LYNN, LORETTA

Bellingham Herald, 1960.

Homebase:  Custer, WA.
Stats: 1932-2022
Misc Notes: A 15-year old Loretta Webb married Oliver "Doolittle" Lynn in 1948 and in 1950 they moved from Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, to Custer, Washington, where he'd hoped to find work as a logger. Along the way they would raise a family, and she would win a fruit / vegetable-canning contest -- as seen in the photo of her which appeared in a local newspaper. In 1953 Doolittle bought a $17 Harmony brand guitar at Seattle's Sears & Roebuck store for her birthday. Lynn taught herself some chords, and began writing original tunes. Lynn played an early gig in a large old hen house set on a farm owned by Mac and Irene McGreger - one that served the Fraserview, BC Canada community as a dancehall affectionately known as "The Chicken Coop." In 1957 the Lynns went out one night to the Delta Grange Hall in nearby Lyndon, where she sang a song or two with the Pen Brothers' Westerners and was paid $5. Then they invited her back for a second performance, paying Lynn another $5. The Lynn gigged around with them, playing various small joints including the Roundup Hall in Sumas.

The time came tor Lynn to assemble her own band -- The Trail Blazers (which included her guitarist brother, Jay Lee Webb, along with Jack and Darlene Little) -- and they began gigging at Bill's Tavern in nearby Blaine. It was in 1959 that Lynn played an early gig in a large old chicken coop set on a farm owned by Mac and Irene McGreger - one that served the Fraserview, BC Canada community as a dancehall.Lynn also made an appearance in Tacoma on KTNT-TV's Bar-K Jamboree Show where she sang "Whispering Sea" backed by Buck Owens and his band. A Vancouver BC, Canada-based businessman saw that show and made a point of seeing her play live and he instantly offered to record her for his label, Zero Records. She and Doolittle drove to Hollywood where a few songs were cut at Western Studios in February 1960 -- with some A-list studio cats like Roy Lanham (guitar), Speedy West (steel guitar), Harold Hensley (fiddle), Al Williams (bass), & Muddy Berry (drums). Lynn's first Zero 45, "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl," became a #14 nationwide hit, and thus began her path to fame...

Chilliwack Progress, display ad, 12.31.57

The Trail Blazers at Bill's Tavern, circa 1957.

Loretta Lynn performing on Tacoma's KTNT-TV's "Bar-K Jamboree Show," 1960. Left-to-right: Donny Ulrich (fiddle); Gail Harris (seated), Lynn, Buck Owens (guitar).

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