Mountain Soul is the eleventh album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. The album was recorded between January and March 2001 and was released on June 26 in the United States. It first charted on the BillboardTop Country Albums chart on July 14, and remaining on the charts for 87 weeks until March 8, 2003. Other country superstars also have done "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" such as Kathy Mattea and Brad Paisley. A follow up album, Mountain Soul II was released in September 2009. The album also charted on the main Top Billboard 200 chart, Top Bluegrass Album chart and the Top Internet Albums chart. Rhapsody ranked the album #9 on its "Country’s Best Albums of the Decade" list. Country Universe, ranked the album #10. Engine 145 country music blog list it #6 on the "Top Country Albums of the Decade" list.
2001 found Loveless recording in the Bluegrass Roots genre after the less than successful experiment in Country pop on her 2000 release, Strong Heart. According to Loveless, "...we went back to do the photo shoot for the album cover for this particular project in March. It's sort of like a little 'extra' along with the album I have out right now, Strong Heart. The reason I did the record was the fact that during my shows last year, and down through the years, I've been slowly doing one or two songs on each album that sort of has the mountain sort of tone to it. I would say, sort of that feel like The Stanley Brothers, or that feel of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs... Bill Monroe, and that combination of the real, real hardcore country music. And I was doing it during my shows, about three, four songs. The people would come up and ask, 'where can we get this kind of music?... that song that you did?', and I would say like, 'I haven't recorded it yet..' So I said, well, this is something I want to do. And, for those folks that are going to be listening, or looking out for some of the more acoustic type of mountain blues, or mountain soul.. is what I'm calling it Mountain Soul. My family didn't move from Pikeville until I was 10. I lived there for quite some time. I still have some family back in Pikeville, and we recently just went back and we shot a photo session for a new project I've been working on. It's kind of a little, sentimental-type project for me. It's very rootsy. A kind of a country-combination of mountain music from the Appalachians. I had so much fun doing it. It was all cut live. It was cut here in Tennessee, at Lieper's Fork. And we had a BLAST! Ricky Skaggs came out and played mandolin and sang. Travis Tritt, he played guitar and sang. John Randall, you know he has a WONDERFUL voice and it's just great. We got to cut these wonderful old tunes and my husband and I wrote some songs for it and I was just thrilled to death to do it...." "Out of Control Raging Fire" was previously recorded as a duet by Tracy Byrd and Dawn Sears on Byrd's self-titled debut album in 1993. The album also featured covers of Reno and Smiley's "I Know You're Married", Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner's "Someone That I Used to Know", Melba Montgomery's "Raging Fire"; Darrell Scott's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive", and Martina McBride's "Cheap Whiskey". "The Boys Are Back in Town", is a song that Loveless links her album to the traditional community dance, held in someone's home after the furniture and carpet had been picked up. In effect, the listener is invited into the living room. "Two Coats", was previously available only on "The Apostle" soundtrack album. It was written originally by Ralph Stanley and was one of his gospel standards for years. A new arrangement for the song was written by her husband/producer, Emory Gordy, Jr. "Sounds Of Lonlieness" is the only song Loveless recorded on two of her albums album, and instead of using her professional name, Loveless for the songwriting credits, she used her maiden name, Patty Ramey. This was a tribute to her father, because as a 15-year-old girl, she wrote "Sounds Of Loneliness" for him. The album contains rarely seen photographs of Loveless's father, a Kentuckycoal miner who died of black lung disease, as well as stunning photos of the singer's Pikeville, Kentucky hometown.
