After 4 Grammy awards, a Kennedy Center Honor, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a nearly 60-year career, Lynn shows no signs of slowing down. On March 4, 83-year-old country legend Loretta Lynn released her 58th studio album, Full Circle.
A musical overview of Lynn’s life, Full Circle includes the Appalachian folk songs and gospel music of her childhood, some new takes on some old country favorites (her own hits and standards recorded by other artists), and some new songs written especially for this collection.
Produced by Lynn’s daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell, and John Carter Cash, son of country legends Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, Full Circle features, “Lay Me Down,” a duet with Willie Nelson; “Everything It Takes,” with backing vocals by Elvis Costello; and “Whispering Sea,” a new recording of the first song Lynn ever wrote. Later this month, Lynn will kick off her nationwide tour promoting the album in Los Angeles.
On the same day Full Circle hits stores, PBS will air “American Masters—Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl,” a two-hour look at Lynn’s life and storied career.
With all of her success, she remains as modest and down to earth as the day she first strummed a guitar. “I ain’t a star; a star is something up in the night sky,” says Lynn. “People say to me, ‘You’re a legend.’ I’m not a legend. I’m just a woman.”
Just a woman, perhaps, but an inspiring woman, to be sure.