A tribute post and video link to remember the Queen of Country music, Loretta Lynn. We share a birthday month too. (April 14, 1932 - October 4, 2022)
Youtube link: Loretta Lynn Tribute Video
I also have many other tribute and compilation videos I've pieced together and uploaded of her. Plus a tribute of her and Doolittle + her and Conway Twitty. That link will take you to my channel too.
It's a long and deserving tribute, because this post interweaves memories and recollections of my late grandmothers as well. Writing out this blog brought great therapy and comfort to me. These ladies truly showed me what it meant to strive to continue to "become a better woman".
I know Loretta will be remembered by so many as a legend. A treasure. A singer, songwriter, and author. But she was much more than that. She was a human being with a family and problems, health issues and heartache just like us. She lived through regrets, disappointments, and imperfections just like us. But you could feel her realness, rawness, compassion, sincerity, and honesty over the whole 60 years of her career. So many country artists started out with their country twang and style only to gain popularity and change how they sounded and acted into an artist you no longer recognize, but not sweet Loretta. She stayed true to herself and refused to change her sound or self.
She didn't want to be polished up in a "highfalutin" way. Yeah she dressed up and glammed up for shows and awards, but when she opened her mouth to talk and sing, you knew she was proud to be a Kentucky girl from the hills and hollers. She was proud of where she came from. You can still be successful despite not having a proper education, yet you also don't or shouldn't forget where you came from that made you who you are. She proved that, and that's why I believe had such great career success and longevity.
I see normal people and not entertainers, though she was both. Her voice will never be topped. She felt every note down to her soul and toes. And, I remember the late Conway Twitty talking in interviews during their times of singing when she would often suffer exhaustion and migraines. She would come out on the stage and not be able to sing a note, yet she would still get a standing ovation. That's the concern and respect people had for her.
She was the 1st woman to win Entertainer of the Year by both the Country Music Association (1972) [only 6 other solo women have won the same honor from 1967-2022] and the Academy of Country Music (1975) [only 7 other solo women have won the same honor from 1970-2022]. She was the 1st female artist to earn a gold record in 1967. When the CMA awards were launched in 1967, she was also the 1st female vocalist of the year winner. She was the 1st country music artist to appear on the cover of Newsweek. She was the 1st female country artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977. She was the 1st female singer to say what she thought in songs or interviews. Fame and recognition didn't change her. Do you see a pattern here? She was the "1st" of many other things, not mentioned, when it came to women in country music, yet she didn't act as if she had made a huge impact.
As of 2022, Loretta Lynn is still the most awarded female country recording artist... (just check out her museum at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, TN... awards are jammed packed in case after case... you can't even hardly see one behind the other). She would remind interviewers that no one award was bigger than the other. She was grateful for all of them, even saying that 'she didn't deserve most of 'em'. She is still the only female ACM Artist of the Decade winner (1970s). She also received the highest honer a USA citizen can be awarded when President Obama presented her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. She kept all of these awards in her museum where they are today. She wasn't sitting and staring at them everyday. She said when she did look at them, she would imagine they were someone else's. That kept her humble. I would hear her repeat herself, in interviews, that she didn't like to be called a 'legend'; she was just a country girl from Butcher Holler, KY (city folk pronounce it as Hollow) and a coal miner's daughter who loved to sing (saaanngg) and write songs. And what she did and all of her hard work was to take care of her family. Even though she lived to be 90, she still wore down her body to provide for her family just as her daddy did to provide for his family. She sacrificed for them, even when she hated traveling and being away from home so much. She regretted having to leave her 9 day old twins with Doo's parents, so she could leave for a 6 week tour in Germany. She could never get that time back, but she didn’t want them babies to ever have to know what being poor meant. She understood the assignment. She crushed it.
