\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\tJack White and Loretta Lynn at the 2005 Grammy Awards. <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tROBYN BECK\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tVan Lear Rose<\/em> not only introduced so many people to Lynn and the world of her music, but also to country music, too, and helped change their perceptions, or misperceptions, about the genre. Looking back, talk to me about how you view that impact now.\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tFor seven years, this record wasn\u2019t available to stream. Why did it feel like the right time to bring it back? <\/strong> \n\tThat\u2019s really interesting to think about: the fact that it wasn\u2019t embraced by country radio or institutions almost gave it a little bit of a cosign for people who were leery of what that world maybe meant, and helped them feel welcome.<\/strong> \n\tI\u2019d love to read that book. You became a fan of Lynn as a teenager, watching Coal Miner\u2019s Daughter<\/em>, and dedicated White Blood Cells<\/em> to her. Do you remember what it was that drew you to her music? Was it as a lyricist?<\/strong>
It was astounding. It was the kind of job to be lucky enough to be given, that it wouldn\u2019t have mattered to me if nobody ever heard it, or I had to pay my own money to come to that job every day. The fact that she was even open to the idea was outstanding and life-affirming. It brought me to tears. That it came out and it resonated with people \u2014 and younger people who hadn\u2019t heard of her yet \u2014 that was all just icing on this giant cake. Those types of records, where it\u2019s somebody who hasn\u2019t made a record in a long time, or maybe somebody younger is working with them, those happen quite often in Nashville, especially. And a lot of times you don\u2019t even realize that they happened, sadly. So this one was caught in a beautiful storm where she hadn\u2019t recorded an album of original songs in a long time, and I was in the middle of the White Stripes absorption into the mainstream from the garage-rock world. It was perfect timing.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t even know why it ever left streaming. You\u2019d have to talk to the Loretta Lynn Estate about that [A rep for the family tells <\/em>Rolling Stone they are \u201cso excited for the release of a project that Loretta loved so much\u201d<\/em>]. But anytime would\u2019ve been the right time to bring it back because of how beautiful Loretta is. There\u2019s a secondary beauty to the record, too, because it wasn\u2019t done by the Nashville rules of how you should release a record like that, or how you should record or produce a record. All those things were not done according to those modern plans of country music. I remember I was in an airport, and I think it was Jerry Lee Lewis\u2019 guitar player who was sitting next to me waiting for our flight home from the Grammys after Loretta won. And he\u2019s saying it\u2019s pretty hilarious that Loretta got nominated for five country Grammys and not any country music awards that year. It just showed you that it was two different ways of looking at what country music was or could be at the time. Nashville radio wasn\u2019t interested in playing these songs. Meanwhile, in this other world of America, people were embracing it and giving it five-star reviews and just rediscovering Loretta again and loving her for it. So it was pretty wild. And I think that\u2019s always been the interesting part of Nashville, and, in a way, a beautiful part of Nashville, because there\u2019s a business side to things, and there\u2019s a big heart and realistic roots side in the same town, fighting for attention and fighting for territory. It just made it more important and more interesting to other people who would\u2019ve never given Loretta\u2019s music or country music the time of day.<\/p>\n
One day I might write a book about that, the different sides of that interplay with art meeting business, because we have such a cross section of that at Third Man Records, too. Ever since I\u2019ve had my upholstery shop when I was younger, this has always been a part of my territory, to figure out these small little corridors where art meets business, and figuring out how to make that into something beautiful. Loretta used to say, \u201cI have 14 songs banned by country radio!\u201d I always thought that was such a powerful thing to say, and say with pride, you know what I mean? The same thing happened to Johnny Cash, same thing happened to Hank Williams, same thing happened to Elvis Presley. It\u2019s worthy of a book, and I would love to attack that one day and tackle the different angles of that, because it\u2019s so interesting.<\/p>\n
The film and the acting in the film I will give the most credit to, when I was younger. Because we didn\u2019t really have country music around us in Detroit in our neighborhood, or our family. Everybody in the neighborhood listened to hip-hop and rap, and our family listened to rock & roll and blues and some country like Roger Miller and Johnny Cash, but we didn\u2019t have a Loretta Lynn record in the house. So the movie was my first exposure to her, and that just grew and grew. Being with Meg and the White Stripes, you\u2019re exposed to this different level of sexism towards female musicians and artists on stage. I was exposed to it through [Meg], to the point where, finally, when we were doing press for the Van Lear Rose<\/em> record, I was telling people that my opinion was that Loretta Lynn is the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century. And they\u2019re like, \u201cWell, back that up with evidence!\u201d Even the most feminist folks didn\u2019t have the lyrical content and the song titles that were raising that flag higher than anybody else like she did. She was getting away with murder right in front of everybody\u2019s face: songs about the birth control pill, about \u201cdon\u2019t come home a-drinking with loving on your mind.\u201d I mean, that\u2019s hardcore feminism, at the perfect time. Just outstanding.<\/p>\n