Media Center: Loretta Lynn Is the Original 'Honky Tonk Girl'

WHO:
Loretta Lynn

WHAT:
HONKY TONK GIRL
My Life in Lyrics

WHEN:
Published by Knopf April 3, 2012

One of the most beloved country music stars of all time gives us the first collection of her lyrics and, in her own words, tells the stories that inspired her most popular songs, such as “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’,” and, of course, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl.”

Loretta Lynn’s rags-to-riches story–from her hardscrabble childhood in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, through her marriage to Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn when she was thirteen, to her dramatic rise to the top of the charts–has resonated with countless fans throughout her more than fifty-year career. Now, the anecdotes she shares here give us deeper insight into her life, her collaborations, her influences, and how she pushed the boundaries of country music by discussing issues important to working-class women, even when they were considered taboo. Readers will also get a rare look at the singer’s handwritten lyrics and at personal photographs from her childhood, of her family, and of her performing life. Honky Tonk Girl: A Life in Lyrics is one more way for Lynn’s fans–those who already love her and those who soon will–to know the heart and mind of this remarkable woman.

Media Resources:
Visit the author’s website | Download the jacket

Watch Loretta sing “Coal Miner’s Daughter” with Sheryl Crowe and Miranda Lambert, and sing along! (Follow the lyrics below…)

“Coal Miner’s Daughter”
Release date 1970

Well I was born a coal miner’s daughter
In a cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler
We were poor, but we had love
That’s the one thing Daddy made sure of
He shoveled coal to make a poor man’s dollar

My Daddy worked all night in the Van Lear Coal Mines,
All day long in a fi eld a- hoein’ corn,
Mommy rocked the babies at night,
And read the Bible by the coal- oil light,
And everything would start all over
come break of mornin’

Daddy loved and raised eight kids on a miner’s pay
Mommy scrubbed our clothes on a washboard every day
Why, I’ve seen her fi ngers bleed, to complain, there was no need,
She’d smile in Mommy’s understanding way

In the summertime we didn’t have shoes to wear
But in the wintertime, we’d all get a brand- new pair,
From a mail- order catalog, money, made from sellin’ a hog
Daddy always managed to get the money somewhere

Yeah, I’m proud to be a coal miner’s daughter,
I remember well the well where I drew water,
The work we done was hard at night we’d sleep ’cause we were tired,
I never thought of ever leavin’ Butcher Holler

Well, a lot of things have changed since way back then
And it’s so good to be back home again,
Not much left but the fl oor, nothin’ lives here anymore
’Cept the memories of a coal miner’s daughter

Publicity:
Kathy Zuckerman | 212-572-2105 | kzuckerman@randomhouse.com