"There's nothing like having a hit, and to take that kind of milestone for granted would be idiotic," she says. "But I wanted to avoid what seems to be the predictable greatest-hits package formula: Limit the track list to the eight or nine best-charting singles, and then add a new song or two." Instead, she combed through live versions and alternate takes of her chart toppers. She came up with treasures, such as the rambunctious live version of "Down at the Twist and Shout" performed at the Super Bowl in New Orleans with Beausoleil and the quieter than usual approach to "Quittin' Time" sung at the Grand Ole Opry. It was a journey of discovery for the artist. Although she's lived with many of these songs for years, Carpenter reflects, "sometimes a song lends itself to a different tempo, a different approach. My feelings for the song don't necessarily change, but the presentation of them does. It's refreshing to find new colors and feelings in a song just by approaching it a different way.

"I've always had songs on my albums that were never destined for a spin on the radio, and I knew that before I had even finished writing them," Carpenter continues. "Those are the ones that, to me, always round out a record, whether it's been my own or someone else's. They give the work its point of view, themes, and personality." On "Party Doll," the title cut by Mick Jagger is performed as a ballad; the tender lullaby "Dreamland" and the meditative interpretation of the folk song "10,000 Miles" (culled from a children's album and a movie soundtrack, respectively) offer counterpoint to Carpenter's better-known and more widely available radio hits.