Loretta Lynn performs on stage in California in 1972.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Loretta Lynn, the country music icon who brought unparalleled candor about the domestic realities of working-class women to country songwriting — and taught those who followed her how to speak up too — died today at her home in Tennessee. She was 90 years old.
“Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning in her sleep at her beloved ranch home in Hurricane Mills,” her family said in a statement.
Born Loretta Webb, the singer grew up in a remote Appalachian mining community in eastern Kentucky. She was barely a teenager when she started her own family with 21-year-old ex-soldier Oliver Lynn, better known as “Mooney” or “Doolittle”.
One of the greatest songs of his career, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, proudly recounted his hardscrabble past. And while country songs had often portrayed the hardships from a male perspective, Lynn wasn’t afraid to spell out the indignities she endured in her marriage, or the double standards she saw from other women. deal with matters of divorce, pregnancy and birth control, throughout the course of her 60-year career.
Fifty-one of his songs became the top 10 country hits of the Billboard charts, including “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” and “Fist City.” In 1972, Loretta Lynn was the first woman named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. His influence reached a new generation of music fans in 1980, when an Oscar-winning film was made about his life, titled coal miner’s daughter. His music and perspective have impacted many generations of songwriters of all genres, including Jack Whitewith whom she made the album Rose Van Lear in 2004.
Throughout her career, it was essential to Lynn’s enduring appeal that she never lose touch with her identity as a modern, yet down-to-earth country woman who could communicate it to crowds throughout. throughout his career. Her courage shines just as clearly today in the music she left behind.
“I love real life, because that’s what we do today,” Lynn said. All things Considered in 2004. “And I think that’s why people bought my records, because they live in this world. And so do I. So I see what’s going on, and I get it.”
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