Of all the unlikely pairings you can imagine, a few years ago Jack White and Loretta Lynn might have been near the top of the list. But White’s turn in Cold Mountain and some of the tracks on The White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan made it pretty clear that he has a real affection for country music.
He teamed up with the coal miner’s daughter on her Grammy-winning album Van Lear Rose, producing all the tracks, playing on many of them and singing co-lead on this one. He also inspired her to pick up a pen and write her own songs, something she’d never done before on a full album, with tremendous results.
This is the only Loretta Lynn album I own, and it’s a great one, full of wit and wisdom. This song is one of my favorites. It’s a simple rock-country tune about a one-night stand (kind of creepy when you consider the age difference of the two people singing it).
I was drawn to this album because of White’s involvement and the idea of a young blues rock man like him teaming up with an old-school country legend. But plenty of Lynn fans were apparently taken aback by the collaboration, based on comments on Amazon.com and elsewhere on the Web. I can just picture some old coot sitting down with the latest Loretta record and being treated to this blast of guitar rock.
Well, it made me a Loretta Lynn fan so maybe it will turn grandma on to Icky Thump.
Eh. Maybe if Sawyer were running around shirtless 🙂 I have little feeling about either of these artists (other than greatly admiring Sissy Spacek’s portrayal of Lynn), so it’s difficult to generate much enthusiasm about this duet, though I do agree that it’s exciting when such different artists (Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello, for instance) combine talents.
I’m with Amy. this does nothing for me.
I’ll be sure to tell Jack and Loretta. 🙂