Happy Mother’s Day Mommy. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you Mamas out there too!
Loretta Lynn via Instagram (5/19/15)
Guest Post by Lisa Siegrist
It seems only fitting on this Mother’s Day to pay tribute to Loretta Lynn—country music icon and mother of six—who died last year on October 4, 2022. Since this is the first year in decades that her own voice will be silent on this day, we will sing about her on behalf of women in audiences everywhere.
By the time Loretta released her first country single in 1960 (“I’m a Honky Tonk Girl”), she had given birth to four children. She was 28 and her eldest child—daughter Betty Sue—was already a tween. And she was a grandmother when she recorded her first # 1 hit—the feisty “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” —six years later. But she never let anyone, or anything, slow her down.
Loretta credited her own mother, Clara Butcher, as the “teacher who played the most significant role” in her life. “She made do with whatever she had, and she didn’t have much,” said Loretta about her mother, whom she called “Mommy” even as an adult. And she brought her mother with her to her endless round of award ceremonies.
About motherhood, Loretta said: “When I first started singing, I figured, ‘Well, I’ll do this for a couple of years and then I’ll go home to my babies. And then it was two more years and then two more. And then I discovered that time didn’t wait for me, they were all growing up. And then I just had to take time.”
FF2 Media proudly sponsored an audio-video tribute to Loretta Lynn at NYC’s 15th annual SWAN Day program on March 25, 2023. This is the first of its two-part series on the life and legacy of this indomitable female icon. We will post a further exploration of Loretta’s legacy next month in honor of the day Loretta received her star on Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame.
This is what we do as FF2: We amplify the voices of women!
Happy Mother’s Day!
© Lisa Siegrist (5/13/23)—Special for FF2 Media®
LEARN MORE/DO MORE
Watch our YouTube of the 15th annual SWAN Day celebration at Manhattan’s SVA Theatre on March 25, 2023.
Watch the Oscar-winning film Coal Miner’s Daughter on Mother’s Day! Follow link for streaming options on Just Watch!
Visit the official Loretta Lynn site for comprehensive information including awards, discography, and an interactive timeline. https://lorettalynn.com/
Read Loretta Lynn’s Wikipedia page for the basics of Loretta Lynn’s life & legacy.
CREDITS & PERMISSIONS
Featured Photo: Loretta Lynn—seen her with her mother, Clara Webb Butcher, and her youngest sister Crystal Gayle—received the Academy of Country Music’s Artist of the Decade Award in 1980, making her the first woman (and, so far, the only woman) to receive this high honor. Photo used with permission of Alamy (2K4WER7). All Rights Reserved!
Bottom Photo: Loretta Lynn with Sissy Spacek bathed in a golden glow at 53rd annual Academy Awards on the night Sissy won her Best Actress Oscar. (3/31/81)
Coalminer’s Daughter was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay as well as Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. For context, the big winner that year was Robert Redford’s Ordinary People. Photo used with permission of Alamy (2E2BAAG). All Rights Reserved!
Both photos are credited to photographer Ralph Dominguez of Media Punch.
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Lisa Siegrist is the former managing editor of American Art (a scholarly journal produced by the Smithsonian American Art Museum).
She has written several articles on women artists, and has edited numerous exhibition catalogues for art museums in Washington, DC.
This is Lisa’s second guest post for FF2. Follow link to read her fascinating first post “Judy Meschel’s Deep Dive into the Life & Work of Alma Thomas” here.
