He Was The One Who Persuaded Loretta To Start Her Musical Career
Loretta credits Doo for her successful music career. It was actually Doo who bought Loretta her first guitar, a $17 Harmony. Loretta taught herself how to play it, and Doo served as a constant source of encouragement. He’d tell her that she’s as good or even better as most of the girls singing and making money.
“I could never have done it on my own,” Lynn said and how she had never sung in front of anybody until Doo pushed her out there. “Whatever else our marriage was back in the days…without Doo and his drive to get a better life, there would have been no Loretta Lynn, country singer.”
Loretta Lynn’s spouse also generated material. His drinking and cheating fired up Loretta to write signature songs just like her first No. 1 hit, “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind).” A few years later, she wrote a frank yet bubbly warning to a would-be rival, “Fist City,” for a real woman in Tennessee who was making eyes at Doo while she was singing.
“I wrote about my heartaches, I wrote about everything,” Loretta said. In fact, she had never written any song without her husband in it, though Doo didn’t know which line he was in.
“The more you hurt, the better the song is. You put your whole heart into a song when you’re hurting. You can’t be protected. I didn’t try to be protected. I didn’t want to be protected. When I wrote a song like that, I was mad, and somebody else needed protection, not me.”
When Loretta’s first single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” came out, Doo also helped with the promotion. He traveled along with Loretta as they visited radio stations, having a shot at getting airtime for her song.
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