Loretta Lynn Goes On Tour at 71 yrs old

[R!ck]

Country legend goes on the road for her fans

BY BRIAN McCOLLUM

At 71, Loretta Lynn doesn't have to do this anymore.

But five decades into a career most recently highlighted by a collaboration with rocker Jack White, the Kentucky-born star is enjoying near-untouchable status as queen of classic country.

"The people do want to hear me," says Lynn, who notes that she continues to reap benefits from "Van Lear Rose," the award-winning 2004 album with producer White. "I don't wanna stop, because they're what made me what I am. I have to worry about how they feel. Maybe other people don't. But that's the way I am."

Sidelined by a shoulder injury in June, the scrappy singer immortalized in the film "Coal Miner's Daughter" heads to Meadow Brook Music Festival for a makeup performance tonight -- part of a scaled-back touring schedule that puts Lynn on the road between stretches at her popular museum and dude ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn.

Lynn chatted with the Free Press from the ranch this week.

On her relationship with Jack White: "We've had quite an album. Everybody in town who's been recording has been wanting me to do a song with them. I did a song with Billy Ray Cyrus. Me and George Jones. I'm gonna go in and do 'Will You Visit Me on Sunday?' with Marty Stuart. I said, 'My goodness, I've got a song with just about everybody in Nashville now.' I never had anybody record with me, because I figured when people buy your album, they wanna hear you on there by now."

White recently "called me and wanted to come down with me that Saturday and eat. He said he wanted me to show his wife how to make fried chicken. When their baby was born (in May), I called him and said, 'How's that baby!' And I haven't been able to get ahold of him since.

"That album we did was about the country-est thing I've done in my life. There was about four or five musicians, and we just went in and did it. The album's done great for me.

"He's a good kid. ... I think maybe I'll work with him again."

On younger fans drawn to her material: "I've never had that much problem with the crowd. ... Really, I don't pay much attention to it now because I always had a great crowd of all ages.

"There are a lot of young kids now who holler, 'Where's Jack?' I tell 'em, 'I don't know. I can't keep up with that feller!' "

On her work ethic: "I came to Nashville in '61, and didn't start to do anything great until '64, '65. Now I've got a museum with everything in it, all the awards, you wouldn't believe it. ... I pretty well stay busy here if not on the road. This time I've taken off with my arm has been good because I needed to rest. Getting that album out, getting all that done, it was rough.

"I'd work 100 days a month if they were there. But I'm trying to put it down to where I'm not working but about eight days a month."

On her motivation to keep going: "The people. You owe it to them. They were there when you needed it -- now it's for them. You have to pick your dates. It's hard. But I love it. This is the one thing I've really loved out of this whole thing -- meeting people. They're all the same. They've all got problems, all got good things going on in their life. I listen, and they tell me what's going on. It's been that way, really, since '61, when I started singing."

On the country music business now compared to yesteryear: "It's hard for me to watch what goes on today, knowing how it started. I think what bothers me mostly is the stuff they get by with. You can hear 'em put a record out, and it's absolutely not what it should be. But it gets played, and as long as they get played it's gonna keep happening. A lot of 'em don't have the songs. When I started, you had to have the song. It didn't matter how good you sang it; it was the song."

[SteveFrame]

She is one of my faves. I have always loved her. I got to see her on the Opry once and she is just amazing in concert.

[R!ck]

She is one of the most down to earth stars, and actually treats her fans like family. Love her!