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Okla-homey
4/14/2008, 06:04 AM
April 14, 1935: Loretta Lynn is born

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With apologies to BSG, Loretta Lynn IS the Hillbilly Queen

73 years ago today, Loretta Lynn, a singer who became known as the Queen of Country Music in previously male dominated Nashville, is born in Butcher's Hollow, Kentucky.

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Unlike some country-western stars that sang about a rural working class life but lived an urban middle class existence, Loretta Lynn's country roots were unquestionably authentic.

Born Loretta Webb in a log cabin deep in the hills of Kentucky coal country. Born to Melvin "Ted" Webb (1906–1959) and Clara Marie (Ramey) Webb (1912–1982) and named in honor of Loretta Young, Loretta Webb was the second of eight children; her youngest sister is country singer Crystal Gayle. She is also, on her mother's side, distantly related to country singer Patty Loveless. Lynn grew up in Butcher Holler, a section of Van Lear, a mining community officially a part of Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky.

Loretta's mother, Clara, was of Scots-Irish and Cherokee ancestry. Her father, Ted, was a coal miner, storekeeper, and farmer. Growing up with such humble roots had a huge effect on Lynn's life and heavily influenced her music as an adult. Her autobiography describes how, during her childhood, the community had no motor vehicles, paved roads, or flush toilets.

She met Oliver Vanetta Lynn, commonly known as "Mooney" (for running moonshine), on January 10, 1948, when she was only 13.

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Recreated house of LL's birth built on the property of her "Hurricane Hills" farm in Tennessee.

They married a year later, and she gave birth to her first child when she was 14 years old. Lynn had three more children before she was 21 and was a grandmother at 29. She has 21 grandchildren as of this day.

Lynn seemed destined for a hard life raising her growing family in a three-room house with no running water or indoor plumbing. However, while listening to her sing to the children, Mooney, who Loretta also affectionately called "Doolittle," or "Doo," became convinced that Loretta sang as well as anyone on the radio.

For her 26th birthday, Mooney bought Loretta a $17 guitar and encouraged her to learn to play. She eventually began to play and sing with local bands and in 1960 released her first recorded single, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl."

Mooney had a knack for public relations, and he shrewdly mailed copies of the song to radio stations before the couple went on tour. "Honky Tonk Girl" became Lynn's first hit.

By the mid-1960s, Lynn was one of the most successful female performers in country-western music. In previous decades, male performers and masculine themes had dominated country-western music. The themes reflected the supposedly virile nature of the American West and rural working-class life.

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Lorretta Lynn at the Opry in 1966.

Women performers largely conformed to these standards, usually portraying themselves as docile helpmates to a male star: the quintessential duo was Dale Evans' partnership with the singing cowboy Roy Rogers.

After World War II, a handful of female country-western artists began to challenge their subordinate status. Surprisingly, given her traditional rural background, Lynn became one of their leaders. Many of her songs expressed feminine strength and determination and a sense that women would no longer simply "stand by their man," as some other singers liked to suggest they should.

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Her perceptive business sense and talent for self-promotion also demonstrated that women could thrive in the competitive music industry. In 1967, the Country Music Association recognized the new importance of women singers by giving Lynn its first-ever award for Female Vocalist of the Year.

Lynn continued to enjoy great success in the 1970s, and the film account of her life, Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), won her a new generation of fans.

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Sissy Spacek was Loretta Lynn personified when she won the best actress Oscar for "Coal Miner's Daughter" (1980), a biopic that traced the country singer’s rise from her hardscrabble youth to the top of the charts.

Even though they were married for nearly fifty years and had six children together, the Lynn's marriage was reportedly rocky up to Doolittle's death in 1996. In her 2002 autobiography, Still Woman Enough, and in an interview with CBS News the same year, Lynn recounts how her husband cheated on her regularly and once left her while she was giving birth. Lynn and her husband also fought frequently, but, she said, "he never hit me one time that I didn’t hit him back twice."

After an interlude during the 1990s, Lynn returned to the recording studio and released a new recording in 2000. She continues to bring a compelling female perspective to the world of country-western music. More importantly, by all accounts, she is a genuinely kind and gracious person.

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Happy Birthday Loretty!

BigRedJed
4/14/2008, 07:17 AM
...After an interlude during the 1990s, Lynn returned to the recording studio and released a new recording in 2000. She continues to bring a compelling female perspective to the world of country-western music...
She's still making great music. She won two Grammys (including Best Country Album) for 2005's Van Lear Rose, a collaboration with Jack White of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs.

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BlondeSoonerGirl
4/14/2008, 08:40 AM
Good one, Homey.

I think I read a long time ago that Sissy Spacek didn't want to lipsynch so she sang everything in the movie. And that Lynn herself was consulted all throughout filming and was on the set a lot. She said it was as true as it could be.

And she is the Hillbilly Queen. Like, if there was a hillbilly election I think she'd win. That turtle guy would vote for her, I'm sure.

Turd_Ferguson
4/14/2008, 08:43 AM
IIRC, Spacek & D'angelo both sang in the movie.