When her family played the recording at the beginning of the CMT Tribute show about her (a public memorial for her friends and fans) that under 2 minute message to her fans just made me burst out into tears. I still can't go back and listen to it on YouTube without crying. You could hear the tiredness and frailness in her voice. She was soon going home. Those interviews I would listen to the last two years of her life, she hadn't lost her spunk but you knew the time was coming. You could hear it and feel it in her voice. Her 1st single was released in 1960, so I am thinking how many 100s, rather 1000s of times, in a 60 year career did she sing those infamous songs and answer the same questions over and over? How many 1000s of concert shows did she perform and times did she appear on radio, talk shows, and news shows for interviews? You know it had to push on into the 10,000s. No way I could have remember everywhere that I appeared. However, she did it with much style, grace, and tenderness with her funny and fiesty self, but there was never a nasty attitude in any interview I have came across from her. No foul language either. She did her job with class, humbleness, and humor despite continuous accusations about things.
How many times did she tell people not to ask about her age lol (a true lady never reveals her age)! Yet, someone just had to dig around and find her birth certificate I believe in 2012 (i.e. she was born in 1932 vs. 1935). Whether she really knew her birthday or not. I don't know? But that was a different time and era. Still, I couldn't imagine going through that at such a young age; although I know having babies back to back was considered the norm in those days. She had bared four children before today's legal drinking age of 21. She was 15 when she married, but she was still just 19 in 1952 when her baby girl, Cissie Lynn, was born. She was born April 7. Loretta's birthday is April 14. So she turned 20 a week later. She had 4 children in her first five years of marriage. 1948 and 1949 (Betty Sue and Jack Benny were 13 months apart), 1951 and 1952 (the youngest two, before the twins were 11 months apart). She had two miscarriages before Ernest Ray was born in 1951. She also had a third miscarriage in 1963. She speaks of these in her books; "Coal Miner's Daughter", "Still Woman Enough", and "Me & Patsy: Kickin' Up Dust". The twin girls weren't born until August 1964, and she was 32 years old. That's when she said she made Doo "her ole man" go and "get clipped", as she called it in true Loretta fashion. She truly finished growing up with her first four children.
I can't even bare children, but I've helped "raise" a few and did much babysitting over the past 25 years, and it's one of the most exhausting and toughest jobs you will ever have, though it is rewarding too and that I know. I have loved on babies and spoiled them, as if they were my own. Imagine having four babies within five years, still growing up, learning how to cook, keep house, and be a wife to a man who was wild as a buck, bad on the bottle, and a womanizer. Loretta handled it all. She was a fighter. Whether you're famous or not, people want to know everything about you, but don't you dare ask them about their business. She was classy and not trashy. Always modestly dressed as a lady should be, standing on the stage and singing her songs as it should be without the extra effects, because God knew what era Loretta Lynn needed to be born in to sing her music. He always gets it right.
I have never put together a tribute video nor a post for a "famous" person. Why? Because they are human like I am. I don't idolize anyone or anything, but I have respect and admiration for people. I have never cried and grieved when a famous person died either, yet I have with her. However, she was different. She was humble. She didn't try to change her accent or who she was. She took a one room school house eighth grade education *the equivalent of a 4th grade education at a regular school*, and made something of herself. She chose to give her family another life besides her childhood of being poor. It is proof you don't have to wallow in or live how you lived growing up, yet at the same time you don't forget what you came through and where you came from. This country gal loved everything about that. She clapped back and stood up for herself. I am thinking about how so much could've stopped her career... could've took her out... could've made her give up... yet, she persevered and that's a lesson to all of us. God showed her favor in her life too.
----KEEP GOING and DON'T QUIT.----
God lined up the right people in Nashville (once He used the gentleman from Canada to record her Zero record 1st single. Along, with the shows she played, while living in the state of Washington that kept her family fed): Ernest Tubb who gave up his spot on the Grand Ole Opry for her and dueted first with her + provided her spots on his midnight jamboree show at his record shop. Patsy Cline to befriend her, help her professionally and financially, and back her up when others where against her and wanted her off the Opry. Conway Twitty, as as the best duet partner, in the 1970s & early 80s (so she could still have #1 and top 10 hits she didn't write), when the Wilburn Bros. debacle happened. It's a testament to us of how God goes before us and paves every crooked path straight for His perfect will to be done.
