On this day (October 4) in 2022, Loretta Lynn died in her sleep at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at age 90. Her journey from a poor “Coal Miner’s Daughter” to a pillar of country music was pure cinema — quite literally, as Lynn’s life story was adapted for an Academy Award-winning film starring Sissy Spacek. Although she didn’t claim the “feminist” label, songs like “The Pill” and “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” made visible the struggles of rural, lower-income women like herself. And it certainly didn’t hurt that she had a singing voice like no other — high, powerful, and unmistakable.
Today, we’re reflecting on the life and legacy of the first female country artist to ever win the coveted Entertainer of the Year trophy.
Remembering Loretta Lynn
When news broke of Loretta Lynn’s passing on this day four years ago, tributes immediately began pouring in from every corner of the entertainment industry.
“I sure appreciate her paving the rough and rocky road for all us girl singers,” said seven-time Top Female Vocalist Reba McEntire.
Added best-selling country artist Trace Adkins, “The poet that could contextualize her life has yet to be born. I’ll cherish the memories of the times I was in her presence.”
Loretta Lynn
The poet that could contextualize her life has yet to be born. I’ll cherish the memories of the times I was in her presence. Rest In peace, darling. @LorettaLynn pic.twitter.com/IOh8u2929c— Trace Adkins (@TraceAdkins) October 4, 2022
Her Hardscrabble Upbringing and Complicated Marriage
While Trace Adkins is absolutely correct about the difficulty of summarizing Loretta Lynn’s life and legacy, we’ll do our best here.
Born Loretta Webb in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, on April 14, 1932, the Country Music Hall of Famer grew up in a one-room log cabin as the second of eight children. As her signature song suggests, her father, Ted Webb, worked as a coal miner and subsistence farmer.
At age 15, Loretta met Oliver Doolittle “Mooney” Lynn — fresh off a stint in the U.S. Army — at a town pie social. They tied the knot one month later, in January 1948, and remained married until his death in 1996.
Her husband both helped kickstart Lynn’s singing career and supplied her with endless songwriting fodder. Their complicated, often volatile relationship inspired hit tunes like 1968’s “Fist City”, about his extramarital affairs.
“We fought hard and we loved hard,” Lynn wrote in a 2021 tribute to her late husband. “He was my biggest fan and the real force behind my entire career.”
From the Holler to the Opry
The couple had six children together, and Loretta Lynn would often sing to them around the house. Recognizing his wife’s talent, “Doo” Lynn bought her a guitar for her 18th birthday.
Teaching herself to play, Lynn began performing in local clubs in the late 1950s. Her husband entered her into a local talent contest hosted by Buck Owens. This caught the attention of Don Grashey, president of newly founded independent label Zero Records. He flew her to Los Angeles for her first recording session.
In March 1960, Lynn released her self-penned debut single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl”. Because Zero Records didn’t have the budget to promote it, the Lynns did so themselves, driving cross-country to spread the word.
By the time the couple reached Nashville, they had a hit on their hands. Lynn began recording demos for the Wilburn Brothers, leading to a contract with Decca Records. In 1962, she landed her first top 10 single with “Success”.
That marked the first of 77 singles Lynn would send to the country charts throughout her six-decade career. More than 50 of them reached the Top 10, with 16 hitting number one.
Former White Stripes frontman Jack White, who produced the singer’s Grammy-winning 2004 album Van Lear Rose, frequently referred to her as “the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century.”
[RELATED: 3 Loretta Lynn Songs That Will Make You Believe in the Magic of Country Storytelling]
“Loretta was breaking down barriers for women at the right time, and writing all of her own songs,” White told the New York Times in 2004. “Those hits were songs she wrote, not songs that she was handed. And the innocence, coming from her, saying: ”This is how women live. This is what women are thinking.”’
Featured image by David Redfern/Redferns
The post 4 Years Ago Today, We Said Goodbye to the Trailblazing Kentucky Songbird Whose Life Story Inspired an Oscar-Winning Film appeared first on American Songwriter.
Author: Erinn Callahan
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