k.d. lang, Dolly Parton pay tribute to Loretta Lynn
The late country music icon and “coal miner’s daughter” struck a chord with LGBTQ+ music icons.
Superstar Dolly Parton and lesbian pop icon k.d. lang are among the many music stars who have come out and paid tribute to the late Loretta Lynn, who passed away on October 4.
“So sorry to hear about my sister, friend Loretta,” Parton wrote in a statement. “We’ve been like sisters all the years we’ve been in Nashville and she was a wonderful human being, wonderful talent, had millions of fans and I’m one of them. I miss her dearly as we all will. May she rest in peace.”
On Lynn’s website, the family of the 90-year-old country icon posted a popup announcement: “Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home at her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills. The family has asked for privacy during this time, as they grieve. An announcement regarding a memorial will be forthcoming in a public announcement.”
In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Lynn’s family said she died Tuesday at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
k.d. lang was among the many music celebrities who took to social media to mourn the icon and pre-feminist country music legend’s passing.
And on Instagram lang posted: “Joyous. Fierce. One of a kind. I loved meeting and working with Loretta Lynn ❤️🕊🙏🏼”
Loretta Lynn was a Kentucky coal miner’s daughter whose songs held no illusions about being a woman in Appalachia, Eastern Kentucky who found fame and fortune and escaped a life of poverty and abuse. By some accounts Lynn was married at the age of 15 and had four children before launching her singing career in the early 1960s at the dawn of feminism.
Lynn’s biggest hits were full of grit and frankness, without a trace of victimhood to be found: “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” “The Pill,” “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),” “Rated X” and “You’re Looking at Country.”
“It was what I wanted to hear and what I knew other women wanted to hear, too,” Lynn told the Associated Press in 2016. “I didn’t write for the men; I wrote for us women. And the men loved it, too.”
Despite her feminist early work, she became aligned with Republican causes in her old age. But let’s not forget the medley she did with k.d. lang (and Kitty Wells and Brenda Lee): “Honky Tonk Angels.”
