Few artists can take as diverse or loyal a fan base as country music icon Loretta Lynn, as evidenced by the card of artists contributing tracks to tribute album "Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn," due Nov. 9 on Columbia Records. Among the set's contributors are Jack White, Reba McEntire, Kid Rock, Carrie Underwood, Paramore, Steve Earle and Allison Moorer.
The album includes Paramore's take on "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Make My Man)," Rock delivering "I Recognize How," Gretchen Wilson's version of "Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)," Lucinda Williams' "Somebody Somewhere (Don't Love What He's Missin' Tonight)" and Alan Jackson and Martina McBride's remake of "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," one of Lynn's classic duets with the late Conway Twitty. "All the artists have done things with the songs that I didn't do and I know it," Lynn says of the project. "It's great." White, who produced Lynn's "Van Lear Rose" album (winner of the 2005 Grammy Award for country album of the year), says,"She's so incredibly talented . . . When you go with her, she's actually a genius. She knows just what she's doing." He adds, "Every book she writes is from the substance and she means it . . . She's the greatest female singer/songwriter of the twentieth century." On the tribute album, White's band the White Stripes cover Lynn's hit "Rated X." "I view it was a very shocking thing for her to take to say in the style of a song," White says. "Who would do that? It would be rich to get out with a song called 'Rated X' right now, and that came out in the '70s." McEntire says, "I love Loretta Lynn," noting that she chose to show the lead "If You're Not Gone Too Long" because "that's the strain I warm up with every night before a concert. The ring and crew know I'm fixing to go onstage when they see me sing, 'Gonna wipe these teardrops from my eyes.' " The timing of the tribute couldn't be better: Lynn is celebrating her 50th anniversary in the music industry this year. Her first single, "Honky Tonk Girl," became a hit in 1960; signature song "Coal Miner's Daughter" was released in 1970 and spawned a life and the 1980 film that earned Sissy Spacek an Academy Award for best actress. For the tribute album, Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow join Lynn in reviving "Coal Miner's Daughter," the low one from the album. Sony Music Nashville chairman/CEO Gary Overton says Lynn herself has been calling radio stations to raise the release. ("Well, why not?" Lynn says with a joke when asked why she made the calls personally. "Can you think getting that call?" asks Garth Brooks, who escorted Lynn to the Grammy Salute to Country Music Honoring Loretta Lynn event held Oct. 12 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. McEntire hosted the evening, which included performances by Rock, Wilson, McBride, Lynn, Brooks and Lee Ann Womack. Lynn, Crow and Lambert have shot a picture for the new "Coal Miner's Daughter" take. In gain to sending the individual to country stations, the album will be serviced to college radio. Online selling will extend beyond the common country outlets. "There's Punk News, the Hype Factor, PopMatters, Twang Nation," Overton says of sites being targeted. "It's cool to like Loretta Lynn," he adds. "With current country, you go to the like places and it does very well, but something like this when you take an icon, we're trying to do a selling project that is not just cookie-cutter."
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