Opry.com has launched a new interactive game and not only is it fun, but it’s also for a good cause! The Country Music Video Challenge features video clips of Opry performances – including Loretta Lynn – followed by questions about those clips and the artists featured in them. Plus, Opry Presenting Sponsor Humana® has pledged to pay $1 for each of the first 25,000 fans who play the game.

In addition to showing off your country music trivia mettle and assisting with continuing flood relief efforts, by playing the game you will also be entered to win one-of-a-kind Challenge prizes, including an autographed Gibson guitar, $500 cash, and a trip to Nashville including VIP tickets to the Opry!

Go to oprychallenge.com to check the game out for yourself. Be warned … it can be addictive!

By Tom Roland – GAC

Last week, Loretta Lynn got doubly good news when her “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was entered into the National Recording Registry and Vintage Books announced it was re-releasing her autobiography in September.

Now her autumn schedule is looking even more attractive. The Recording Academy has announced that Loretta will be recognized during the second Grammy Salute To Country Music Oct. 12 at the historic Ryman Auditorium. During the night, she’ll receive the Recording Academy President’s Merit Award. She’ll also be given her Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; she was unable to attend in January when the Academy recognized her — alongside Bobby Darin and Michael Jackson — with that honor in January.

Read the rest of this entry »

Presented by MasterCard®, the Event will Spotlight the Country Music Legend on Oct. 12 at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

 Continuing the tradition of celebrating musical excellence 365 days of the year, The Recording Academy^® will host GRAMMY Salute To Country Music^SM honoring Loretta Lynn, presented by MasterCard^®. In its sophomore year, the event will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010 at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. The star-studded tribute will feature performances by some of Nashville’s finest artists and will include a special presentation of The Recording Academy President’s Merit Award to three-time GRAMMY^® winner and Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Lynn in honor of her dynamic career and contributions to country music.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Tom Roland – GAC

This fall will mark a whopping 40 years since Loretta Lynn hit radio waves with “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” but the song is enduring enough that it made news in not just one, but two different ways on Wednesday.

For starters, the book that carried the same name, Coal Miner’s Daughter, will be reissued in September by Vintage Books, which will market the autobiography as a paperback, an e-book and an audio book, narrated by Sissy Spacek. Sissy is, of course, a natural for that job, since she won an Oscar for portraying Loretta in the movie that was built around the book and even got a Grammy nomination for her own recording of “Coal Miner.” The movie, in fact, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Read the rest of this entry »

 by Stephen L. Betts – The Boot

Two iconic country music legends and a pair of recordings that have come to symbolize them have been selected for preservation by the Library of Congress. Loretta Lynn‘s autobiographical tale of growing up as a ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ which was released as a single in 1970, and Willie Nelson‘s 1975 concept album, ‘Red Headed Stranger,’ set in the Old West, are among the 25 new additions to the eighth annual National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. According to a statement from the Library, their inclusion “ensures that these cultural, artistic and historical recordings are always available to the American public.”
Read the rest of this entry »