“To make it in this business, you either have to be first, great or different,” says living legend Loretta Lynn. “And I was the first to ever go into Nashville, singin’ it like the women lived it.”
2010 marked the 50th anniversary of Loretta’s arrival on the music scene with her 1960 debut single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl.” Almost on the exact date of her golden anniversary in show business, the Recording Academy gave her its Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor was presented in Los Angeles on January 31, 2010. Loretta Lynn signed her first recording contract on February 1, 1960, and within a matter of weeks, she was at her first recording session.

In addition to being “first,” she was also “great” and “different.” Loretta’s instantly recognizable delivery is one of the greatest country-music voices in history. As for “different,” no songwriter has a more distinctive body of work. In lyrics such as “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’” and “Your Squaw Is on the War Path,” she refused to be any man’s doormat. She challenged female rivals in “You Ain’t Woman Enough” and “Fist City.” She showed tremendous blue-collar pride in “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “You’re Lookin’ at Country.” She is unafraid of controversy, whether the topic is sex (“Wings Upon Your Horns”), divorce (“Rated X”), alcohol (“Wouldn’t It Be Great”), war (“Dear Uncle Sam”), or “The Pill,” her celebration of sexual liberation, which were among some of her songs to be banned by many radio stations. Like the lady herself, Loretta Lynn’s songs shoot from the hip.