Loretta Lynn gave all struggling women a voice
America’s biggest female country-music star died on October 4th, aged 90
Lordy, that little girl could sing. When she sat on the porch swing of that cabin in Butcher Holler (“Hollow” on the map, if there was a map), and rocked her baby brothers and sisters asleep, she’d sing loud enough to bust their eardrums. But it was such a clear, bright sound that the man who ran the still on the opposite slope would come out to sit and listen while the moonshine was running off. He once asked her to sing a bit louder, just for him.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “From coal to gold”
Obituary October 15th 2022
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