Loretta Lynn had many worthy nicknames during her decorated country music career, with a lot of them being coined during her remarkable run in the 1970’s and 1980’s as the genre’s most awarded artist.
Many called her “Country Music’s First Girl Singer,” “The Queen of Country Music,” “The First Lady of Country Music,” and thanks to her number one hit in 1971, “The Coal Miner’s Daughter.” She was truly a groundbreaking artist, and an important part of her musical career was her 1973 album Love Is the Foundation.
Released on this date in 1973, Loretta’s twenty-third studio album added to her expansive country music discography and was met with praise from fans and critics alike. Many consider the songs “What Sundown Does To You,” “You’re Still Lovin’ Me,” and “Hey Loretta” as the best tracks from a project chock-full of Loretta Lynn classics.
It was described by a music review publisher back in 1973 as the perfect album to throw on the turntable and “walk away” from. The hits just keep coming on this front-to-back, cover-to-cover masterpiece that Lynn was often known to compose.
Love Is the Foundation made it all the way to the top of the US Billboard Hot Country Albums upon its release, and even cracked the top 200 list on Billboard’s Top LP’s and Tape charts (I wonder what the “Tapes” chart looks like now).
The first single that was released in April ahead of the project was of the same name and set the tone for the rest of the album. “Love Is the Foundation” peaked at the number one spot on both the US Hot Country Singles chart and Canada’s RPM Country Singles chart.
So go ahead and transport yourself back to the 1970’s, the height of Loretta Lynn’s unbelievable and trailblazing career, and take a moment to listen to “Love Is the Foundation,” the song that kicked off the album’s success:
And while you are at it, you might as well throw on “Hey Loretta” too.
The tune was actually written by Shel Silverstein, who was best known for his poems but also had quite the successful songwriting career.
“Hey Loretta” is my personal favorite from the album.
Take a listen:
