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| AP File Photo/Christoper Berkey | |
Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner's daughter whose frank songs about existence and love as a woman in Appalachia hauled her out of neediness and made her a pillar of country music, has kicked the bucket. She was 90.
In a statement gave to The Associated Press, Lynn's family said she kicked the bucket Tuesday at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
"Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills," the family said in a statement. They asked for privacy as they lament and said a memorial will be announced later.
Lynn already had four youngsters prior to launching her career in the early 1960s, and her songs mirrored her pride in her rural Kentucky background.
As a songwriter, she crafted a persona of a defiantly intense woman, a contrast to the stereotypical image of most female country singers. The Country Music Hall of Famer expounded fearlessly on sex and love, cheating husbands, separation and contraception and some of the time crossed paths with radio programmers for material from which even stone entertainers once stayed away.
Her greatest hits came in the 1960s and '70s, including "Coal Miner's Daughter," "You Ain't Woman Enough," "The Pill," "Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)," "Rated X" and "You're Looking at Country." She was known for appearing in floor-length, wide outfits with elaborate weaving or rhinestones, many created by her longtime personal assistant and planner Tim Cobb.