Loretta Lynn announces 'Wouldn't It Be Great' for August 18th

Loretta Lynn has set her new studio album, Wouldn’t It Be Great, for August 18th on CD and LP via Sony Legacy Recordings. The deeply personal album is comprised entirely of songs written or co-written by Lynn, and features new compositions nestled alongside select soulful reinterpretations of enduring classics from her catalog.

Like its predecessor, the critically-acclaimed, Grammy-nominated Full Circle — which was released in March 2016 — Wouldn’t It Be Great was mainly recorded at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with producers Patsy Lynn Russell and John Carter Cash.

An exploration of Lynn’s songwriting, Wouldn’t It Be Great finds her communicating the universality of human experience–love in all its intoxication and heartbreak, the things of the soul and spirit that abide, the transformative power of making music and connecting. The collection debuts new songs–“Ruby’s Stool,” “Ain’t No Time To Go,” “I’m Dying For Someone To Live For”–alongside newly recorded renditions of recent compositions including “God Makes No Mistakes” — from Lynn’s 2004 Grammy-winning Jack White-produced Van Lear Rose — and immortal classics like “Coal Miner’s Daughter” — the song Lynn says she’s most proud to have written, also the title of her 1976 memoir and subsequent Oscar-winning 1982 film adaptation — and “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” which was her first of 16 career No. 1 country singles.

A self-taught singer, songwriter and performer, Loretta Lynn is an archetype of American music, a singular artist whose music defined a genre and whose songs continue to inform new generations of musicians.

“I think you try to do better with every record you put out,” Lynn says of Wouldn’t It Be Great. “It’s just everyday living–and everybody wants to know, ‘Well, what is it about your songs that people like?’ I think you’ve got to tell your stories. I just think it hits everybody, you know, the songs.”

Lynn made waves in the world of American music once again with 2016’s Full Circle, her first album in more than a decade. A powerful return-to-form, acclaimed by fans and critics alike, the album debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s country charts (Lynn’s 40th Top 10 country album and her highest-charting album ever on the Billboard 200) and was nominated for Best Country Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Lynn followed Full Circle that same year with White Christmas Blue, an album sending listeners on a seasonal trip to Lynn’s hometown of Butcher Hollow, Kentucky during Christmastime.

2017 is shaping up as a banner year in the life and career of Loretta Lynn, an American music legend who turns 85 on April 14th. The fabled Ryman Auditorium in Nashville has slated two celebratory birthday shows on April 14th and April 15th which are both sold out.

Lynn will revisit the Ryman Auditorium again on August 25th and 26th. Each pair of tickets purchased for these shows will include a copy of the new album, Wouldn’t It Be Great.

As part of its 50th anniversary commemoration, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is mounting a major exhibition–opening August 25th–focused on the life, art and music of Loretta Lynn. The exhibit is scheduled to run through June 2018.

“I am so happy the Country Music Hall of Fame has asked me to be one of their main exhibits in 2017…gonna show off my 50 some odd years in country music!,” says Lynn. “They best have a big space…I have a lot of stuff! I’m so proud to share my life, and music with the Hall of Fame. Y’all come see us!”