The Country Music Hall of Fame welcomed Loretta Lynn's family and friends to help open a new exhibit titled "Loretta Lynn: Blue Kentucky Girl" on Tuesday.
“It’s incredible, such an inspiring exhibit,” singer/songwriter Margo Price said, who toured the exhibit with fellow singer/songwriters Brandy Clark and Kacey Musgraves.
The exhibit showcases the 50+ years of Lynn's career with items such as the original handwritten manuscript for her hit "Coal Miner's Daughter," stage clothes which she made herself, and plenty of her awards, all while showcasing her music that blazed trails for artists after her.
“I don’t know how somebody at that time could push the envelope so hard and come out with such brilliance with songs like ‘The Pill’ and ‘One’s on the Way’ and “Fist City,'" Price said. "You didn’t hear women singing about those things, so it’s been really eye-opening for me to think about what I can write about. I don’t hold myself back as much because there’s been people like Loretta that paved the way.”
The exhibit is scheduled to open on Friday and will be open until August of 2018, inviting guests to get an inside look at Lynn and her career.
“She had it all. She had brains, she had beauty and humor, she played guitar, she wrote her own songs," Kacey Musgraves said. "She didn’t take anything from anybody and she was a mother, she made it happen, and I really admire her strength.”
Lynn suffered a stroke in May and skipped the celebration on Wednesday, instead focusing on her recovery.
Brandy Clark said she thought if Lynn were there, she would have thought the exhibit was great. “These songs, they weren’t just titles, they came from her real life," Clark said, adding that she hopes fans of Lynn and music in general visit the exhibit to get a better idea of who she was. “I hope they get what a great artist Loretta is and how much of her life she’s put into her artistry. I hope they read about her beginnings in Butcher Holler and her young marriage and raising kids and making a music career happen. I hope they get all of that.”
The exhibit is one of the first things you're able to see once taking the elevator up to the main floor of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
