Sixty-six years ago today, on October 15, 1960, Loretta Lynn woke up in a parked car and looked out at the Grand Ole Opry.
Her husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, had stopped across the street from the Ryman Auditorium, the Opry’s home at the time, and there was a box of donuts from him waiting for her.
The couple had reached Nashville late the night before with no money for a hotel, and she had no idea where he had parked. She told Nashville’s Tennessean newspaper in 2014 that he pulled up in front of the Opry without her knowing it.
“I woke up and seen the Grand Ole Opry, so I could not believe I was sleeping over from the Grand Ole Opry, but that’s where we were, sleeping in the car.”
That night, Lynn made her Grand Ole Opry debut. Taste of Country describes her as a nervous 28-year-old, and she had not even known the date was on the books when they pulled into town. She sang her first single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” the record that had earned her the invitation.
Two years later, the young wife who slept outside the Opry was one of its members.
A $17 Guitar and 3,500 Records Carried Loretta Lynn to That Curb in Nashville
The road to that curb started a long way from Tennessee. Lynn was living in Custer, Washington, when she got her first break on a Tacoma talent show hosted by Buck Owens, and in February 1960, Zero Records founder Norm Burley signed her.
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Her first single came fast. She wrote “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” in about 20 minutes on a $17 guitar Doolittle had bought her as an anniversary present.
Then the two of them went to work selling it themselves. According to her autobiography, they mailed 3,500 copies to radio stations. After that, they drove from Custer all the way to Nashville, stopping at stations along the way and knocking on doors so disc jockeys would hear her record.
The work paid off. “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” became her first country chart appearance in June 1960 and climbed to No. 14 during a nine-week run, and that success is what brought the invitation to sing on the Opry.
By the time they reached Nashville, the record had done its job and the money had run out, which is how a future Opry member came to spend the night in a car across the street from the Opry.
Loretta Lynn Was so Excited at Her Opry Debut That She Forgot to Listen to Herself Sing
When her turn came that night, Lynn walked out in front of the Opry crowd. Years later, she said she remembered almost nothing about the performance except that she tapped her foot the whole time.
“I don’t remember even singing. Now, I was so excited, I don’t remember singing, but I remember patting my foot. I went offstage and thought, ‘I forgot to listen to myself sing!'” she told The Tennessean.
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She did remember what came next.
“I came out the back of the building, and I was hollering, ‘I’ve sung on the Grand Ole Opry! I’ve sung on the Grand Ole Opry!'”
She had spent the night parked outside that building, and now she was coming out its back door as an Opry performer.
The Opry wanted her back. According to Rolling Stone, management liked her debut so much that she soon followed it with a record-setting 17 more performances. The family moved to Nashville, she began recording for Decca Records, and in September 1962, two years after her debut, she became an official member of the Grand Ole Opry.
“I’d like to say the greatest moment of my life was when they inducted me into the Grand Ole Opry,” she told Nashville’s Tennessean.
Loretta Lynn Told the Parked Car Story Before Her First Ryman Headlining Shows in 2014
Decades later, the Ryman came back into her story. The Opry moved out of the Ryman in 1974, but the old hall was still the place where her Nashville story began.
In 2014, Lynn was set to headline two sold-out shows at the Ryman, her first-ever headlining concerts there. She sat down with The Tennessean on her tour bus, and that conversation is where she told the story of Doolittle parking in front of the Opry. She also explained why she was looking forward to those shows.
“I think it’s going to be great to do the shows in Nashville because I’ve never really done a show in Nashville,” she said.
Fifty-four years after she slept across the street from the Ryman, the hall finally had her name at the top of the bill.
On September 25, 2022, Loretta Lynn celebrated 60 years as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. She died nine days later, on October 4, 2022, at 90.
Before the 60 years, the Coal Miner’s Daughter and the Hall of Fame, there was a car parked across the street from the Ryman, a box of donuts from Doolittle and a 28-year-old who walked in that night and forgot to listen to herself sing at her Grand Ole Opry debut.
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