Who is Loretta Lynn’s husband, Oliver “Mooney” Lynn?
Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr. was born on August 27, 1926, in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, which was a coal-mining town. He was of Irish descent and served in the US Army during World War II, and was later known as a talent manager and country music figure. He was known for his many nicknames like “Mooney,” which was short for moonshine, an alcohol that he used to sell and accordingly one of his favorites as well. Mooney was also called by Loretta as “Doo” from “Doolittle” though the origin of that nickname is still unknown.
Loretta had always credited Mooney with her success as a country music artist. It was him who gave her her first harmony acoustic guitar, which he purchased from Sears for $17 in 1953. The then 21-year-old Loretta used this guitar to compose her songs, including her iconic song “Honky Tonk Woman,” which rescued them from poverty. He was also the one who pushed her to sing and perform, encouraging her that she was just as good and even better than the other girls who were singing. In an interview with Fresh in 2010, Loretta said that she had never tried singing in front of anyone before that.
He also supported her music, traveling alongside her and visiting radio stations to get airtime for her songs. And even though they did not have a lot, Mooney never let Loretta miss career opportunities. One time, the couple slept inside the car and got doughnuts in the morning before Loretta’s big performance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in 1960. In her 2002 memoir ‘Still Woman Enough,’ she said that without Mooney, there would be no Loretta Lynn, country singer.
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