Memories of a Coal Miner’s Daughter

Music legend Loretta Lynn died this week at the age of 90. Rather than a fan’s tribute, FJN thought it would be appropriate to publish the recollections of someone who had actually met her, albeit only once. Nevertheless, that meeting clearly had an impact. By Bob Blackburn Well, she lived a storybook life, or maybe a Grimms fairytale. I was lucky to have met her once when I was working for the Westwood One Radio Network 24/7 satellite formats up in Valencia, California, where our studios were. I was the music and promotions person and also responsible for setting up interviews with artists and our disc jockeys, depending on the style of music and format, from Classic Rock, to Oldies, to Hot A/C, Adult Standards and our two country formats.So somehow, I set up an interview for our Mainstream and Hot Country folks with country legend Loretta Lynn. She was in the L.A. area and on her way in her tour bus up to Bakersfield, I think to do her next show.Our studios were in a large office park in the semi-industrial area of Valencia, so there was a big parking lot and a side street where they could park her bus. Our two morning DJ's, who's shift ended around 10 a.m. or so, had stuck around to do one of the interviews, and Loretta's bus had pulled up a little before 10 a.m., and I was waiting in our lobby, assuming that she and her road manager would shortly be coming up to the front door.Well, I waited… and I waited about 10-15 minutes. One of my bosses asked if I knew what was going on, as the two morning guys waited, they were being paid like double overtime or something. So I eventually walked out to the bus and knocked on the door.I guess it would have been her road manager who opened the door and I explained who I was and would be happy to escort him & Loretta into the studios. He apologized and said he thought the interview was scheduled for 10:30.Loretta poked her head around the corner wearing an apron, and was wiping her hands off and said, “Hold on honey. I'll be down in a second. Just need to wash up…”So, she and her road manager stepped off the bus and she's all apologetic, saying that they had just been down to the L.A. Farmers Market and that she'd bought a couple of flats of strawberries and had already started working on canning them for jam.I cracked up. She came in and was so bubbly and friendly. She knew a couple of the folks there, like Charlie Cook, and I got to snap a few pics, and got one taken with her. Unfortunately, my photo of her fell out of my pocket a few months later in the parking lot and got run over, so it’s a little worse for wear. But she was so sweet, and of course as a Pacific Northwest connection, living up near Blaine, Washington, when she first started writing and playing live.

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