It’s still hard to believe that Loretta Lynn is gone.
She sadly passed away yesterday at the age of 90, at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
Her long list of accomplishments are quite impressive, as her music career spanned more than 60 years and featured hits such as “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)”, “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)”, “One’s on the Way”, “Fist City” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter”.
She also has a whopping 51 Top 10 hits under her belt, won multiple Grammy Awards, and she was the first woman to win the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music awards for Entertainer of the Year.
But one accolade in particular stands out, which is her spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame. A dream for pretty much any artist in the genre, very few can actually say they “made it,” and she is very deservedly one of them.
Fellow country icon Johnny Cash announced her induction at the 1988 CMA Awards, saying poignantly that she’s the most “admired women of our time,” adding that she “touched our very deepest, most personal emotions” in a way few other artists ever have or will:
“This year, the Country Music Hall of Fame honors one of the most admired women of our time. She was born in very humble surroundings, in a tiny coal mining town in Kentucky.
She married before she was 14, but she used her God-given gifts as a writer of songs, as a singer of songs, plus her courage, her determination, and just plain guts, to rise above the poverty she’d always known and to make a better life for herself and her family.Â
And because her music comes from the heart, she touched our very deepest, most personal emotions and became an inspiration for millions. She was born a coal miner’s daughter, but she has become a country music legend, Mrs. Loretta Lynn.
The ever-humble Mrs. Loretta got on stage, hugging Johnny and appearing overjoyed to be being inducted into such a special club.
She started out by handing Johnny a few pieces of her clothing items that fell off in all the excitement, adding that she would’ve dressed up a little bit if she knew that was happening (though I loved her pink sequin top myself).
She also quipped that she figured she be inducted into the “hall of shame” as opposed to this country institution, which just goes to show how funny and personable she really was, even after reaching mega fame and superstardom:
“Thank you, thank you. I’m fallin’ apart too! Here Johnny, hold everything that drops off of me. I would’ve dressed up if I’d have known this! Minnie (Pearl) told me that I might get this, and I said, no way Jose.
She bet me five dollars, and now I’ve lost five dollars. And I don’t have a speech ‘cuz I didn’t, you know, I don’t, I didn’t think this was ever happening to me.
You know, gettin’ in the Hall of Fame, I could see the hall of shame, not the Hall of Fame. This is awful, ain’t it? I’m just kiddin’ you! But Minnie, you won five dollars, dad gone you.”
She continued, thanking her longtime producer Owen Bradley for recording her amazing music for so many years:
“But I just wanna say one thing, this is fantastic. And I’ll have to say that Owen Bradley helped me do this, because he recorded me for 25 years and I love this man.
There you are! I love you, honey. Him and his wife. I love him very much, he’ll never know how much. And I would have dressed up, wouldn’t I, honey? Now Johnny’s got half of my boots and my earrings.
But I wanna thank everybody, I wanna thank all of you, God bless you. I don’t deserve it.”
I couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more than her, and it’s safe to say that the audience agreed as they gave her a standing ovation at the end of her speech.
She really was a true pioneer in every send of the word.
RIP, country queen.
If you’ve never seen it before, or even if you have, this is well-worth your time to watch today:
And you can watch the version which includes Johnny’s full portion of his speech here:
@sonny.graham #LorettaLynn #CountryMusic #HallOfFame #legend #icon #fyp #foryourpage #OverwatchMe ♬ original sound – Sonny
