Loretta Lynn - NPR

Accessibility links

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

• Subscribe to NPR's Up First Email

Carrie Underwood, from left, Reba McEntire and Miranda Lambert perform a tribute to the late singer Loretta Lynn, pictured on screen, during the 56th Annual CMA Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. Mark Humphrey/Mark Humphrey/Invision/AP hide caption

toggle caption Mark Humphrey/Mark Humphrey/Invision/AP

Music News

CMA Awards honor Loretta Lynn while Luke Combs wins album of the year

November 10, 2022 • The Country Music Association held its annual awards on Wednesday night by having some of the genre's biggest stars pay tribute to the late country queen Loretta Lynn.

That Loretta Lynn sang about women's struggles while masterfully projecting the image of an uncorrupted country girl made her all the more convincing as an artist. Star Tribune via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Star Tribune via Getty Images

Music

Personifying a country ideal, Loretta Lynn tackled sexism through a complicated lens

October 9, 2022 • Rather than extol Lynn in ways she rejected, we should appreciate the agency with which she so impressively crafted her identity in country music.

Loretta Lynn performs on stage in California in 1972. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Obituaries

Loretta Lynn, country music icon, has died at 90

October 4, 2022 • The country singer brought unparalleled candor about the domestic realities of working-class women to country songwriting over the course of her 60-year career.

Loretta Lynn, country music icon, has died at 90

Listen · 4:07 4:07 Transcript Toggle more options

• Download
• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/847558281/1126754008" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
• Transcript

Sponsor Message

Loretta Lynn David McClister/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption David McClister/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Loretta Lynn Transforms Classic Songs On 'Still Woman Enough'

WXPN

April 26, 2021 • The 89-year-old icon collaborates with artists like Margo Price and Tanya Tucker on her 50th studio album.

Loretta Lynn on World Cafe

21:47 Toggle more options

• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/990217558/990874940" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Jon Batiste. His monumental new album, We Are, is on our shortlist of the best new albums out on March 19. Louis Browne/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption Louis Browne/Courtesy of the artist

All Songs Considered

New Music Friday: The Top 9 Albums Out On March 19

March 19, 2021 • Hear monumental new music from Jon Batiste, country legend Loretta Lynn, the rapper Benny the Butcher and more on NPR Music's list of the best new albums out this week.

New Music Friday: The Top 9 Albums Out On March 19

Listen · 36:20 36:20 Toggle more options

• Download
• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/977856290/979034969" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Loretta Lynn (left) and Vince Gill perform together in 2004. Writer Marissa Moss cites Lynn as an example of a progressive thinker in country music. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Music

How To Like Country Music, For The Uninitiated

January 12, 2020 • Many people have music they love, and whole genres they think they hate. Music writer Marissa Moss tells NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro why country music skeptics should give country a chance.

How To Like Country Music, For The Uninitiated

Listen · 5:25 5:25 Transcript Toggle more options

• Download
• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/795661005/795661006" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
• Transcript

Cher's ABBA tribute album, "Dancing Queen," is on our list of essential albums out on Sept. 28. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption Courtesy of the artist

All Songs Considered

New Music Friday For Sept. 28: Seven Albums You Should Hear Now

September 28, 2018 • Cher tackling ABBA, Nile Rodgers & Chic returning for the first time in 26 years, Loretta Lynn surveying her career and other essential new releases this week.

New Music Friday For Sept. 28: Seven Albums You Should Hear Now

Listen · 25:12 25:12 Toggle more options

• Download
• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/651887773/652293946" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Loretta Lynn's Wouldn't It Be Great comes out Sept. 28. David McClister/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption David McClister/Courtesy of the artist

Review

First Listen

Loretta Lynn's 'Wouldn't It Be Great' Navigates The Hearth And The Honky-Tonk

September 20, 2018 • Loretta Lynn draws on her back story with a mixture of saltiness, sentimentality and wit that gives it heart and resonance.

Loretta Lynn appears on King of the Road: A Tribute. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption Courtesy of the artist

All Songs Considered

Loretta Lynn Celebrates Roger Miller With The Weary Grace Of 'Half A Mind'

July 26, 2018 • On a new tribute album, Lynn taps into the central tension of Miller's lament, radiating resignation over an arrangement straight out of an antique jukebox.

