{"id":1948,"date":"2022-10-04T18:58:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T18:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/?p=1948"},"modified":"2022-10-04T18:59:34","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T18:59:34","slug":"remembering-the-legacy-of-loretta-lynn-country-music-icon-and-coal-miners-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2022\/10\/remembering-the-legacy-of-loretta-lynn-country-music-icon-and-coal-miners-daughter.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Legacy of Loretta Lynn, Country Music Icon and ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner\u2019s daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music, has died at 90. According to a statement her family provided to The Associated Press, Lynn died at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.<\/p>\n

The statement said that Lynn died at her home in her sleep. They requested privacy as they grieved and added that plans for a memorial would be announced later. Loretta Lynn was born Loretta Webb in 1932, one of eight children raised in Butcher Hollow in an Appalachian mining town of Van Lear, Kentucky.<\/p>\n

Growing up, Lynn sang at church and home, even though her father complained that everyone in Butcher Hollow could hear. Her family didn\u2019t have much money, but Lynn says those years were some of her fondest memories. In her hit song \u201cCoal Miner\u2019s Daughter,\u201d Lynn said, \u201cWe were poor, but we had love; That\u2019s the one thing that daddy made sure of.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her teenage years, Lynn met Oliver \u201cDolittle\u201d Lynn, the love of her life whom she affectionately called \u201cDoo.\u201d The couple married when Lynn was 15, and she gave birth to the first of six children that year. The couple made their way to Washington state to find jobs, though music wasn\u2019t a priority then. She spent most of her days picking strawberries while her children sat on a blanket nearby. However, when her husband heard her soothing the babies to sleep and humming tunes, he said she sounded better than the female singers on the radio. He bought her a guitar and got her a job at a local tavern.<\/p>\n

In 1960, Lynn recorded her first single, \u201cHonky Tonk Girl. After that, she took her song on the road, playing at country music stations across the country. Her first single\u2019s success landed Lynn on the Grand Ole Opry stage in Nashville and a contract with Decca Records. She became friends with Pasty Cline, who helped her with fame and fashion until she died in 1963.<\/p>\n

\"loretta<\/a>
Gene Pugh\/Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She also teamed up with\u00a0singer Conway Twitty\u00a0to form one of the most famous duos in country music with hits such as \u201cLouisiana Woman, Mississippi Man\u201d and \u201cAfter the Fire is Gone,\u201d which earned them a Grammy Award. Their duets, and her single records, were always mainstream country and not a crossover or pop-tinged.<\/p>\n

She documented her upbringing in the bestselling 1976 memoir \u201cCoal Miner\u2019s Daughter,\u201d co-written with George Vecsey. A 1980 biographical film by the same name won an Academy Award for actress Sissy Spacek and brought Lynn wider fame. Lynn\u2019s success also helped launch the music careers of her sisters, Peggy Sue Wright and Crystal Gayle.<\/p>\n

Lynn won numerous awards throughout her career, including three Grammys and many honors from the Academy of Country Music. She earned Grammys for her 1971 duet with Conway Twitty, \u201cAfter the Fire is Gone,\u201d and for the 2004 album \u201cVan Lear Rose,\u201d a collaboration with Jack White of the White Stripes that introduced her to a new generation of fans.<\/p>\n

She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, and her song \u201cCoal Miner\u2019s Daughter\u201d was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and in 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2017, she suffered a stroke, and the following year, she broke her hip, which led her to stop touring.<\/p>\n

However, in 2021, she recorded her 50th<\/sup> album at 89, \u201cStill Woman Enough.\u201d Lynn and her husband were married until he died in 1996. They shared six children: Betty, Jack, Ernest, and Clara, and then twins Patsy and Peggy. She had 17 grandchildren and four step-grandchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner\u2019s daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music, has died at 90. According to a statement her family provided to The Associated Press, Lynn died at her home in Hurricane Mills,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":1954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[121,122,123],"tags":[634,286,631],"class_list":["post-1948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity","category-entertainment","category-singer","tag-coal-miners-daughter","tag-country-music","tag-loretta-lynn"],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering the Legacy of Loretta Lynn, Country Music Icon and 'Coal Miner's Daughter'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Loretta Lynn, the iconic country musician, died on October 4. 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According to her family, she passed peacefully in her sleep surrounded by family.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2022\/10\/remembering-the-legacy-of-loretta-lynn-country-music-icon-and-coal-miners-daughter.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Where Hope Lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-04T18:58:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-04T18:59:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/399\/2022\/10\/LorettaLynn-credit-Wikicommons.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"721\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren McKeithen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Remembering the Legacy of Loretta Lynn, Country Music Icon and 'Coal Miner's Daughter'","description":"Loretta Lynn, the iconic country musician, died on October 4. 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