Loretta Lynn in Alabama: A look back at 3 memorable concerts by the country icon
Loretta Lynn performed several concerts in Alabama over the years, including some memorable shows in Birmingham, Huntsville and Montgomery. The country legend, who died on Tuesday at age 90, had always been a big draw in the state. However, when Lynn was in her ‘70s, she was riding — and greatly enjoying — a renewed wave of fame after a 2004 album with Jack White, “Van Lear Rose.”
“I don’t have to work, so I work when I want to,” Lynn said during an interview in October 2009 with AL.com. “I stay home and it bothers me. I’m working pretty hard this month. But I have it good on the road now, not like when I started. I have my bus fixed up just like a home, with five TVs in it. There’s a complete kitchen, a complete bathroom and a half-bathroom. It’s all my own.”
At the time, the singer/songwriter renowned as the First Lady of Country Music was far from ready to retire. “Maybe 20 years from now,” Lynn said.
Here’s a look at three of Lynn’s appearances in Birmingham, including a City Stages date that required a behind-the-scenes visit from a local dentist.
ALYS STEPHENS CENTER, OCTOBER 2009
“When country icon Loretta Lynn strode onto the stage of the Alys Stephens Center, resplendent in a billowing pink vision of a dress, the dichotomy between that opulent setting and her hardscrabble beginnings in Butcher Holler couldn’t have been clearer, or less important. A woman with a heart like Lynn’s is at home anywhere,” said Jim Dunn, a freelancer reviewing the show for AL.com.
“Lynn’s been singing songs of hard times, heartache and honky-tonks for 49 years now. She’s comfortably ensconced as a genuine legend, and legends don’t need set lists.
“Lynn just let the crowd pick her songs by shouting out requests like ‘Fist City,’ ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough,’ ‘Honky Tonk Girl,’ ‘Don’t Come Home a’ Drinkin’,’ ‘She’s Got You’ and ‘One’s On the Way,’ which became a medley when Lynn combined it with ‘The Pill.’
“That impromptu approach didn’t faze her or her band, The Coal Miners, but it did cause one bit of confusion when a fan requested ‘Hey Loretta.’ Lynn, thinking the fan wanted to say something to her, replied, ‘What, Honey?’
The voice that’s poured forth more country excellence than anyone not named Williams or Jones is still gut-wrenchingly effective, even on the high notes of ‘Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man.’ But Lynn, 77, did avail herself of a gold chair the majority of her time on stage.
“In-between songs, Lynn told stories like the time she called her late husband Mooney at 3 a.m. to tell him she’d written a hit song, ‘Your Squaw’s on the Warpath..’ Hubby wasn’t as excited as he was irritated at being awakened at that hour, but ‘that booger run all the way to the bank when that song hit number one.’”
ALABAMA THEATRE, APRIL 2007
“Loretta Lynn might want to start billing her concerts differently — let’s say, the Coal Miner’s Daughter & Friends,” AL.com said in its review. “Not to take anything away from a majestic figure in country music. But at age 75, Lynn simply doesn’t sing much anymore.
“On Friday night at the Alabama Theatre, more than half of Lynn’s 9 p.m. show was taken up by her band, her twin daughters, her granddaughter and her three backup singers.
“That should have been expected by anyone who saw Lynn perform at City Stages 2005 or three months ago at Huntsville’s Von Braun Center. These days, her appearances are staged to give Lynn, who suffers from shoulder and back problems, ample time to rest.
“But no matter how well the folks in her entourage perform, fans came to see Loretty.”
At the Alabama, she swept on stage in a sequined brown gown and sang a handful of signature tunes: ‘Fist City,’ ‘When the Tingle Becomes a Chill,’ ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man,’ ‘Here I Am Again,’ ‘Table for Two,’’ ‘Don’t Come Home a’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),’ ‘Let Your Love Flow,’ ’Before I’m Over You,’ ‘You’re Lookin’ at Country’ and ‘;Coal Miner’s Daughter.’
“Lynn’s singing isn’t as powerful or consistent as it used to be, but it’s hard to complain about an icon who still can belt and twang. Also, it was satisfying merely to bask in the presence of an old-timey star who bridges Nashville’s present and past. As the hour-long concert proved, Lynn’s earthy good humor and the twinkle in her eye remain intact.”
Country legend Loretta Lynn performed in 2005 at the City Stages festival in Birmingham. Her setlist included ”You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man),” ”Don’t Come Here a-Drinkin”’ and ”Here I Am Again.” (AL.com file photo/Frank Couch)
CITY STAGES FESTIVAL, JUNE 2005
“As befits the First Lady of Country Music, Loretta Lynn kept her fans waiting Friday night at City Stages’ Momentum Telecom Stage,” AL.com said in its review. “When her set started around 9:30 p.m., the audience heard a couple of songs from Lynn’s band, the Coal Miners, and two by her twin daughters, the Lynns, before she emerged at 9:45 p.m.
“Like a bride atop a wedding cake, Lynn, 73, walked slowly and carefully on stage to thunderous applause. She accepted the crowd’s admiration and began her greatest hits show, which included ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough,’ ‘Don’t Come Here a’ Drinkin’’ and ‘Here I Am Again.’
“Loretta still sounds like Loretta, of course, but her age did show some — mostly in the way she sang seated in a folding chair for most of the show and the small breaks she took while the band performed around her. However, many in the packed audience seemed thrilled to merely bask in her presence.”
BEHIND THE SCENES AT CITY STAGES, JUNE 2005
“Dr. Jerry Walker thought it was a prank when he got the call. But it turns out Loretta Lynn did need a dentist quickly — to fix a temporary crown that had come loose before her show Friday night on the Miller Lite Stage,” Alec Harvey said in a report for AL.com. “A patient of Walker’s suggested him and he was off to Linn Park, where he fixed Lynn’s tooth and chatted with her.”
‘’’She was one of the nicest people you could ever meet in your life,’ the Altadena resident said of the First Lady of Country Music. ‘It was like you were talking to your aunt. The nice aunt; not the mean one.’
“Walker wouldn’t let Lynn pay for his tour-bus call, but she did give him passes to her show.”
NOTE: Lynn originally was scheduled to make her City Stages debut in 2004, the year “Van Lear Rose” was released, but canceled all her shows that June due to back problems. “We’re disappointed she won’t be with us,” said Guy McCullough, the festival’s marketing director. “But we understand that she needs to rest up. Maybe she’ll be with us another year.”