About The Song
Patty Loveless describes herself as a combination of Linda Ronstadt, Loretta Lynn and Ralph Stanley. The Ronstadt influence in Patty’s music comes through in her first number one single, “Timber I’m Falling in Love.” The Loretta influence runs much deeper.
Like Lynn, Patty Ramey hailed from a small Kentucky town (Pikeville), and was affiliated with the Wilburn Brothers after Loretta left their road show. Teddy Wilburn didn’t feel that then-teenaged Patty was mature enough to record, and when she married Wilburn drummer Terry Lovelace, they moved to North Carolina. In the process, Patty changed the spelling of her last name to “Loveless” when people repeatedly asked if she was related to porn star Linda Lovelace.
Patty claimed Loretta Lynn as a distant cousin, although she didn’t use the connection as an “in,” and kept it secret until Loretta blurted it out on the “Nashville Now” television show in 1989.
Loveless stayed away from Nashville for nearly ten years. She continued singing, mostly in nightclubs in North Carolina. Then Patty made a decision to give up music altogether. But after an unplanned stage appearance in the mid-‘80s (at the beginning of the Neo-traditionalist movement), she discovered that country music had shifted back to a sound that suited her.
Patty returned to Nashville and recorded a demo. Just two weeks later, she signed with MCA Records, but it was three years before her sixth single, a cover of George Jones’ 1967 hit “If My Heart Had Windows,” made the top ten. Three more records reached that level before “Timber I’m Falling in Love” brought Loveless to number one on Billboard’s country singles chart on August 12, 1989. Four more chart-toppers followed through 1996, the year Patty was awarded the “Female Vocalist of the Year” trophy from the Country Music Association.
The writer of “Timber I’m Falling in Love,” Kostas Lazarides, immigrated to America from Greece, settling in Bozeman, Montana. He wrote songs and performed regionally as “Kostas,” and somehow producer Tony Brown discovered him while searching for material for Loveless’ “Honky Tonk Angel” album. Three of Kostas’ tunes were included on the LP, including Patty’s follow-up hit, “The Lonely Side of Love,” which peaked at #6.
Patty released two more of his songs as singles, culminating with the award-winning “Blame It on Your Heart,” which Kostas composed with legendary tunesmith Harlan Howard. It earned the distinguished “Robert J. Burton Award” from BMI as the most-performed single of 1994.
After Kostas was discovered by Tony Brown and brought to the forefront, many of his tunes were recorded by such stars as Kenny Chesney, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, Jo Dee Messina, Travis Tritt, Martina McBride, Billy Dean, Holly Dunn, Sammy Kershaw, Clint Black and Trisha Yearwood. Yoakam’s 1993 hit written by Kostas, “Ain’t That Lonely Yet,” was a Grammy-winner.
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Lyric
Right time, the right place
The right body, the right face
Timber I’m falling in loveIt started slow, it’s coming fast
I got a feelin it’s gonna last
Timber I’m falling in loveYou’re so pretty, look so sweet
Your love’s sweepin me off of my feet
You’re the only one I’m dreamin of
I can’t believe that I’m falling in loveWho knows how love starts
I woke up with you in my heart
Timber I’m falling in loveYou’re so pretty, look so sweet
Your love’s sweepin me off of my feet
You’re the only one I’m dreamin of
I can’t believe that I’m falling in loveTimber I’m falling in love
Timber I’m falling in love
Timber I’m falling in love