Loretta Lynn staked her reputation as one of the gutsiest artists in country music long ago. From her beginnings as the genre’s lone feminist singer in the 1960s to her 21st century partnership with White Stripes founder Jack White, Lynn has been nothing if not a bona fide rebel.

Lynn came from humble beginnings as a coal miner’s daughter from Van Lear, Kentucky. Her childhood became the subject of her most famous song, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which inspired her autobiography and an Oscar-winning movie starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta herself. Lynn’s experiences as a child bride with six children were also fodder for her songs, though Lynn remained married to her husband from the age of 13 until he died 50 years later.

Throughout her career, Lynn sang tales that were often based on her own life: stories that most women, especially women from the South, could identify with and relate to. From divorce to contraception to the Vietnam War, Lynn took on every subject under the sun with fierce honky-tonk flair.

Her most experimental work came after her husband’s death, when Jack White produced Lynn’s comeback album, Van Lear Rose, in 2004. The odd pairing produced some of the best songs in music that year, earning Lynn two Grammys and a fresh start. A new album of original material is slated to be released later this year.

By Caitlin McGarry