Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn's story is the stuff of legend.
She was born in a coal mining community in Butcher Hollow, KY, where she fell in love with music while singing in church. She married at 13 to a guy nicknamed Doolittle and moved out to Custer, Washington in order to get away from the mines. By the time she was 19, she had four kids and two more coming down the way. While she was starting her family, her passion for music got put on the back burner until she was 24, when her husband bought her a guitar. After teaching herself how to play, she began performing in local clubs with a small band known as the Trailblazers. She eventually competed in a televised talent show, where she was discovered by some music producers. She came out to California, recorded a few famous singles like "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" and "Whispering Sea." People seemed to like it and she became one of the doyennes of country music, rising up with other female singers like Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, and Kitty Wells. The rest, as they say, is history.
Loretta Lynn began her performing career in the sixties, and many of her songs displayed themes that reflected the burgeoning feminist movement. Songs like "Rated X", which was about the plight of divorced women, "The Pill", which was about the liberating power of birth control, and "Dear Uncle Sam," which spoke about the cost in lives associated the Vietnam War, all ran up against severe controversy from the normally conservative country music community. Loretta Lynn is probably the most banned performer in country music history outside of the Dixie Chicks. For me, this aspect of Lynn's character adds to her appeal. Country music is great for showcasing the silent anguish of domestic life and Lynn captures the changing milieu of gender dynamics masterfully. Also, she's pretty damn good. Check out her duets with Conway Twitty. They're my favorite.
The Coal Miner's Daughter
A lot of classic country stars have been getting major comebacks within the past few years, where their clean sound and down-home honesty stands in contrast to the big gaudy spectacle that popular country music has become. Johnny Cash definitely got the ball rolling with his American Recordings albums, followed by Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton. For Loretta Lynn's comeback album, Van Lear Rose, she worked with Jack White of The White Stripes, which earned her a new audience in the alternative music scene. That's how I got familiar with her, being the slavish devotee to Spin magazine that I am. She's been at the game a long time and she's got an impressive body of work. Newbies should start with one of her greatest hits albums or her newest albums and build their collection from there. Or, if you like biopics, you can check out her life story in the film The Coal Miner's Daughter.
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