Singer Loretta Lynn greatly expanded the opportunities
for women in the male-dominated world of country-
western music, was born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky 
on April 14, 1932. She is 89 years young today.

Unlike some country-western stars that sang about a
rural working class life but lived an urban middle class
existence, Loretta Lynn’s country roots were authentic.

ROSS SIMPSON

Tammy Wynette (Virginia Wynette Pugh)
(May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998)

Tammy Waynette was one of country music’s best-
known artists and biggest-selling female singers
during the late 1960s and first half of the 1970s.

Wynette charted 20 number-one songs on the
Billboard Country Chart. She is credited with
having defined the role of women in country
music during the 1970s.

Tammy died on April 6, 1998, at the age of 55
while sleeping on her couch in her Nashville,
Tennessee, home. Her doctor from said she
died of a blood clot in her lung.

Reba Nell McEntire is a country music singer and actress. She is
often referred to as "the Queen of Country” and has sold more
than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has
placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart,
25 of which reached number one.

The Ventures first wide-release single, "Walk, Don’t Run"
(1960), brought international fame to the group, and is
often cited as one of the top songs ever recorded for guitar.

Les Paul (1915-2009) and Mary Ford (1924-1977)  were a popular
1950s husband-and-wife musical duo who performed and recorded during 1945–1963. The couple were introduced to each other by
Gene Autry in 1945 and were married on December 31, 1949.

Paul and Ford are famous for creating a makeshift recording studio
in their garage. In that studio, they used multitrack recording to
record many of their big hits.

Ford and Paul were music superstars during the first half of the
1950s, putting out 28 hits for Capitol Records between 1950 and
1957, including "Tiger Rag", "Vaya con Dios" (11 weeks at No. 1), "Mockin’ Bird Hill" (top 10), "How High the Moon" (nine weeks at
No. 1), "Bye Bye Blues" and "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise".