{"id":4602,"date":"2022-10-07T17:38:09","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T22:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/read.streamapse.com\/?p=4602"},"modified":"2022-10-07T17:38:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T22:38:09","slug":"loretta-lynn-was-a-spokeswoman-for-white-rural-working-class-women-she-was-more-than-a-great-songwriter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=4602","title":{"rendered":"Loretta Lynn Was A Spokeswoman For White Rural Working-Class Women \u2013 She Was More Than A Great Songwriter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loretta Lynn\u2019s death at the age of 90<\/a> marks the end of a remarkable life of achievement in country music.<\/p>\n

Her dramatic life story \u2013 retold in the 1980 award-winning film \u201cCoal Miner\u2019s Daughter<\/a>,\u201d based on Lynn\u2019s 1976 biography<\/a> \u2013 made Lynn a household name. She grew up in poverty in a small Kentucky mining town, marrying and starting a family as a teenager before reaching unprecedented heights of commercial success as a recording artist of modern country music.<\/p>\n

But as a scholar of gender and country music<\/a> and author of \u201cHillbilly Maidens, Okies, and Cowgirls: Women\u2019s Country Music, 1930-1960<\/a>,\u201d I know that Lynn represented more than just star power and fame in country music \u2013 she spoke to the concerns of women, especially white working-class women in rural and suburban America.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking up, singing out<\/h2>\n

Lynn\u2019s rise in the 1960s took place when country music appeared tied to conservative politics. It was a time when Merle Haggard\u2019s \u201cOkie from Muskogee<\/a>,\u201d with its attacks on counterculture, marijuana and draft-card burning, became a populist anthem for the country\u2019s cultural conservatives.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Lynn\u2019s songwriting continued the legacy of Kitty Wells<\/a>, Jean Shepard<\/a> and other women in country music who were willing to speak up about the concerns of American women.<\/p>\n

Lynn\u2019s songs defied societal expectations by connecting her musical representations of working-class and rural women to broader social issues affecting women across the U.S.<\/p>\n