I felt like I had known Loretta my whole life. As if we sit down at a table many times talking and singing about the Lord and how our faith in God has continually pulled us through. My heart has ached for her family, because they had to share her with the world. They needed privacy and time together when they probably didn't get it. Even if they are down to earth, and I connect with them, I have never been comfortable meeting a famous person. I connect with them at concerts I've been to or through music and videos, but I need my space and I could feel they needed it too. I would be in full on anxiety mode with people wanting to touch me on the shoulder or shake my hand/hug my neck, pull out hair, scream my name, crying when they see me, etc. I would be like "calm down 'cause I put my drawers *that's country talk for underwear* on one leg at a time like you!" lol. I guess that's why God kept me "unfamous". They are a grieving family just like anyone else, and I have prayed for them and felt like I've grieved with them right here in my home in Alabama, until peace has come this week. They buried their second Mama "nanny" Gloria (who had her own bedroom at the plantation home and helped raise the children while Loretta was on the road. I know the twins would've been especially close with Mama Gloria) and their Mama less than two months apart. That is heartbreaking to me.
I couldn't have done that with my Mama; sharing her with the world. I remember how lonesome and heartbroken I was during the season of my life she was a continuous caretaker to many who have passed on. I was put on the backburner. It stung too. I was bitter for so long. Mama and I are closer than ever and spend so much time together (we live together). I know sweet Loretta went through much heartache and loss, yet she still picked up the pieces and kept on going. Just as I have done. My motto is: "you may see me struggle, but you will never see me quit."
Loretta basically outlived all of her friends that started in the music business during her time, with the exception of a few (i.e. Bill Anderson, Brenda Lee, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson). That had to be tough, watching them pass on one by one. God graciously gave her 90 years on earth. She didn't lose her ability to sing at an old age. I would listen to hear her sing in her 80s, to sold out crowds, sounding and looking as beautiful as ever. She had way past earned the right to work when and how she wanted to. I mean who tours in their late 80s and still has a strong voice after 50 years as a music artist by that point? She had to sit down and sing, but she sounded just as good sitting down and singing. And, she never lost her quick wit and sense of humor. God preserved her voice, because she chose to keep her nose clean as they say and let Him lead her steps. God knew how important her voice was to her, especially allowing her to keep it after her stroke in 2017. I believe she reaped the benefits of her constant sacrifice of sowing good seeds. Had she said, "no Doolittle Lynn, I don't want to do this music career", maybe things would have been different, but we would have never known the comfort her voice (both singing and talking brings to us). Women wouldn't have known that it's okay to write and sing/talk about tough subject matters, when only men were doing it at the time she begin her career. They wouldn't have known it's okay to fight back and stand up for yourself when others tell a woman to take it, sit down, and shut up. Her Gospel music albums have lulled me to sleep a many a night, or pulled me through those restless and sleepless nights. Her and ole Conway sing me to sleep too. There will never ever be another duo like them.
My first visit to her ranch in Hurricane Mills, TN was 11.3.2022, with my mama. We had the trip planned months before she passed away, yet when I walked into that house my heart ached, and it was a sobering and bittersweet moment. I could hear her singing with the brightest smile ever showing across her face. I knew she was at peace. Jesus was holding her. She was singing to Him. Just like a song says that she recorded for one of her Gospel music albums, she had traded her old guitar for a harp with golden strings... "but of all the songs I've ever heard there's none that can compare. To the songs I'll hear the angels sing when I get over there... I'm gonna trade my old guitar for a harp with golden strings".
If those walls could talk in that house, oh the stories... but she pushed through it all. She didn't tip toe around her faith. She didn't walk away from her faith. I was thinking about how most celebrities would have picked up and moved when fans found out where they lived. I know I would have. But, in Loretta fashion, she decides to open it to the public and later the big house tour once they moved into a small home behind it... because she knew the money came from those that cared enough to buy the tickets to her shows and buy her records. She was one of the only artist I knew of that would just holler out "what song do you wanna hear?" at her concerts and not have a setlist regularly and it worked. She stayed past time to meet the fans and sign autographs until she was too feeble to do it anymore. She didn't need auto tune or overdubs or backing track vocals for her voice nor an ear piece monitor. In fact, serious ear trouble and infection almost took her life as a young child, that left scars behind her ears from the drilling to let the infection drain out. It also left her deaf in one ear. Her voice was just a finally tuned instrument, God given talent, and she knew how to use it. She used it well. She connected with people from all over the world; it spanned from different music genres... mothers... teachers... fans... actors... presidents... talk show hosts... news media hosts. Etc. They knew she was the "Coal Miner's Daughter"!
