Mountain Soul II

Patty’s 2001 acoustic album, Mountain Soul, was a sweet revelation—a return to her Kentucky roots with all the joy and emotion of a long-awaited family reunion. Eight years later, this sonic and thematic follow-up can’t help but lack the first volume’s delightful sense of surprise, nor does it have any single track that can compete with Mountain Soul’s devastating “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” (one of the young millennium’s finest pieces of music, which admittedly makes for an unfair comparison). Mountain Soul II is solid throughout, but only approaches its sibling album’s peak during a soaring mini-set of gospel numbers in the album’s middle stretch.