While Loretta Lynn's songs have become part of America's musical heritage, her life has become the stuff of legend. The coal miner's daughter from Butcher Holler, Kentucky was married at age 14 and a mother of four by the time she was 18. Encouraged by her husband after he heard her singing to their children, she entered singing contests and recorded her first single "Honky Tonk Girl." She and her husband drove across the country visiting every country music station they could find to promote their record 'til they arrived in Nashville and she became a regular on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1963 she was signed to a lifetime contract with Decca Records. For decades, she toured relentlessly, performing as many as 250 shows a year. Her songs "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (with Lovin' on Your Mind)," and "You Ain't Woman Enough (to Take My Man)," expressed a new, more assertive role for women in country music, while the "The Pill," "Dear Uncle Sam," and "I Wanna Be Free" reflected changing social conditions from the point of view of working class women in the nation's heartland. Her song "Coal Miner's Daughter" told her own story in song, and gave a title to her 1976 autobiography and an acclaimed motion picture of her life story. After 50 years in the music industry, Loretta Lynn demonstrated once again that she had not lost touch with her roots or her art in the moody rock-tinged collection of original songs, Van Lear Rose. This podcast was recorded during Loretta Lynn's performance at the 1987 International Achievement Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona.