Chely Wright - The Definitive Collection (2007) Lossless

Chely Wright is one of the most underappreciated country artists ever. Possessing very strong pipes (sort of a country Pat Benatar) and a lot of personality, she has undeservedly never risen above the second tier of country artists.

This collection captures all of the singles she charted between 1994 and 2005 as a solo artist (the omitted tracks were the "Hard To Be A Husband, Hard To Be A Wife" collaboration with Brad Paisley from 2000 and the 2003 "Scary Old World" pairing with Radney Foster). Chely's first two albums WOMAN IN THE MOON in 1994 and RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT in 1996 were for Mercury subsidiary Polydor and - as shown on the enclosed singles "Till I Was Loved By You," "Sea of Cowboy Hats" and "Listenin' To The Radio" - their music was high octane honky-tonk, with lots of fiddles and steel guitars.

While fun, none of her Polydor singles reached the country top 40. The albums also sold poorly, so she moved to MCA Records in 1997 to work with producer/label President Tony Brown. The first couple of MCA singles "Shut Up And Drive" and "I Already Do" from the LET ME IN cd cut back on the instrumentation, allowing Chely's stellar voice to shine amid the sparse settings (they also finally brought her some top 20 success at radio). The follow-up cd, 1999's SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, was Chely's true commercial breakthrough, spawning the catchy number one title track and the midtempo top-tenner "It Was."

Those gems found Chely's music going in a more pop-oriented direction, an approach that was even more pronounced on 2001's NEVER LOVE YOU ENOUGH. It's two singles - the lush yet torchy title track and the rip-roaring "Jezebel" - surrounded Chely with loads of orchestration but stalled outside the top 20. This setback was surprising, since Martina McBride has been a staple in the country top 10 with loads of power ballads like the former and Terri Clark had been quite successful at the time with footstompers like the latter.

After the chart underperformance of those two engaging singles, Chely Wright and MCA parted company. She signed with Jeff Huskins' Vivaton label in 2003 and released the top 40 "Back Of The Bottom Drawer" to radio the following year. A disagreement over the direction of her music caused Wright to leave Vivaton and she ended up putting out the single on 2005's The METROPOLITAN HOTEL album which was released on her own label Painted Red, along with the touching hit follow-up "The Bumper Of My SUV, a Wright composition based on a true story. These two singles were licensed from Chely.