Straight from the heart

Penny Levin

Monday, Dec. 1, 1997 | 11:37 a.m.

Country torch artist Patty

Loveless is the leader when it comes to heart-wrenching, tear-jerking songs, and she will be sharing these when she performs at the Las Vegas Hilton, Dec. 5-6.

"Country music has always been about being realQreal life and real situations that happen out there," Loveless said.

Defining the music closest to her heart, the singer explained, "It's about those moments and realizing things that change your life. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's happy, but it's always about how you feel.

"Being honest, as much as it sounds, is what makes it country."

Loveless fans know she has always been about facing up to real life and loss.

Her fourth al-bum for Epic Nash-ville Long Stretch of Lonesome resonates with emotional currents that make up life's most difficult and often most profound moments.

Rather than dwelling on the emptiness of devastation, however, Loveless finds the strength and hope inherent in the human spirit and offers an album that is as much about faith's ability to deliver us as it is to the traditional roots music she has been steeped in since her birth in the heart of Appalachia.

Country music has been in the artist's bones since she was a young girl listening to the Grand Ole Opry on a radio propped in the kitchen window.

She first saw live music when her father took her to see Flatt and Scruggs at the Polly Anna Drive-In. Soon, Loveless began singing, even though she was too shy to do it where there were any people around. She obviously got over her shyness, going on to capture such awards as the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year, as well as back-to-back honors for the Academy of Country Music's Top Female Vocalist.

Of her music, Loveless said, "I want to stay true to the music I love and my fans who've been with me from the beginning. I started out very traditional, and they know I will always be true to that."

Throughout her career, Loveless consistently delivers songs that express what she is feeling.

"More importantly, they are songs that show something deeper about our emotions," she said.

Referring to songs such as "I Don't Want to Feel Like That" and "The Party Ain't Over Yet," Loveless said, "These songs are as much about what the person listening to them hears at that moment, though I want them to think about the songs in terms of their lives and what they may offer them."

Loveless is quick to agree with people when they say that singing consumes her.

"To me, singing is almost like talking to a friend. You can unload any situation or problem in your life and it's OK. You're just sharing it with many friends - and they'll come back and say, - Yeah, I know.' "