Patty Loveless

While decked-out divas and blonde buckle bunnies flock to Nashville to hire old session guys to play pedal steel guitar over their recordings, it's a good thing to know that Patty Loveless is still keepin' her country music real. Like LeAnn Rimes, Loveless has garnered many comparisons to Patsy Cline, but she also holds the crown as the queen of new traditional honky tonk women, thanks to her purism and dedication to twang-steeped country rock. Her honky tonk roots are indeed hardcore - like Loretta Lynn, she's a coal miner's daughter - and she does what the best songwriters suggest: she sings about what she knows. Whether Loveless is playing roadhouse rock or lovelorn tear-in-the-beer ballads, her brand of country music is as fresh as homemade okra gumbo, yet as classic as country gravy.