(I guess this show is back on after almost being canceled. There’s strange things afoot at this venue regardless)
Loretta Lynn at Shoreline: ‘I still think there’s great country out there’
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(From The Guide, 1/16)
Country legend Loretta Lynn tries to take at least a little time off in the winter these days.
After all, she has 21 grandchildren who visit on Christmas Eve.
“I got out of cooking,” she said, a note of relief evident in the twangy voice that has ruled country for four decades and become one of the most recognizable in the genre.
But the break won’t last too long. Lynn will kick off her nine-month 2009 tour with a show Jan. 16 at the Shoreline Ballroom.
Loretta Lynn
When: Doors open at 7 p.m., show begins at 8 p.m. Jan. 16
Where: Shoreline Ballroom, Ocean Center, 40 Folly Field Road, Hilton Head Island.
Tickets: $45-$55
Information: 843-842-0358, http://www.shorelineballroom.com
“When I go on stage, I don’t think about it being the first show or the last show,” she said in a recent interview. “If I start thinking about it, it will bother me. I just go on and do my show and it doesn’t upset me.”
Lynn once was best known as the “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” whose honky-tonk Appalachian-based style earned her several No. 1 hits in the ’60s and ’70s and made her the unofficial spokeswoman for the feminist viewpoint in country music.But her career saw a major resurgence in 2004 when she teamed up with Jack White of the White Stripes for the album “Van Lear Rose.” White produced the album and provided guitar and vocals, and the record went on to become a crossover success, putting Lynn’s music in front of a new generation of fans.
“I think me and Jack both are kind of surprised,” Lynn said. “Of course Jack, he believed in me all the way. I said, ‘Now Jack, I don’t know if country people will accept it or not.’ But they loved it.”
But even before that album, Lynn said young people always have been a staple at her shows. “It thrills me to death,” she said.
Over the years, Lynn has stayed true to her Kentucky country roots, never — even when working with White — bending to trends or fads.
“Everybody was saying country music was going pop, and I came in singing just about as country music as I could sing,” she said. “Country music just kind of got back on the track, I guess. It’s been going forever. I haven’t lost any crowd no matter how I go. I still think there’s great country out there. If you don’t sing real country music, it’s you that’s going to lose.”
With songs such as 1966’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” Lynn introduced a strong female voice into country, an influence felt four decades later in artists from the Dixie Chicks to Neko Case. It takes dedication, she said, and some of today’s rising artists don’t seem willing to invest the time.
“You know what’s missing? It’s not the voice, it’s the work,” she said. “I think they think if they put a record out there everybody will play it, everybody will buy it. But if you don’t put out the work, you’re not going to make it big.
“It takes everything. It takes the touring. You have to work the disc jockeys, you have to work the record.”
She’ll soon be back to working her own records again. Lynn is in the studio, collaborating with Johnny Cash’s son on re-recordings of her No. 1 hits — something to satisfy old fans, she said. New material also is in the works and could be out as early as summer.
As for that big family, Christmas is over, but they’re still around. Lynn often includes her son, twin daughters and granddaughter as part of the live show these days, a way to keep family around while continuing to work. “Usually I get a good hand everywhere I go,” she said.
Inverted Soapbox 