Two standouts spur a critic to rage against the routine

I want to start the new year with a clean slate, so let me make a confession about something I did during 2004.

I fell so in love with “Van Lear Rose,” the album country veteran Loretta Lynn made with rock star Jack White, that I may have gone from being a critic to a crusader.

If so, it’s not the first time, and it probably won’t be the last.

Critics in all fields are exposed to so much junk that when something comes along that has an ounce of integrity and heart, we find ourselves pulling for it -- in private and, sometimes, in print.

We want these works to succeed because they just might send a signal to industry decision-makers that everything doesn’t have to be reduced to commercial formulas.

Check out some of the glowing reviews of the Alexander Payne-directed “Sideways,” a modest but enthralling film that represents everything that critics love but rarely find in movies.

Part of the attraction of “Sideways” is that it’s not big-budget, it’s not filled with special effects, it’s not built around a shallow script and it’s not filled with big-name stars. It’s a movie that captures the character flaws and dreams of real people -- and that alone makes it stand out from almost anything else you’ll find for months at the multiplex.

In music, “Van Lear Rose,” also goes against convention.

The mix of rock guitar and old-fashioned country sentiment was so far off the major-label radar that it almost didn’t get made. Major labels showed no interest in a Lynn album produced by White when the idea was first floated two years ago. She hadn’t had a hit album in 20 years and he was not yet a star.

So Lynn financed it herself. Rather than spending months polishing the album so it would fit into slick country radio formats, she and White wrapped up the recording sessions in two days, giving it a raw, urgent feel. The budget was probably less than limo money for some album projects.

The kicker is this: White had turned red-hot by the time the album was finished late last year, and companies were suddenly clamoring for the chance to release it.

So was my crusade a triumph? Hardly. When the album hit the stores, country radio ignored the CD, and even some friends, whom I had cajoled into listening to the album, thought it was too old-fashioned.

Still, college and alt-rock stations have championed some of the “Van Lear Rose” music and Lynn just picked up five Grammy nominations, including country album of the year, for it.

So yes, I plead guilty to liking this album (and others) even more because of what it stood for than what it was. But remember this the next time you see me or any other critic on a crusade: To trigger such strong emotions, the work has to be stirring, special, even heroic, to begin with.

With all my cards on the table, I’d still declare “Van Lear Rose” the best country album in years.

Honest.

Robert Hilburn, pop music critic for The Times, can be contacted at Robert.hilburn @latimes.com.