Loretta Lynn Saluted

A young Loretta Lynn. Click to read more about her from the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The 50th anniversary of Loretta Lynn’s musical career continues this evening with an all-star concert at the Ryman Auditorium.

Billed as a “Grammy Salute to Country Music Honoring Loretta Lynn,” the gala is being staged by The Recording Academy. The organization will present her with its President’s Merit Award during the event.

Scheduled to appear are Garth Brooks, Martina McBride, Kid Rock, Gretchen Wilson, Jack White, Lee Ann Womack and others. Reba McEntire will also perform, as well as host the show.

Loretta Lynn’s first single was issued in 1960. The 50th anniversary celebration of that event began on January 31st when the Recording Academy presented her with its Lifetime Achievement Award. In June, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was chosen for preservation within the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Loretta Lynn

On July 3, she reopened her Hurricane Mills tourist attraction in Dickson County, TN. It had been damaged by May’s flood. On September 24, an invitation-only audience traveled there for a “home town” 50th anniversary celebration. At it, both the Academy of Country Music and Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. presented her with their Lifetime Achievement awards. BMI gave the icon an award commemorating her 50 years in the country-music industry.

The year-long celebration will be capped with a Columbia Records tribute CD, to be issued on November 9. Titled Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn, the CD features McBride, Womack, White, McEntire, Wilson and Kid Rock, as well as recordings of her songs by Faith Hill, Lucinda Williams, Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, Steve Earle & Allison Moorer and Paramore. Loretta Lynn recorded the title tune as a trio with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow. It is the collection’s first single.