I would've wanted my privacy (though, I know she got it when needed). She had vacation homes. It is a testament to God's goodness too... how He kept His hand of protection on her, because you know there were crazy fans out there making death threats. God giving her music and preserving her voice is what kept her going, I just know it. He gave her the words and means to write "Coal Miner's Daughter" as the song and then the book... and then the movie followed at her request and won an Academy Award (Oscar). I couldn't imagine my life with never hearing, reading, or watching about that, because it resonated with people in a big way; even non country music fans. It provided longevity in her career too. And, I think those grandbabies and great-grandbabies definitely played a huge part in helping her push on in her later years in life with her kids, and to enjoy life despite so much loss and heartache. Her family meant the most to her; you knew that. That was her greatest accomplishment. Her son, Ernest Ray Lynn, is quite hilarious, and of what I've seen of him he could be a distant cousin of mine lol. I recommend renting or buying (Youtube or Google play) her 2 hour PBS Special: Still A Mountain Girl, released in 2016, and you'll know what I mean about Ernest Ray. He gets his hilarious storytelling from his mama, no doubt. Search for him on YouTube. He can sing too. Videos of her cutting up and singing with her family, over the last several years, are priceless memories now.
I wasn't born until 1984, but I grew up on her music -prior to my birth- by those old records playing in my late grandparents home of just old country, gospel, or bluegrass music. My late grandmother passed away in 2016. My granddaddy got cancer and passed away 12 years before her. I didn't know my grandaddy as an alcoholic, but my mama had to grow up in that. She doesn't like to talk about it. He had quit drinking before death, but MoMo endured abuse from an alcoholic husband. He would stumble home drunk, cussing, and had lovin' on his mind (insert the title of Loretta's 1st Billboard charts #1 song in 1967). He passed away 3 months before their 50th wedding anniversary. She stayed with him... they loved/fought hard like Loretta and Doo did, I believe that. That's why Loretta was so relatable to people, like she was a relative or a close and personal friend. My grandma, my daddy's Mama, had 5 chidren but also went through the same thing; enduring an adusive relationship when her husband was drunk and alcohol eventually taking his life early, yet she stayed with him. I never got to meet this grandfather. Back to my grandmother, on my Mama's side. My Momo was the same height, small, fiesty, funny with blue eyes and black hair *until the grey came in her later years, and country as all get out too just like Loretta was. She even had to suffer having surgeries for tumors to be removed in her breasts, just like Loretta. How uncanny is that?! I have a college education, but I wouldn't change my accent for any presentation or job. Born and raised an Alabama girl (I still live in the same county I grew up in). I always hate it when people want to deduct IQ points based on how you talk. Loretta proved you could make something of yourself by staying true; especially in a man's world then. If you're gonna tell it, tell it all and tell the truth.
