This paper is a study of country singer Loretta Lynn, whose song and autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, was made into a successful and popular film in 1980 by Michael Apted from a script by Tom Rickman. Lynn was portrayed in the film by Sissy Spacek, who sang in Lynn's signature style. The song, the book, and the movie all simplify Lynn's rags-to-riches story of her rise from a dirt-poor child-bride in Kentucky to a world-famous singer-songwriter. From her marriage at age 13 through the establishment of her luxurious ranch and highly successful singing career, Coal Miner's Daughter is a story of the American Dream, including all the bumps along the way that characterize success in American culture and in the classic country music of which she continues to play an important role.
Charles K. Wolfe describes country music as, "the home of a large number of performers who shared a range of values and beliefs about the music, and who shared a common body of tradition and history" (vii). Country music had become established as an American genre in the 1920s. Arising from a folk and hillbilly tradition, the most famous center for country music was an institution in Nashville, Tennessee, known as the Grand Ole Opry, the low-brow reaction to opera's high culture elitism. Popularized by its own radio broadcasts, country had developed an avid following, especially in rural areas.
One of the most rural places in America was Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, where, on April 14, 1932, "Ted" and "Clary" Webb welcomed the second of eight children into the world. They named her Loretta, and she proceeded to follow in her parents' footsteps for the first decade and a half of her life.
Ted earned what little money he could to support his growing family by taking on every job he could find, including coal mining, one of the few industries in that locale. As Lynn later put it in the song that identifies her background and forms the cen...