Patty Loveless - I'm That Kind Of Girl

Her father was a coal miner with black lung. About to get her first musical break, her manager wanted her to break up with her drummer boyfriend. Instead, he quit the band, and they ran off to North Carolina to get married. The honkey tonks she played at got raided by the police and shut down. Her husband left.

That's a powerful lot of living to do, by the time you're 28 years old. So what do you do then?

If you're Patty Loveless, you take that as an opportunity to reassess your life, move back to Nashville, and bust out with a Platinum Album, Honky Tonk Angel. And that was only a start, even though she had to have her vocal chords operated on.

Fourteen albums - four platinum and two gold - and 40 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Charts later, she's still going. Her new album, Mountain Soul II, comes out on Tuesday. But for me, I'll always associate her music - and especially her voice - with the early 1990s, when I started listening to Country again. In particular, I'm That Kind Of Girl captures the sense of the coal miner's daughter - cousin of Loretta Lynn, even - strong, resilient, wanting to go with a partner but willing to go it alone if she has to. Someone who knows who she is:

"I don't jump on bandwagons and try to do what Shania and Faith or any of them are doing. I know them both, and I like them both, but that's not me. It works for them yes- but I sing my songs. I sing my style."

One of the great things about country music is that it lets strong women stand out. If you like that kind of thing, then she's that kind of girl.
Patty Loveless - I'm That Kind Of Girl
Music Video Codes at www.yallwire.com

I'm That Kind Of Girl (Songwriters:Matraca Berg, Ronnie Samoset )

There's a man in a Stetson hat, howlin' like an alley cat
Outside my window tonight
Sayin', "Baby, put on something hot, meet me in the parking lot
About a quarter to nine"

I get the feeling that he's never read Romeo and Juliet
I'm getting tired of these one night stands
But if you wanna make a real romance

I'm that kind of girl, I'm that kind of girl
I ain't the woman in red, I ain't the girl next door
But if somewhere in the middle's what you're lookin' for
I'm that kind of girl, yes I'm that kind of girl

Let me tell you that I like my lovin' just as much as any woman
But I'm drawin' the line
A little sensitivity always seems to get to me every time
I'm a sucker for a love-sick fool
The kind that carries all your books in school
I'm getting tired of these one night stands
But if you're lookin' for a real romance

I'm that kind of girl, I'm that kind of girl
I ain't the woman in red, I ain't the girl next door
But if somewhere in the middle's what you're lookin' for
I'm that kind of girl, yes I'm that kind of girl

I'm that kind of girl, I'm that kind of girl
I ain't the woman in red, I ain't the girl next door
But if somewhere in the middle's what you're lookin' for
I'm that kind of girl, yes I'm that kind of girl

I'm that kind of girl, oh oh
I'm that kind of girl, oh oh