Loretta Lynn is known for her country classics, and now, one of her grandchildren is putting her own spin on them. Loretta Lynn's granddaughter Tayla Lynn released the album Tayla Lynn Sings Loretta Lynn earlier this year, and it's full of covers of her grandmother's hits. In a new interview with People, Tayla opened up about making the album and the struggles she experiencing getting to where she is today as a wife, mother, and country singer in her own right.
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Tayla's father is Loretta's son Ernest Ray Lynn.
Tayla is the daughter of one of Loretta's six children, Ernest Ray Lynn. Ernest has taken the stage with his mother to perform duets over the years, and has also performed with Tayla. Tayla's mother, Cindy, passed away in 2018. In a recent Instagram post, Tayla reflected on the anniversary of her mother's death. "I love thinking about your little house in heaven. Full of [dogs] and flowers. Color and fun!" she wrote. "Miss you Mommy."
She spent a lot of time with her "memaw" growing up.
In her interview with People, Tayla explained that she loved going out on the road with Loretta during her tours when she was younger and that her grandma was strict when it came to keeping Tayla out of trouble. "Going on the road with her was like heaven to me," Tayla said, "being able to be on her bus and eat dinner with her and sit with her in the back after the shows to debrief about the show. That was my favorite thing in the world. But she wouldn't allow it if I got myself in any trouble."
She also shared a story about a time when she stayed out until sunrise. "If I was going to stay out, I'd always call. But this time, I didn't," she said. "And Memaw made it quite obvious that she wasn't going to play that game. It was a, 'You might do that to your mama, but you are not going to do that here' sort of thing. She required respect and I learned that pretty quick."
She's struggled with addiction throughout her life.
According to People, Tayla has been dealing with addiction to alcohol, pills, heroin, and cocaine during her life. In 1997, her grandmother got her into rehab, and in 2004 she got sober for the first time. Unfortunately, she later relapsed after getting married and welcoming her first child. "You're sitting there in the middle of this fancy neighborhood in Seattle, not being faithful in your marriage and breastfeeding your baby while you're doing drugs and all of a sudden you wake up and say to yourself, 'What in the hell am I doing?!'" she told People. Today, Tayla has been sober for eight years.
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She's been performing music for years.
Tayla was part of the country group Stealing Angels from 2007 to 2012 with Caroline Cutbirth and Jennifer Wayne, who is John Wayne's granddaughter. More recently, she has been performing alongside Conway Twitty's grandson, Tre Twitty. This is a way of carrying on their grandparents' legacy, since Conway, who died in 1993, and Loretta frequently performed duets together.
She had her grandma's blessing to make the new album.
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Tayla explained to People that for a long time she felt she needed to do something different with her music, "But when I let my gut start leading me and I started trusting my intuition, that's when I knew that this was the record that I was supposed to make," she said of Tayla Lynn Sings Loretta Lynn. "It was literally the easiest, most joyful experience I've ever had."
She also said her 89-year-old grandmother was fully onboard, and they even sing "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels" together for the album. "Not only am I supposed to make this record, I felt like I was allowed to make this record," she said. "Memaw wanted me to make this record." Around the time of the album's release, Tayla posted a photo of herself and Loretta having a good time together on Instagram. "Don't even worry about what we are laughing at," she captioned it.
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Lia Beck Lia Beck is a writer living in Richmond, Virginia. In addition to Best Life, she has written for Refinery29, Bustle, Hello Giggles, InStyle, and more.Read moreFiled UnderCelebrities • Entertainment • Music • NewsRead This NextWhy Garth Brooks Says Lady Gaga "Saved" Him
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