While no-one in their right mind would really dare challenge LORETTA LYNN'S 'female icon' status, it's only when you examine the hard facts of her life that you realise just how remarkable she is.
Actually, it's nigh on impossible to choose whether her personal or professional statistics are the more amazing, because - frankly - both are staggering. Let's see: raised in Kentucky during the Depression; married at 13; had four kids by the age of 18 and was a Grandmother at 29. Sheesh! Most sane women would long since have thrown the towel in. But then you try her musical achievements on for size - 70 albums! 55 Top 10 Singles! 27 (yes, that is right, 27) no 1 singles. More collaborations with Conway Twitty than you can ahake a stick at. BLOODY HELL. And The Beatles moaned that they wanted to spend more time at home raising their kids? Wimps!
So, even if she never sang another note, it's kinda tough not to concur when current golden boy superstar around (anyone's) town Jack White decides to dedicate albums to her and goes on to describe her as "the greatest female singer/ songwriter of the 20th Century."
Of course, the logical next step is a collaboration, but while cash registers up and down the land will surely be ringing in anticipation of "Van Lear Rose" - Loretta Lynn's great rock crossover moment helmed by Jack White himself - is actually well worth the price of admission artistically as well.
To be fair, bearing in mind both track records involved, one would hope "Van Lear Rose" wouldn't be boring. Well, it's certainly not that. However, you might have been anticipating something more on the lines of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, right?
Entirely fair supposition, but again one you'll be choking on because whatever you may have been trying to envisage, I doubt you realised how much "Van Lear Rose" would rock. Because, by golly, this red-headed li'l stepchild rocks fit to buggery most of the time. It IS still country and she sounds despicably fresher and younger than someone half her age most of the time, but this is a record the overt rock fraternity will have absolutely no problem taking on board.
Not too surprisingly, the band (dubbed The Do Whaters) surrounding Loretta have been assembled by Jack White, and musically the album - recorded in Memphis rather than the more obvious Nashville - sounds not too dissimilar to a fuller-sounding, iron-pumping White Stripes for the most part, but they put a sympathetic spin on Loretta's fine, experience-drenched vignettes and the end results are entirely credible.
Hghlights come thick and fast, actually. The title track finds the band levering up a crunching, loping groove with keening pedal steel from Dave Feeney and wonderful descriptive vocals from Loretta. She's still spinning yarns about coalminer's daughters here ("Her beauty to behold like a diamond in the coal"), and from her performance here, it's patently obvious there'd have been no Emmy Lou Harris or Lucinda Williams if it weren't for Loretta.
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Jack's backdrops are equally effective on both "Women's Prison" and "Mrs.Leroy Brown." The former is classic, sexual roles-reversed tale of adultery, murder, jail and (naturally) death/redemption. Tthe viper-ish pedal steel and White's hymnal organ give it a Dylan-ish feel, though it bursts into a truly rocking final coda. "Mrs.Leroy Brown," by comparison, yawns into life via snaky, Elmore James-style slide from Feeney and revs up into a bar-room rocker par excellence. Besides, Loretta's tale of a woman scorned and getting even not mad is irresistible. "Hey Leroy Brown, how d'ya like my pink limo?/ I just drawed all your money outta the bank, you don't have none anymore", she kisses off with real relish.
Naturally, the one everyone's been waiting for, though, is "Portland, Oregon", where Loretta and Jack do the inevitable duet. Again, this may well be quite a surprise, at least if you were expecting the time-honoured George'n'Tammy or Gram'n'Emmy Lou broken love song approach. The reality, though finds nervy, heartbeat drums, eerie slide guitar and whirring organ from Jack stirring up a backdrop The Bad Seeds would be proud of before the song calls up a mighty thunder like an adrenalised Gun Club. To their credit, both Loretta and Jack sound entirely at home, while even when "Have Mercy" gets the junior Led Zep treatment, Loretta gets all coy and sexy. If she's fazed by any of this, it ain't showing, that's for sure.
There are moments when the maelstrom subsides and here - especially on the plaintive, acoustic "Miss Being Mrs" - Loretta stretches out and lets the regret simply flow out of her. Certainly, in these moments, you feel this is the music she really yearns for, however convincing the rockers may be, but overall "Van Lear Rose" is a cool package from a lady who's already done enough to sustain a whole county full of living legends. If you thought Joan Baez's recent comeback album was spectacular, you really oughtta try this. Crossover success of the year? It's gotta be a contender.
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