The Greatest Oldies Music

Country

Patty Loveless left her first marriage behind, but kept a version of the name. Born Patty Ramey, she returned to Nashville in 1985 carrying years of club work, an uncertain future, and another chance to pursue country music. Her first visits had come as a teenager from a Kentucky coal-mining family. The Wilburn Brothers encouraged her, and those early trips brought introductions to Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton. At nineteen, she married the Wilburn Brothers’ drummer, Terry Lovelace. They moved to North Carolina, where she spent years singing rock and pop covers in clubs. The country career she had imagined was put aside. By 1985, the marriage was troubled. Her brother Roger urged her to try Nashville again and paid for a demo session. Several labels expressed interest in the recordings. MCA’s Tony Brown made the offer she accepted, and her recording career began as the marriage ended. This time, she stayed. *If My Heart Had Windows* brought her first Top Ten hit in 1988, and she joined the Grand Ole Opry that June. *Honky Tonk Angel* followed with two No. 1 singles, establishing her as a leading traditional voice in a changing country scene. She also began a new relationship with producer and musician Emory Gordy Jr. They married quietly in 1989. Patty initially kept the marriage private because she wanted her work judged on its own merits, without assumptions about her husband’s industry connections. Her professional name remained unchanged. “Lovelace” had become “Loveless,” reflecting its pronunciation, and she continued using it rather than returning to Ramey. The name outlasted the relationship that gave it to her. It appeared on the records she had once feared she might never make, followed her through decades of success, and eventually took its place in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

PATTY LOVELESS LEFT HER FIRST MARRIAGE BEHIND—BUT CARRIED ITS NAME ALL THE WAY TO THE HALL OF FAME

When Patty Loveless returned to Nashville in 1985, she was preparing to leave her husband.

She brought one thing from the  marriage with her.

His name.

The relationship would disappear from her life, but a slightly altered version of “Lovelace” would eventually be printed on hit records, awards and one of country music’s most important plaques.

Nashville Had Almost Had Her Once Before

Patty was born Patricia Ramey into a Kentucky coal-mining family.

As a teenager, she began making trips to Nashville with encouragement from the Wilburn Brothers and crossed paths with figures including Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton.

Country music already seemed to be opening a door.

Then, at nineteen, she married Wilburn Brothers drummer Terry Lovelace.

Instead of continuing toward a Nashville recording career, Patty moved with him to North Carolina.

For years, she sang rock and pop covers in clubs.

The girl who had imagined becoming a country singer had drifted far from the path that first brought her to Music City.

Her Brother Gave Nashville One More Chance

By 1985, the marriage had become tumultuous.

Patty’s brother Roger persuaded her to try Nashville again.

He paid for a recording session, and Patty cut demos that began circulating among labels.

This time, Nashville listened.

MCA executive Tony Brown made the strongest offer.

Patty signed with the label while bringing her marriage to Terry to an end.

Her second chance had begun almost exactly as her first life was coming apart.

Then Everything Started Moving

The comeback took several years to fully ignite, but once it did, Patty became difficult to stop.

Her 1988 album If My Heart Had Windows produced her first Top Ten country hit.

Then Honky Tonk Angel produced two No. 1 singles and established her as one of the strongest traditional voices of the new country generation.

The singer who had spent years performing other people’s songs in clubs was finally building the career she had once left Nashville to pursue.

She Kept Her Second Marriage Quiet

Patty also found a new partner in musician and producer Emory Gordy Jr.

They  married quietly in 1989.

For a time, she kept the marriage private because she wanted people in Nashville to understand that her career had been earned rather than handed to her through her husband’s industry connections.

It was another sign of how carefully she regarded the identity she was building.

And that identity no longer carried the name Ramey.

One Marriage Ended. Its Name Never Did.

“Lovelace” had gradually become “Loveless,” the name Patty used professionally.

She kept it after the divorce.

Decades passed.

The hits accumulated.

So did Grammys, CMA honors, Grand Ole Opry membership and a reputation as one of country music’s defining voices.

Then came another permanent marker of that career: induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The marriage to Terry Lovelace had ended before Patty’s greatest success even began.

But its name remained.

Not exactly as he had worn it.

As Patty Loveless—the name she had transformed into something entirely her own.

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There’s a grin behind Toby Keith’s “How Do You Like Me Now?!” that makes its wounded pride even more entertaining. Co-written with Chuck Cannon and released in November 1999, it spent five weeks atop Billboard’s country chart and became the biggest country hit of 2000. I’ve always enjoyed the satisfaction in its story: the small-town boy dismissed in high school finally gets his chance to be heard. Toby gives him plenty of swagger, but you can still hear how much the rejection stung. That lingering hurt makes the boast work. He’s successful now—and he wants someone who doubted him to notice.

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