Loretta Lynn Celebrates 50-Year Career

In 1960 Loretta Lynn charted her first single, “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl,” and launched a career that has endured five decades. During 2010, a number of events are planned to celebrate her long and prosperous journey, including the release of an all-star tribute album this fall. Sony Music Nashville is behind the project which will feature artists from a variety of genres.

Lynn shot 16 songs to the top of the charts, and 51 singles into the Top 10. Among the classic country tunes that helped her build a legacy are “One’s on the Way,” “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (with Lovin’ on Your Mind),” and her signature, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

Lynn is a three-time Grammy winner who was honored in late January with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at a special invitation-only ceremony in Los Angeles. She is member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1972, Lynn was also the first woman named the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year.

Also coming in 2010 is the reissue of Lynn’s 1976 bestselling autobiography, Coal Miner’s Daughter, as well as the 30th anniversary of the classic film of the same name. It tells the story of the Butcher Holler, Kentucky native who had four of her six children before age 18, and went on to become a country music icon.

Special thanks to historian and critic Robert K. Oermann for his assistance with this story.