When Loretta Lynn Spoke Out About Abortion and Queer Fans

One of the main reasons I wanted to establish Untethered Southerner was to dispel this notion that the way things are in country music and culture is the way they’ve always been. That’s just not so. It comes up over and over in my research on country music, and it sure came up when I listened to the audiobook of Sissy Spacek performing Loretta Lynn’s 1976 memoir, Coal Miner’s Daughter.

Of course, I’ve seen Sissy’s Oscar-winning turn as Loretta in the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter many, many times, but I’d never read the book until I dug in as part of my deep research on Eastern Kentucky for my book on The Judds. Hearing Sissy perform this book is a real treat, and there were some big revelations for me — especially when it came to Loretta’s thoughts on reproductive rights and queer people.

Now, Loretta has passed on, and towards the end of her life she was known for both predicting and supporting Trump’s first presidency and palling around with Kid Rock. To be fair, Loretta accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama and met every U.S. President from Nixon to Carter to Reagan to both Bushes (she loved the Bush family) to Clinton and Obama. She once told Rolling Stone, “I really vote for the man. You oughta vote for who you think’s gonna do the best job, whether he’s Democrat or Republican.”

So now, here’s a look at Loretta’s 50-year-old hot takes from Coal Miner’s Daughter that would set tongues wagging even today.