After a middling career with MCA in the 1980's, Loveless took a dramatic upturn when she signed with Epic in 1992. "Not to dismiss her work with MCA," says Mary Chapin Carpenter, "but on the records that she's made with Emory Gordy, she embodies a purity about country music that very few people, other than maybe Emmylou (Harris), have been able to achieve."

Much of that soulful authenticity shines through in Loveless' keening Appalachian-tinge soprano, a "wild and wounded" sound that sorrowfully suggest a country innocence violated by the corruption of the big city. Aside from nearly faultless taste in material-much of it offering hope and healing to the spiritually and romantically disenfranchised-Loveless distinguishes herself with the ability to seem caught up in the exact moment of truth and troubled decision, converying a fist-to-the-gut realism of tremendous power, and making deep, emotional and intense connections with her audience. In administering emotional salve in "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye," the performance of her life, Loveless proves that she is not only underated in an industry that values celebrity over artistry-she's in a league of her own.