Loretta Lynn (born April 14, 1932) is a multiple gold album American country music singer-songwriter whose work spans more than 50 years. She has received numerous awards and other accolades for her groundbreaking role in country music. (More from Wikipedia)
In 1998, an organization called Native American Music Association & Awards was started in order to bring awareness of the contributions of Native Americans to music in all its forms; the Awards have been presented annually since that time. The surprise at taking even a quick glance at their “Did You Know” roster at www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/halloffame.cfm is the incredible number of stars of popular music who have Native American blood – the tribe or confederation name(s) are given in parentheses here and elsewhere in this post: Elvis Presley (Cherokee), Jimi Hendrix (Cherokee), Hank Williams (Choctaw), Willie Nelson (Cherokee), Ritchie Valens (Yakui), Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers (Choctaw/Cherokee), Loretta Lynn and her sister Crystal Gayle (Cherokee), Kitty Wells (Cherokee), Wayne Newton (Powhatan), Michael Jackson and the Jacksons (Choctaw/Cherokee), Link Wray (Shawnee), Richie Havens (Blackfoot), Robbie Robertson of the Band (Mohawk), Tina Turner (Navaho), Cher (Cherokee), Rita Coolidge (Cherokee), Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen (Native Hawaiian – Native Americans who are not among those often called Indians), Tori Amos (Cherokee), Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille (Cherokee), Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter Miley Cyrus (Cherokee), Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mohican), LL Cool J (Cherokee), Beyoncé (Creole), etc.
Tommy Allsup (Cherokee) was a member of Buddy Holly’s new band in 1959; he “lost” a coin flip with Ritchie Valens and was thus not on board the airplane that crashed on the day the music died.
(August 2013)
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Likewise, the few women who reached the top of their field are among the biggest stars in country and western music history: Kitty Wells, Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Reba McEntyre, among many others. In hip hop, Salt-N-Pepa burst onto the scene in 1985 and probably helped establish the musical genre altogether, back when rap was being dismissed as a fad.
(October 2013)
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I think of “Put Your Hand in the Hand” as the quintessential early Christian contemporary song. The best known version is by Ocean (from Canada), who reached #2 on the charts with the song in 1971; others who have recorded the song include Elvis Presley, Joan Baez, Frankie Laine, and Loretta Lynn.
Jack White of the White Stripes organized a band called the Do-Whaters that included the rhythm section from the Greenhornes, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler, plus Dave Feeny, another Detroit musician and producer. They became the backing band for Loretta Lynn on her universally acclaimed 2004 comeback album, Van Lear Rose, which was masterminded and produced by Jack White.
As quoted in Wikipedia: “Rhapsody ranked the album #16 on its Country’s Best Albums of the Decade list: ‘Jack White, of the bizarre and bluesy duo the White Stripes, produced this effort to jaw-dropping effect. Van Lear Rose is a stripped-down effort that isn’t afraid to get dirty – both in its dark subject matter and in its raucous, gritty tones. And as much as this body of work highlights [Loretta] Lynn’s down-home vocals (which are as strong as ever), it’s White’s production that sends her crashing – literally – into the 21st century. On paper, these two disparate souls have little in common, but the bold excitement of the music proves the two are a match made in heaven.’”
Jack White’s next musical project, the Raconteurs grew out of the Do-Whaters that had backed Loretta Lynn on Van Lear Rose.
(February 2015)
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