So you cooked and cleaned for 36 ranch hands and had four children. I thought, gee, whiz, this is an easy job. LYNN: And - yeah - before I started singing. GROSS: What was your life like as a wife and mother before you started recording? GROSS: And the twins came a little bit later. You'd already been married for 11 years because you got married when you were 13. GROSS: So when you recorded your first single, "Honky Tonk Girl," you were 24. And in Kentucky, when I was growing up with my sisters and brothers, we all sang and rocked the babies to sleep, you know? But that was about as far as we ever did, you know. You know, I'd never been out and sang for anybody. In fact, I had never sang in front of anybody till my husband pushed me out there. GROSS: So you were doing some performing. And so we really had a good time, you know? And I wrote "Honky Tonk Girl" and "Whispering Sea" during that time. And me and a steel player and my brother, he played the fiddle and sang. When I first started writing, my husband got me a job at this little bar. GROSS: And had you hung out at honky tonks, or did you know them from songs? So I just said, hey, I'm going to tell a story. And I figured, well, I can - if they can write, I can, too. LYNN: Well, I think I probably listened to a bunch of people, you know, their songs and stuff. GROSS: So what made you think of the story that you tell in "Honky Tonk Girl?" LYNN: And I sat there and wrote "Honky Tonk Girl" and "Whispering Sea." In fact, I was leaning up against the old toilet out there in the West Coast, in Washington state. LYNN: You know, I just sat down with my guitar. GROSS: So when you wrote "Honky Tonk Girl" with absolutely no songwriting experience, how did you approach writing a song? And I wouldn't - I would have never sang in front anybody. I wouldn't - you know, I was really bashful. LYNN: No, I wouldn't have because I was too bashful. Do you think you ever would have written or performed if your husband didn't say that's what you should do? Because he thought you sang well, and you wrote a song because he told you to. GROSS: You say you wrote it in 20 minutes on a $17 guitar that your husband bought for you. It was your first record released in 1960. GROSS: Now, the song we just heard, that's the first song you wrote. Me and Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert did the video down at my house, and we were there all day long, so we had a good time. And the next thing I knew, they were here. I just told my manager who I would like to have on the, you know, the record. GROSS: And did you talk with them at all about the songs? GROSS: Now, did you pick the performers on the new tribute CD? TERRY GROSS: And so we heard Loretta Lynn singing her song "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl," and then LeAnn Womack from the new Loretta Lynn tribute, "Coal Miner's Daughter." Loretta Lynn, what a great pleasure to have you on the show. LEE ANN WOMACK: (Singing) So turn that jukebox way up high and fill my glass up while I cry. LORETTA LYNN: (Singing) Ever since you left me, I've done nothing but wrong. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M A HONKY TONK GIRL") They started with Loretta's first recording, "Honky Tonk Girl," followed by the version on the tribute album performed by Lee Ann Womack. A tribute CD had been released, which featured her songs recorded by The White Stripes, Steve Earle, Miranda Lambert and others. Her music was rooted in the verities of honky tonk country and the Appalachian songs she had grown up singing." Lynn built her stardom not only on her music but also on her image as a symbol of rural pride and determination. In her New York Times obituary, Bill Friskics-Warren wrote, quote, "Ms. Lynn became the first woman to be named entertainer of the year by the Country Music Association in 1972, and in 1988, she was inducted into the Country Hall of Fame. She made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry in 1960. Lynn was famous for her singing, her songwriting and her life story, told in the 1980 film "Coal Miner's Daughter." The film was adapted from Lynn's memoir, which described how she grew up in poverty in eastern Kentucky, became a wife at age 15 and, after having four children, started writing songs and performing. Loretta Lynn, one of America's most beloved and influential country music stars, died yesterday at her home in Tennessee.
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