walking upstream…
Loretta Lynn
photo: les leverett · public domain ↗Loretta Lynn
sourcesWikipedia · Saving Country Music
Loretta Lynn was a Kentucky coal miner's daughter turned pioneering honky-tonk singer-songwriter who wrote plainly and defiantly about women's lives - drinking husbands, birth control, double standards - at a time when country radio rarely allowed it. She became the only female ACM Artist of the Decade for the 1970s and one of the most awarded women in country music history, memorialized in the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter.
the sound in question
1970
Coal Miner's DaughterLoretta Lynn
walk the tributaries ↓
Kitty Wells1950s · Country / Honky-tonk
Lynn has said plainly, "When I started learning how to sing, I tried to sound just like Kitty. She was my hero." Wells's breakthrough as a female honky-tonk singer willing to answer men's double standards on record gave Lynn both a vocal model and a template for tackling frank, women's-eye-view subject matter.
listen: upstream & here
1952
It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk AngelsKitty Wells
1966
Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)Loretta Lynn
listen forWells's "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" answers a man's honky-tonk complaint with a woman's own hard truth; Lynn's "Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)" extends that same unapologetic, wife's-side-of-the-story honky-tonk stance.
Patsy Cline1960s · Country / Nashville sound / Traditional pop
Patsy Cline became Lynn's mentor and close friend during Lynn's early years in Nashville, and Lynn later recorded a full 1977 tribute album to her. Cline's full-voiced, string-backed emotional delivery gave the younger Lynn a vocal target as she moved from raw honky-tonk singles toward more polished productions.
listen: upstream & here
1961
CrazyPatsy Cline
1962
SuccessLoretta Lynn
listen forCline's "Crazy" wraps aching vulnerability in a lush, string-backed arrangement; Lynn's early hit "Success" reaches for that same full-throated, orchestrated pop-country sound, a clear nod toward Cline's influence on her developing style.
Ernest Tubb1940s · Honky-tonk / Country
Ernest Tubb personally championed Lynn's career, giving up his own performance slot so she could make her Grand Ole Opry debut in 1960, and the two later recorded a full duet album together. His straightforward, talk-singing honky-tonk style - built for barroom jukeboxes rather than polished pop production - shaped the plainspoken directness of Lynn's earliest singles.
listen: upstream & here
1941
Walking the Floor Over YouErnest Tubb
1960
I'm a Honky Tonk GirlLoretta Lynn
listen forTubb's "Walking the Floor Over You" rides a spare, unfussy honky-tonk shuffle with a conversational vocal; Lynn's debut single "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl," the record that helped win her that Opry slot, has the same stripped-down, jukebox-ready directness.