Jack White says Loretta Lynn was “like a mother figure” to him

6 October 2022

Jack White says Loretta Lynn was “like a mother figure” to him.

Jack White paid tribute to Loretta Lynn

The White Stripes star paid tribute to his friend and ‘The Pill’ country legend - who died aged 90 on Tuesday (04.10.22) - and her imprint on the world of music, feminism and women’s rights.

In a video posted to Instagram on Thursday (05.10.22), the 47-year-old rocker said: “But she was just a genius and just brilliant at what she did and we were lucky to have her and people can learn from example the rags to riches part of it and the beautiful natural voice part of it. She was like a mother figure to me and also a very good friend at times. She told me some amazing things that I’ll never tell anybody. Rest in peace, Loretta. God bless you.”

Jack labelled Loretta “the greatest female singer-songwriter” in the clip.

He said: “I said when I was first asked about her what I thought and I said years ago that I thought she was the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century. I still believe that. Loretta used to say to make it in the business, you had to either be great, different, or first, and she thought that she was just different and that’s how she made it, but I think she was all three of those things and there’s plenty of evidence to back that up too.”

The ‘Seven Nation Army’ hitmaker praised her “incredible presence” and “brilliant genius”.

Jack said: “She was such an incredible presence and such a brilliant genius in ways that I think only people who got to work with her might know about. What she did for feminism, women’s rights in a time period, in a genre of music that was the hardest to do it in, is just outstanding and will live on for a long time. She broke down a lot of barriers for people that came after her.”

The Grammy winner recalled how he “learned so much from her” when he produced her 2004 album ‘Van Lear Rose’.

Jack said: “I learned so much from her working together on this album, 'Van Lear Rose', and there was times where I just had to take a pause and step outside because she was just so brilliant, I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing and hearing. I almost felt like she didn’t even realize it, you know.

Loretta - who was dubbed ‘the Queen of Country’ during her six-decade career - passed away at her ranch in Tennessee earlier this month.