nest of songs, with Patty's beautiful one of a kind voice singing these wonderful songs. The album shows such brutal honesty on songs like The Trouble With The Truth, To Feel That Way At All and Someday I Will Lead The Parade. There are also songs that listeners can find strength in, after leaving a relationship, such as Tear Stained Letter, You Can Feel Bad and She Drew A Broken Heart. There are the beautiful ballads like Lonely Too Long, A Thousand Times A Day and I Miss Who I was (With You). Overall this album satisfies any mood for the listener, making it very accesable and enjoyable. Go out and get it!

Patty is as good as ever on this album of songs about love, mostly broken and lost love. And it all ends with the bittersweet final track, "Someday I will lead the parade", referring to 'her' funeral. These are songs that most of us can or will relate to at one time or another. They can make you weep, make you smile, because they are about human emotions. Highly recommended. And the booklet contains all lyrics and plenty of photos.

This is a very strong collection of songs. I'd say the only really weak track is "To Feel That Way At All". The title track is OK, but the rest are very strong. Just some of the highlights include the soft, mid-tempo acoustic track, "I Miss What I Was (With You)", the slide guitar blues-rocker, "Everybody's Equal in the Eyes of Love" & the excellent ballad "A Thousand Times a Day", featuring some nice, slow fiddle. That's just to name a few. Also includes a couple of radio hits you're probably familiar with.

After two sparkling examples of great country music, Patty Loveless' third Sony release seemed to stumble, though only the slightest bit. Her cover of 'Tear-Stained Letter', though admirable, wasn't particularly a standout, and there was little uptempo material to be found, focusing for the most part on ballads. That's not necessarily bad, just that Loveless is that rare breed who excels at both uptempo and balladry, with nary a misstep. So, although the ballads are strong, it would have been nice to see more rockers. Nonetheless, still ten times better than alot of the corporate radio candy released at the time, and the album that won her long deserved Female Vocalist of the Year awards from both the CMAs and ACMs.