It can take a lifetime to build the kind of career Patty Loveless has fashioned in just four albums. A wide-reaching and lasting career, filled with memorable songs delivered in her signature, soul-dripping voice. She's a country music legend in the making, a coal miner's daughter from Pikeville, Kentucky burning a pure emotion into every song she sings and the keeper of a collection of the industry's highest accolades.

Loveless' March 23 release Patty Loveless Classics, is a retrospective of that career, a collection of nine hits as well as two new songs, with her Grammy nominated Vince Gill duet, My Kind Of Woman/My Kind Of Man, rounding out the playlist.

"This album brings closure of seven years of music for me" says Patty. "Selecting songs to go on this project brought back a flood of memories. I remember when we were in the studio cutting When Fallen Angels Fly there was a bad snowstorm. We watched the updates on people stuck in traffic for up to eight hours. And recording How Can I Help You Say Goodbye was such an emotional song for me. It's wonderful to be able to share all the years of music with my fans again.

You Can Feel Bad, Lonely Too Long, You Don't Even Know Who I Am, Here I Am, You Don't Seem To Miss Me, Nothin' But The Wheel, Blame It On Your Heart, I Try To Think About Elvis and How Can I Help You Say Goodbye represent the best of Loveless' career on Classics

When it came time to choose the new material, the Loveless team had specifics in mind. They went with Can't Get Enough, a song with a back beat and a strong woman message, and I Just Wanna Be Loved By You, an up-tempo but sultry song about staying home with your significant other and, uh turning off the light. "We wanted something to help balance out the album. I had Can't Get Enough on hold for a long time, and it helped us do just what we wanted for the album. I Just Wanna Be Loved By You was co-written by Emory (Gordy, Jr. Patty's husband) and Kostas. I just loved it. And of course there's the duet with Vince, one of my favorite people to sing with."

Loveless sees Classics almost as a tribute to her fans, an opportunity to share her years of making music with them. "The best part of releasing this music now is the chance to once again share my music with my fans. These people have been coming to my shows to hear these songs for seven years".

1999 will not see Patty on the road, but instead taking some time to work on a future project and return to writing some of her own songs. "Classics gives me the opportunity to listen again to the material I have recorded over the years, and affords me the luxury of time to be creative; to re-evaluate the direction I have come and into which direction I will go and determine what's next."

Time to step back, evaluate and grow creatively may mean a slightly evolved Patty emerging in the future. "For my next project (s) there's always the possibility of something a little different. I like mixing things up. I have a real love for traditional country music, but I enjoy showing off a little bit of edge in the music I do.

When Loveless listens to other artists, she keeps herself in mind. You'll hear Vince Gill and Lee Ann Womack playing in her car alongside Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Etta James, Tina Turner, Bonnie Raitt, Fleetwood Mac, Joan Osborne and believe it or not, Madonna. "I'm always listening to these artist just to get a feel for what exactly from their music I can bring into what I'm doing. I feel that I'm not a pop singer, but I'm sort of country, but with a little rock edge, and that's the reason I like to find songs I can wail to and belt out. I know I'm talking about a lot of rock music, but you have to understand there was a time when I was singing Fleetwood Mac and Linda Ronstadt.

"Celine Dion and Whitney Houston take a very artistic approach to singing. People don't realize you can't nail every word to the wall, that you have to be very subtle. How Can I Help You Say Goodbye was one of those songs for me. Still I handled it in a gentle way because I was telling a story of a girl and her mother". And part of the Loveless delivery lies in her view of the performance. "In order to be a good artist, you have to be able to take a song and pretend you are acting it out, that you are that person. The more I live with it, the more I become what the song is about. I feel that I share a lot of myself with people through the music I do".

One of Loveless' most memorable compliments came in the form of an off-hand remark, one that sums up her career well. "I remember a friend of mine was sitting in the audience at one of my shows, listening to the woman next to her, who said 'If you want to see a show, a performer, you go to see Reba. But if you want to feel and you want to hear singing, hear the song, you go see Patty Loveless.'

I've always tried to move people the way I've been moved by other artists' music. I've always wanted to be that kind of artist.