Of all the female stars of country music, none embodied the plight of the impoverished Southern woman more than Loretta Lynn. She turned her background as a poor Appalachian “Coal Miner’s Daughter” into a source of both her art and her personal resilience, proudly proclaiming that poverty need not equal despair, and that womanhood never equals weakness.
The elder sister of country star Crystal GAYLE, Loretta Webb was born on April 14, 1935, in Johnson County, Kentucky, where she shared a small shack with a family of ten. At age 13, she married serviceman Oliver Lynn (also known as Doolittle or Mooney) and moved to Custer, Washington, where she gave birth to four children by the age of 18. A passion for country music helped stave off homesickness, and her husband believed in her musical abilities enough to buy her a cheap guitar.
In 1959, Lynn began singing at local nightclubs and won a talent contest in Tacoma. She recorded a single, the Kitty Wells-influenced “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” for the small record label Zero in 1960. Lynn and her husband tirelessly promoted the record, sleeping in their old car as they traversed the country, their efforts pushing the single up to No. 15 on the country charts. After moving to Nashville, Lynn befriended Patsy CLINE, who convinced Decca Records to sign her. Cline also helped the backwoods Lynn add an element of glamour to her presentation, enlightening her on previously untapped resources such as make-up and hair styling.
In 1962, Lynn joined the Grand Ole Opry and became a regular on the Wilburn Brothers television show. The increased exposure helped Lynn score modest hits with “Success,” “Wine, Women, and Song,” and “Blue Kentucky Girl,” and led to a series of duets with Ernest TUBB.
In 1960, after leaving the Wilburns’ show, Lynn released two singles that rang with the steely determination of a formidable woman. “You Ain’t Woman Enough” and “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” were huge successes and indicated that Lynn had tapped into a substantial contingent of like-minded female fans. Over the next decade, Lynn applied the feisty tremolo in her voice to a body of material that read like a down-home feminist manifesto: “Fist City,” “You’ve Just Stepped In (From Stepping Out on Me),” “Your Squaw Is on the Warpath,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “You’re Looking at Country,” “One’s on the Way,” and the startlingly frank, pro-contraception number, “The Pill.” During this period, Lynn also recorded a number of highly successful duets with Conway Twitty, including “After the Fire Is Gone,” “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,” and “You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly.” She was named the Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year in 1972— the first woman to be afforded the honour—and was elected to the Nashville Songwriters International Hall of Fame. Her autobiography, Coal Miner’s Daughter, was made into an Oscar-winning motion picture in 1980, increasing her exposure far beyond the circle of country music.
Lynn’s chart success in the 1980s and 1990s was modest, with the exception of a 1993 collaboration with Tammy WYNETTE and Dolly PARTON entitled “Honky Tonk Angels.” However, she no longer needed to sing to support herself: Lynn was the first female country star to become a millionaire. One of the genre’s most popular and respected performers, Lynn’s place in the history of country music was secure.
Greg Bower
SEE ALSO:
COUNTRY; NASHVILLE SOUND/NEW COUNTRY.
Krisheff, Robert K. Loretta Lynn (Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Co., 1978);
Lynn, Loretta, with George Vecsey. Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter (Bath: Chivers, 1990).
20 Greatest Hits; Coal Miner’s Daughter, Honky Tonk Girl: The Loretta Lynn Collection, Loretta Lynn Sings Patsy Cline’s Favourites; You Ain’t Woman Enough.