Loretta Lynn has been an icon of country music for going on 60 years. The Coal Miner’s Daughter has multiple gold records and Grammys to her name and, along with country stars like Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline, is one of the first women of the genre to be a member of both the Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall of Fame. Heck, she’s even won a Presidential Medal of Freedom. She’s a country legend. But don’t worry — she’s “still a mountain girl.” And a honky-tonk girl. And the Van Lear Rose.
Lynn was actually born Loretta Webb on April 14, 1932, in the small town of Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, the oldest daughter of Melvin “Ted” Webb (her coal-mining father) and Clara Marie “Clary” (née Ramey). Though Loretta Lynn may be the most well known of the Webb clan, and the only one portrayed by Sissy Spacek in a movie, she isn’t the only singer in the Webb family or the only famous one! It turns out she is one of eight! Several of Lynn’s siblings have made names for themselves, and all of them have interesting life stories.
