Stage Buzz – Photo Gallery & Live Review: Loretta Lynn

ilentertainer | April 3, 2015

Arcada Theatre, St. Charles
March 27, 2015

Seeing Loretta Lynn at 82-years-old isn’t quite like it would’ve been during her “Coal Miner’s Daughter” heyday or even 2004’s tour supporting the Jack White-produced comeback collection Van Lear Rose, nevertheless it sure is a privilege and a pleasure. After all, she’s nothing short of country royalty, who along with Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton, will go down in the annals as one of the most significant females ever to grace the genre.

Given her revered reputation and her lack of trips through these parts in awhile, Lynn’s engagement at the immaculately restored and equally historic Arcada Theatre in downtown St. Charles was a predictable sell out. Though she took a seat just a few songs in and kept apologizing for a runny nose, there was loads of life left in the octogenarian as she sweetly sold golden oldies like “When The Tingle Becomes A Chill” and “Blue Kentucky Girl,” backed by an eight piece band.

It was obviously impossible for the singer/songwriter (no, make that “songwriter/singer” as she prefers to be called) to perform something from each of her 54 studio albums, but she made sure to address most of the main ones, along with a few surprises. At one point Lynn opened the floor to requests, heard “Love Is The Foundation” as the most boisterous plea and dove straight into it without a second’s hesitation (or a teleprompter, which countless artists a quarter of her age depend upon).

However, the Bluegrass State’s most beloved rags-to-riches success story wasn’t invincible and did become weary upon occasion, but rather than straining her way through a song she couldn’t properly deliver, simply directed one of her singing relatives or supporting cast to step in for a lead. Everyone was a deserving talent in their own right, though one of her granddaughters particularly rose to the occasion with a spitfire delivery of the White-produced tune “Mrs. Leroy Brown.”

Luckily, Lynn personally stamped her most monumental memories, championing women’s rights throughout “The Pill” and lamenting over a love leaving for war during “Dear Uncle Sam” (two of the many examples of just how revolutionary she was all those decades ago and continues to be in an era dominated lowbrow “bro-country”). A little later, the headliner instinctively shot out of her seat on the first beat of “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and shined like it was 1969, which beyond reinforcing her “First Lady Of Country Music” moniker, suggested she’s amongst the very best more than half a century later.

-Review and photos by Andy Argyrakis