The concert “Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Celebration of the Life & Music of Loretta Lynn” honored a legendary and extraordinary life. The 90-minute Grand Ole Opry performance, which was televised on CMT, was as cozy and satisfying as a Sunday night Southern-style fried chicken dinner.
Lynn’s narrative is relatively widely known for an artist who lived 90 years, long enough, as Brandi Carlile noted—one of 38 musicians to commemorate Lynn live or through video at the ceremony—to be her hero’s hero. However, the fact that Lynn’s reputation was also high was acknowledged as a success of the proceedings.
There was a benediction before the meal, as there always is on Sundays. In this instance, Wynonna Judd delivered her second weekend-ending performance that left everyone speechless.
She sang a passionate rendition of the Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art” with the help of her brother-in-law Larry Strickland and The Gaithers after a legendary set at the Bridgestone Arena.
The roster featured well-known actors, musicians, and TV personalities. The Today Show co-hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb both made an appearance.
Additionally, Sheryl Crow, Barbara Mandrell, and Tanya Tucker, as well as taped tributes from Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Kacey Musgraves, Dolly Parton, and Taylor Swift, represent three generations of country music giants.
In the renowned 1980 biopic “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Sissy Spacek, who played Lynn, recalled seeing her after a concert and being prepared to inform her that she would regretfully decline the part.
But when Spacek first met her, he was “thunderstruck” by her presence. She appreciated the country music legend’s companionship as someone who equally filled the roles of mother, sister, and girlfriend and was grateful that she was still in her life years after the movie’s release.
As soon as they took the stage, country music power couple Faith Hill and Tim McGraw emphasized how the songs by the Country Music Hall of Famer served as the worldwide foundation for “local singers and cover bands.
“Hill noticed that Lynn “shredded boundaries and blazed tracks” in between episodes of being overpowered with tears of despair.
It was immediately clear that Lynn’s fights for the artistic freedom of women musicians were not in vain when Americana Award-winning performer Margo Price appeared on stage wearing a sequined beige gown and started singing her 1975 hit song, “The Pill.”
Once, if Lynn performed the song, she would face expulsion from the Opry. One of the highlights of the event was Price’s magnificent interpretation; she is a pioneering rule-bender with a devil-may-care attitude.
In addition to Price’s performance, several well-received performances at the famous country music venue underlined Lynn’s success in life as one in which the lives and times of bold women were front and center and celebrated.
Alan Jackson remembered how much Lynn reminded him of his mother because she was “kind and sincere, liked Southern gospel music,” while he sat on a stool in the famed circle of the Opry stage.
Jackson is a staunch artist who doesn’t often seem moved to express heartbreaking emotion. He received a well-deserved standing ovation as he performed “Where Her Heart Has Always Been,” a song he composed and recorded in 2021 in memory of his mother.
Keith Urban announced that he was Lynn’s date for the 2005 CMT Music Awards before playing her 1971 hit song “You’re Looking at Country” in a wacky, banjo-strummed version.
In a message she left before turning 86, the singer-songwriter explicitly stated, “Having a birthday and I want to see your butt there.” He also shared that voicemail with the audience.
Lynn’s “honest, fierce, proud, wise, humorous and truthful” demeanor, which Hill subsequently described as a showcase of the genre’s most deeply connecting features for country music’s musicians and fans alike, was the subject of Urban’s wry and heartfelt smile amid the 4,400-person Opry crowd laughing with him.
Before rock musician and producer Jack White walked the stage to perform the 2004 Lynn production of “Van Lear Rose,” it was mentioned that Lynn and White first met over a meal of chicken, dumplings, and buttered bread.
A video that was played for the home audience and Opry’s jam-packed-to-the-rafters audience further highlighted White’s collaboration with Lynn. In the video, Lynn recounts the creation of “Whispering Sea,” her debut single from 1960, while perched in a tree and watching her husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, fish in a creek below.
No one in the audience at the Grand Ole Opry was startled to learn that Lynn, even after his death, was still the top performer on the show after watching a two-decade-old recording of his and White’s duet on “Whispering Sea.”
Her family ties help to carry on her heritage. Emmy Russell, who was frequently included in Lynn’s latter performances, teamed up with another well-known country music descendant, Lukas Nelson, to record the 2016 duet by their grandparents and father, “Lay Me Down.”
Given the situation, the pair’s rendition of the song’s refrain, “I’ll be at peace when they lay me down,” had a particularly potent impact.
The High women, comprised of Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Amanda Shires, and Brittney Spencer, provided a lively interpretation of Lynn’s now-classic epic “Coal Miner’s Daughter” as the program came to a close.
In total, 90 minutes encapsulated a life fueled by a love of family and fans, with brevity—in a Shakespeare quotation that is frequently misattributed—being the spirit of wit.
A minute more and the room might have been flooded with tears. However, Lynn’s admirers got to see a sweet glimpse of the significance of their own lives and themselves as they will always be remembered and revered through her songs.
The legacy of Lynn’s life as equality and truth being promoted by the country music industry may be more important than a television special.
