Aug 30th 12:30 PM

When it comes to quality, few artists in country music deliver like Patty Loveless. With a wondrous voice, a Kentucky-bred lilt in her accent, great song sense and the good fortune to have her husband, Emory Gordy Jr., produce her records, she consistently comes up with some of the best work in the genre.

Strong Heart, her first album of all-original material since Long Stretch of Lonesome three years ago, finds Loveless at her strongest on achingly poignant ballads such as "Pieces on the Ground" (with beautiful lap steel work by Dan Dugmore and Russ Pahl), "My Heart Will Never Break This Way Again" (written by the "Strawberry Wine" team of Gary Harrison and Matraca Berg, with backing vocals by soulmates Trisha Yearwood and Claire Lynch) and "She Never Stopped Loving Him" (a string-laden, dealing-with-grief variation on "He Stopped Loving Her Today").

Just as Loveless and George Jones seemed a perfect vocal blend on "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" from her 1997 album, so Loveless and Travis Tritt make for a natural match on the languid, contemplative "Thirsty," which borrows Biblical images to describe the depths of a committed love. The title track, written by Gordy and Kris Tyler, is about faith and the constancy of a loving companion.

Elsewhere, Loveless gets bouncy with the swampy "You Don't Get No More" (which recalls "Jealous Bone" from 1992), "The Key of Love" and "That's the Kind of Mood I'm In" (with a line in the chorus about getting a wake-up call at 3 p.m.). Steve Earle's wailing harmonica is key to the left-of-center pop tune, "You're So Cool," with its Mersey Beat-guitar and its Dylan name-checking. The tune is lightweight compared to usual Loveless fare, but effective in an "I Try to Think About Elvis" way.

Measured next to her million-sellers, When Fallen Angels Fly and Trouble With the Truth, from 1994 and 1996, respectively, Strong Heart comes up a little shy. Still, it's a fine album -- far better than most on the market now. Fifteen years into her recording career, Loveless' vital signs are good. -- Jay Orr