NASHVILLE, Tenn. (FOLLETT) -- Country Music icon Loretta Lynn was one of the first female artists to talk openly about birth control and female empowerment. And while this coal miner’s daughter was born during the great depression, she continues to inspire fans.
Lynn gave a concert at the historic Ryman auditorium in early October, 2014. She welcomed the boisterous audience with the story of the first time she appeared on the Ryman stage.
“This is the mother of country music,” Lynn proclaimed to thunderous applause. “Try to sing at a place like that for the first time. I was scared to death.”
The October 11 show was the second of two sold-out concerts for Lynn, who first headlined the “Mother Church of Country Music” fifty-four years ago.
“I sang here for the first time,” she reminisced. “I remember patting my foot; I don’t remember singing a song. …I was so scared.”
Lynn is, of course, a member of the Opry and also a 1988 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, but perhaps her most impressive accolade is how she continues to inspire female fans.
Mother and daughter Edith Bluhm and Ava Fowler, talked about Lynn’s legacy following the show.
“I think that my favorite of hers is Hey Loretta, because it’s hilarious and singable,” Bluhm said. “And because this one, my little girl here who is now eighteen, used to sing it really loud because the refrain is so easy to sing.”
The women say Lynn’s lyrics, such as “Hey Loretta I swear I’m gonna treat you better, buy you brand new overalls if you only come back home,” highlight just how oblivious some men can be.
“Like that is the best description of a guy who takes a woman for granted and doesn't understand what she wants at all,” Bluhm observed. “I feel like she was really speaking to so many people.”
Given the conservative climate within country music, Loretta Lynn may seem an unlikely champion of a woman’s right to reproductive freedom. Yet daughter Ava Fowler says she did just that.
“She said things that women never would say during her time that they all thought. They could all relate to it but would never openly say it because it wasn’t seen as proper,” Fowler said. “Sex and coming home when the husband comes home and he’s drunk and they want to get some,”
Lyrics to Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ With Lovin’ On Your Mind underscored Ava’s point:
“No don't come home a drinkin' with lovin' on your mind
Just stay out there on the town and see what you can find
Cause if you want that kind of love well you don't need none of mine
So don't come home a drinkin' with lovin' on your mind”
“She says it in such a way, it’s the same thing,” Fowler remarked. “Like it’s the same thing but it’s in a way that is so much more proper which sounds so silly but it is.”
Dr. Kristine McCusker, author of Lonesome Cowgirls and Honky-Tonk Angels, and a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, said Lynn had a knack for capturing common experiences in a song.
“Women’s everyday lives looked very different than men’s everyday lives. And so what she sees in her daily life and writes about, which is what that great country music lyricist will always do…three chords and a song,” McCusker said. “She’s going to sing the song that women will understand because they see it when they look in their own living rooms.”
Lynn was one of the first prominent female artists to also venture into the bedroom with her lyrics. Her song The Pill, was banned by country radio stations for its reference to birth control:
This old maternity dress I've got is going in the garbage
The clothes I'm wearing from now on won't take up so much yardage
Miniskirts hot pants and a few little fancy frills
Yeah I'm making up for all those years since I've got the pill”
“The Pill was controversial because what Loretta Lynn did very well was sing about the contradictions in everyday women’s lives,” McCusker explains, “That she always sold herself as the good momma, she had kids, she always talked about the kids. (She) always talked about how much she hated being away from her children, and then she talked about the contradictions of that life, where you know what, I can do better if I have fewer kids.”
From empowerment in the bedroom to empowerment at work, Lynn’s music continues to strike a chord with professional women today.
“The willingness to balance a desire to take care of your family and to be economically successful? It’s right there,” said McCusker. “She’s lived my life. And so I listen to her because I still understand it.”
During that October show at the Ryman auditorium, thousands of fans sang along with Lynn as she finished the show with lyrics from her signature song Coal Miner’s Daughter:
“And it's so good to be back home again
Not much left but the floors, nothing lives here anymore
Except the memories of a coal miner's daughter.”
After she drew the song and the concert to a close, Lynn’s son, grabbed the microphone.
“The Coal Miner’s daughter ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Loretta Lynn,” he shouted, firing up the audience one last time.
Then Lynn took a bow, waved to the audience, and walked off the stage to raucous applause and cheers. Most of those raised voices belonged to women.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was written for WMOT by occasional contributor Matt Follett.