My Momo was one of seven siblings. She married an army man young. My Mama was just 13 months old when my grandmother had twin boys and on her 21st birthday. She endured miscarriages and buried a fourth child, a boy *who she treasured the most and never got over losing. They grew up poor too. As Loretta would sing and tell her stories, MoMo would sympathize with her and claim they were sisters in another lifetime. Back then you got married young and you were naive to things. My MoMo wanted a better life to provide for her family. Her daddy (my great grandfather who lived to be 96 years old and didn't pass away until I was around 12 years old) was a sharecropper and moved his family around a lot. A sharecropper would use crops in place of cash to pay for rent or be provided a place to live in place of them working. MoMo wanted out of working the cotton fields too, she would tell me. She still stayed home and worked hard as a homemaker and raised babies. Cooking, cleaning, sewing, canning, etc. Her Mama stayed home *but she worked hard picking cotton and canning food etc. and raised babies. I never met my great grandmother, as she died in her 60s of a massive stroke before I was born. Loretta's Mama died at age 69 of heart failure. Again, so many similarities. I remember how Tammy Wynette spoke in an interview, about being by Loretta's side all night, the day her Mommy passed away. She recalled how Loretta walked the floors grieving and singing, "If I Could Hear my Mother Pray Again", all night long. I've grew up on that song. My MoMo and Great Aunt Emma Jean, would tell me stories of how they walked the floors singing that same song after their mother passed away. It's gonna be hard listen to that song when my Mama passes away, but I don't dare think of those days.
Loretta would've done what my MoMo and so many other women did back then, had she not had a singing career. In fact, no matter how much money Loretta made she still did her own gardening and canning until she wasn't able to anymore. She had cleaned up at the state fair, while living in the state of Washington, with her canning abilities and brought home 17 blue ribbons, plus multiple second and third place ribbons. She had to learn to sew, cook, and clean house and take care of the babies. That was what my MoMo had to learn to do too. My granddaddy made good money working for the power company so it settled them in the home that I live in now. It was my great grandparents home. He worked hard to build onto it and put lots of money into it for updating it. You would never know, looking at the inside and outside of this home that it's probably 80 years old. MoMo's children didn't grow up poor and neither did my brother and I. My grandparents sacrificed so that their children and grandchildren were taken care of. I have not worried or wanted for anything. I was born spoiled, whether I wanted to be or not. Again, that's why Loretta Lynn was so lovable and related. Those sacrifices she made were for her family. When her song "Coal Miner's Daughter" was released, my late grandmother said that song was her life, except she would replace it with... "yeah I was born a sharecropper's daughter... I'm proud to be a sharecropper's daughter"! People of that era, were thankful that someone was standing up and singing about their life. Yes, it was tiring for them, but there were much love and memories.
That's why MoMo was such a fan of Loretta Lynn. She loved her singing, but she connected with her because she knew she wasn't alone in what she was going through. Her stories. Her music. Their similarities. And, if Loretta could push through all of that, than my MoMo most certainly could too. Her music brought comfort to my MoMo on those long and lonely days. She always wanted to meet her on earth but never did. So whether any of Loretta's living children were to ever read this or not, I want to personally thank them for sacrificing their Mama, because in doing so it brought comfort to MoMo.
It was like I lost another grandmother whom I never met the day I heard that Loretta had died. They'll never be another Loretta Lynn. But like the photos and videos of my grandmother will allow her to live on through memories, so will the memories live on in the same way of Loretta, until we are reunited and meet face to face.
I know in my heart of hearts where Miss Loretta is! I bet her and my MoMo have already crossed paths, swapped stories, and loved on their baby boys they never got over losing! I can't wait to meet Loretta in Heaven, and we will all be praising and singing together for eternity! Thanks for paving the way for women singers but also for us normal folk to have a voice and stand up among any criticism given. I pour my heart into writing/journaling and video blogging to find comfort and release my anger and sadness (most of it is kept private and not shared in this blog or on my social media devotions), just as Loretta did with her songwriting, whether that song was released or not. Whether she knows it or not, her music and life stories have kept me going in my faith, even more so since she's passed.
I have endured 38 surgeries and 12 hospitalizations outside of that. I've almost succumb to the sickness and depression more than once. But I've never quit. God don't want you to quit and Loretta wouldn't want you to quit either. It was hard to let her go, but a lady always knows when to leave. She was a lady of great character, strength, and preserverance. By interweaving the name of my blog, she truly became a better woman, and that is a testimony in itself.
I L♡VE you Ms. Loretta Lynn, from a lifelong fan. I can hear her whisper, in my head, from Heaven: "I love you too honey!"
Whether you're a Loretta Lynn fan or not, this magazine is worth the money and time to read it. It is truly a collector's item for me. Beautifully done with 96 pages of stories and photos. ❤️
