Patty Loveless' music speaks for itself. The shy Kentucky native who has so much truth, honesty and emotion in her singing has become one of country music's most respected and honored performers of the 1990s.

Patty has made us smile and chuckle with such feisty country rockers as "Blame It On Your Heart," "You Can Feel Bad" and "I Try to Think About Elvis." She has touched our hearts and brought a tear to our eyes with such memorable performances as "You Don't Seem to Miss Me," "Nothin' But the Wheel" and "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye." And few have sung as eloquently about the passions and pains of everyday people as Loveless did in "Here I Am," "Lonely Too Long" and "You Don't Even Know Who I Am." These nine performances are on her album Patty Loveless Classics, a collection that is stunning for the sheer consistency of its from-the-heart vocals and from-the-gut lyrics.

"I like to deal with real emotions," says Loveless, "whether you're crying because you're happy or crying because you're sad. The thing is to get the emotions out and cleanse the soul. Music is a wonderful release. I just go with my own heart.

By following her heart, Patty Loveless has earned an unbroken string of accolades, including four consecutive million-selling albums, an Academy of Country Music award, four Grammy Award nominations and Country Music Association honors in 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1998.

Her most recent Grammy nomination occurred this year. It is for the Vince Gill duet waltz included on Classics, "My Kind of Woman, My Kind of Man." The working-girl rocker "Can't Get Enough" has already emerged from the collection as a major hit. Classics is rounded out with another frisky toe-tapper, "I Just Wanna Be Loved By You."

"I've never been one to carry a banner of traditional country. But that is what happened with me; and I do think that I do the traditional style well. But I'm willing to try different things. I don't want the music to become stale. I want to be able to keep up with the times, but still be true to what I started out to be.

"Growing up in a household of music lovers, I was influenced by a variety of music. My father loved the mountain/bluegrass sounds of the Stanley Brothers, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe. He took me to see Lester, Earl & The Foggy Mountain Boys perform on top of a concession stand during an intermission at a local drive-in theater. I was only six-years-old and I can still remember that moment to this day. Added to those sounds were the rock & roll and big band music my brothers and sisters liked. And, of course, there was the Grand Ole Opry on the radio every Friday and Saturday night. It was my connection to the world that I dreamed about exploring someday."

"I remember going to my cousin's house and watching 'American Bandstand' with Dick Clark introducing artists such as Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Carl Perkins, Dusty Springfield, Sandy Posey, Ike & Tina Turner, Little Stevie Wonder, Smoky Robinson, The Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and so many more."

"At the age of 12, I started out singing the country music sons of Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith, Jeannie Seely, Dolly Parton, Jeannie C. Riley, Merle Haggard, George Jones and of course Elvis. Then I saw Linda Ronstadt perform on the "Johnny Cash Show." That's when I started to get the idea of combining the sounds of all the music I loved."

By the time she was 14, her Kentucky-bred, traditional country roots led her to Nashville. A writing/singing stint with the Grand Ole Opry's Wilburn

Brothers meant that she could hang around backstage at country music's shrine, learning from such greats as Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton.

"In 1976 I moved to North Carolina and started working in a Top 40 band where I still continued to do a mixture of the different styles of music. I was doing anything from Tina Turner, Donna Summer and Bonnie Raitt to the much heavier sounds of the rock & roll music of the late ''70s. I feel I developed my sound and style from all these different styles of music - from a real traditional country sound to the raw edge of rock & roll. The mixture works for me."

"In the first few years of my career I was guided by my heart to the right songs. I realized that I was going to be singing them for years to come, so I wanted them to really be a part of me. That's why all these songs are here. I'm very pleased and proud of them."

She should be, for these are not only supreme examples of country songwriting at its finest, they are a document of her rise to million-selling stardom. Loveless married producer Emory Gordy Jr. in 1989 and together they have crafted a body of work that is unparalleled in Nashville.

She arrived at Epic Records in 1992 and immediately hit the front ranks of her profession with "Blame It On Your Heart," her No.1 hit of 1993. "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" and "Here I Am" both topped the charts in 1994. She hit No.1 again in 1995 with "You Can Feel Bad;" and again in 1996 with "Lonely Too Long." Her chart-topping 1997 performance of "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" earned Loveless her most recent CMA award, a 1998 vocal collaboration statuette thanks to the participation of Country Music Hall of Fame member George Jones.

"Because of those hits at Epic I broadened my fan base. People's reactions to these songs became even more rewarding and enhanced my confidence on stage."

Patty Loveless Classics is a catalog of her special ability to choose the right material. It is a legacy of performances that will be played as long as people seek truth, beauty and honesty in music.

"I'd just like to be remembered as one of the most emotional singers," says Patty Loveless. "And for the fact that the music came first with me."