So much gets made of countrypolitan's expansive, pop-influenced sound that it's easy to forget that it was also a medium of great singers. Few of them were as good as Sammi Smith. Blessed with a deep, husky voice that was nevertheless soft and tender, and breathing soulfulness, Smith had her best-known moment with 1970's "Help Me Make It Through the Night," a Top 10 crossover smash that she invested with a smoldering sense of emotional and physical need. On all of her best recordings, Smith's voice invites the listener into an emotional world so revealing and familiar that it often seems as if she's right there beside you, whispering into your ear. Such remarkable intimacies are only enhanced by their often breathtaking countrypolitan settings. --David Cantwell