Nina Simone in the recording studio in approximately 1967. Gilles Petard/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Gilles Petard/Redferns/Getty Images

Music

The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women

July 24, 2017 • NPR's list of the greatest albums made by women, from 1964 to the present.

Sponsor Message

Loretta Lynn, seen here performing at SXSW 2016, suffered a stroke Thursday night. Adam Kissick for NPR hide caption

toggle caption Adam Kissick for NPR

The Record

Loretta Lynn Suffers Stroke, Expects Full Recovery

May 5, 2017 • The country legend, who just celebrated her 85th birthday, fell ill Thursday night.

Full Circle is Loretta Lynn's first album in nearly 12 years. David McClister/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption David McClister/Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

On 'Full Circle,' Loretta Lynn Has New Stories From 'Fist City'

March 4, 2016 • With more than 50 albums behind her — and her latest, Full Circle, out now — Lynn has some advice for persevering: "Girls, listen," she says. "You gotta be tough."

On 'Full Circle,' Loretta Lynn Has New Stories From 'Fist City'

Listen · 7:15 7:15 Transcript Toggle more options

• Download
• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/469082712/469149330" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
• Transcript

Loretta Lynn. David McClister/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption David McClister/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe

Loretta Lynn On World Cafe

WXPN

March 3, 2016 • Hear the queen of country music and producer John Carter Cash preview Lynn's new album, Full Circle.

Loretta Lynn On World Cafe

26:06 Toggle more options

• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/469057239/469059447" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Loretta Lynn's new album, Full Circle, comes out March 4. David McClister/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption David McClister/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

Review: Loretta Lynn, 'Full Circle'

February 26, 2016 • What commands the spotlight on Full Circle isn't so much what the archetypal, proudly Appalachian-identified country songwriter has to say as how she says it.

Loretta Lynn. High Five Entertainment hide caption

toggle caption High Five Entertainment

Americana Music Awards

Loretta Lynn, 'Coal Miner's Daughter' (Live)

Folk Alley

April 8, 2015 • As spirited as ever, Lynn gives a seemingly effortless performance of "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Jack White of The White Stripes performs during the fourth and final day of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival June 17, 2007 in Manchester, Tennessee.

Jeff Gentner/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Jeff Gentner/Getty Images

World Cafe

World Cafe Looks Back: Jack White

WXPN

January 2, 2012 • World Cafe's 20th-anniversary celebration kicks off with a look at Jack White's many talents, including his work as a producer and his bands The White Stripes and The Raconteurs.

World Cafe Looks Back: Jack White

47:13 Toggle more options

• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/140953760/140960643" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Sony

Music Interviews

Loretta Lynn: The Fresh Air Interview

Fresh Air

November 10, 2010 • Country singer Loretta Lynn married at 13, had six children and created controversy by singing songs about divorce and the pill. Here, she talks about her decades in the music business, her relationship with her husband and a new tribute album, Coal Miner's Daughter.

Loretta Lynn: The Fresh Air Interview

Listen · 34:09 34:09 Transcript Toggle more options

• Download
• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/131097120/131197083" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
• Transcript

Sponsor Message

All Songs Considered

The Best Songs of 2004

December 27, 2004 • Below are the 20 most mentioned songs from both listeners and reviewers with randomly selected comments from some of those who picked them.

The Best Songs of 2004

Audio for this story is unavailable.

All Songs Considered

Loretta Lynn, Caetano Veloso, Toots and the Maytals

April 6, 2004 • Former Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn; Foreign sounds from Caetano Veloso; The true love of Toots and the Maytals; San Francisco poet and musician Azeem; The angular swamp funk of Eszter Balint and more

Loretta Lynn, Caetano Veloso, Toots and the Maytals

Audio for this story is unavailable.

American country music singer and guitarist Loretta Lynn performs on stage at the Grand Ole Opry, 1960s. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The NPR 100

The Story Behind Loretta Lynn's 'Coal Miner's Daughter'

April 16, 2000 • The classic 1970 song tells the autobiographical story of her life in Butcher Hollow, Ky.

The Story Behind Loretta Lynn's 'Coal Miner's Daughter'

Listen Toggle more options

• Download
• Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1072994/18816488" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

More from Loretta Lynn Load more stories Browse archive or search npr.org Sponsor Message

Sponsor Message

Become an NPR sponsor