Brothers as a vocalist in their touring band. In 1973, she quit the Wilburn Brothers band due to her dissatisfaction with not having a recording contract at the time. She married the band's drummer, Terry Lovelace, in 1973. She then moved with him to Charlotte, North Carolina. At this point, she altered the spelling of her name to Patty Loveless, a variant of her married name. Loveless spent much of the late 1970s playing rock cover songs at various venues in the Midwestern United States. By the mid-1980s, she moved back to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career as a country artist. At the time, Loveless said she was inspired by the rise of neotraditional country in the mid-1980s through such acts as Dwight Yoakam, The Judds, and Randy Travis. In Nashville, she sang demonstration songs for other artists and signed a songwriting contract with Acuff-Rose Music in 1985. Loveless recorded five of her own songs on a demo tape, which her brother Roger sent to MCA Records' Nashville division. Tony Brown (a record producer who was also serving as that label's president of artists and repertoire) helped sign Loveless to the label in July 1985. Career 1985–1990: Early years Loveless began recording music for MCA with production assistance from both Brown and Emory Gordy Jr., a producer whom Roger had befriended. Prior to working with Loveless, Gordy was a member of Emmylou Harris's backing band, the Hot Band. MCA Nashville released Loveless's debut single in late 1985 titled "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights". This was followed by three more singles that reached charting positions outside the top 40 on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: "Wicked Ways", "I Did", and "After All". Because of their poor performance, MCA executives initially did not want to release an album. However, Loveless noted that "I Did" was highly popular among fans and concertgoers despite its low chart showing. She successfully convinced label executives to allow the release of a full album. That album, the self-titled Patty Loveless, was released in 1986. Gordy and Brown produced the project and were among the contributing musicians, as were guitarists Reggie Young and Richard Bennett. Contributing songwriters included Guy Clark, Jo-El Sonnier, and Karen Staley. Loveless had written "I Did" at age 17 after undergoing a breakup, and it is the only single in her career that she wrote. She had originally recorded "After All" as