Reba McEntire Is Glad Her ‘Mama’ Was There to Welcome Loretta Lynn ‘Into the Hollers of Heaven’
Reba McEntire honored her friend, Loretta Lynn, by sharing her happiness in believing that her late mother was there to welcome Lynn to heaven after she died at 90. The Reba star explained the similarities she found between the singer and her mother, and gave the former a lot of credit for making way for other women in country music.
But what did McEntire guess the two women would have to talk about in the spirit world? And what did she say they had in common during their lives?
Loretta Lynn once said Reba McEntire was 1 of ‘the greatest girl singers in the business’
More than fans of each other, Lynn and McEntire were friends. And in 2006, Lynn was part of a group to honor her fellow “girl singer” for CMT Giants (YouTube). In a message to the “Fancy” singer, she said, “I love you, and I knew you could do anything you wanted to.”
“She’s one of the greatest girl singers in the business, and she knows how to pull it off,” Lynn noted before adding that McEntire is a skilled actor, too. She asked, “How can you beat her out of that?”
Then, Lynn gushed more about how “great” McEntire is and confessed she picked up some tricks from her. “Anybody that didn’t try to learn something from Reba, they don’t know much,” she declared.
And Lynn ended on a funny note, asking McEntire when they could get together to “go out and get drunk.”
Reba McEntire is happy to believe Loretta Lynn is in ‘the hollers of heaven’
Lynn was born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, in 1932 and died in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at 90. On Instagram, McEntire shared a tribute to her friend in the days after her death. She touched upon how the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” singer reminded her of her mother, Jacqueline, who died of cancer in 2020.
“Mama and Loretta Lynn were four years apart, Mama being the oldest. They always reminded me a lot of each other,” McEntire wrote in the caption. “Strong women, who loved their children and were fiercely loyal.”
She added, “Now they’re both in heaven getting to visit and talk about how they were raised, how different country music is now from what it was when they were young. Sure makes me feel good that Mama went first so she could welcome Loretta into the hollers of heaven!”
McEntire shared that she “always did and … always will love Loretta.”
“She was always so nice to me,” she shared. “I sure appreciate her paving the rough and rocky road for all us girl singers.”
Loretta Lynn cleared a path for Reba McEntire and other women in country music
McEntire isn’t alone in her belief that Lynn helped pave the “rough and rocky road” for women in country music.
For example, Billboard called the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter “country’s most progressive trailblazer,” noting, “… Lynn portrayed the women in her music as radically forward-thinking: strong, self-directed adults willing and able to stand up for themselves at a time when the culture generally discouraged it.”
“As a strong, self-confident female artist, she opened a door for other women who followed, a legacy that can be traced through subsequent country stars from Barbara Mandrell, Reba McEntire, and Martina McBride to Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, and Lainey Wilson.”
