Loretta Lynn Owes Her Grand Ole Opry Debut to This Hit Single

In 1960, Loretta Lynn released her debut single, “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl”. That same year, she also made her Grand Ole Opry debut, which is not a coincidence.

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Lynn was just getting started in her country music career when she released “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl”. Three years before her freshman Loretta Lynn Sings album came out, Lynn and her husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, were promoting the single on their own. According to Opry.com, Lynn was 28 years old and already the mother of four when the two of them began a cross-country trek to promote “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl”, stopping at various radio stations along the way.

By the time Lynn was on the road, the success of the song inspired the Opry to issue her an invitation to make her debut on the famous stage. With finances limited, Lynn and her husband slept in their car the night before her first performance at the Grand Ole Opry, which was then held at the Ryman Auditorium.

Later, she said of the life-altering event, “I remember (tapping) my foot. Isn’t that weird? I went offstage and thought, ‘I forgot to listen to myself sing!’”

Sadly, Lynn’s husband spent the entire performance unsuccessfully trying to get the right radio station. But fortunately, he had many other opportunities to see Lynn perform at the Opry. She became an official Grand Ole Opry member in 1962.

The Story Behind “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl” by Loretta Lynn

Throughout her entire career, Lynn wrote songs about her own life. It’s a format that began with “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl”.

The song begins with, “Ever since you’ve left me I’ve done nothing but wrong / Many nights I’ve laid awake and cried / We once were happy / My heart was in a whirl / But now, I’m a honky tonk girl.”

“’Honky Tonk Girl’ came from a lady who kept coming into the little club,” Lynn previously recalled to American Songwriter. “Doo got me a job working for five dollars on Saturday nights [at] a little club. She came every time I worked. She told me that her husband had left her for another woman. She’d sit there and cry. She picked strawberries with me during the time when strawberries were ripe. And when strawberry picking was over, she kept coming to the club and crying. And I wrote ‘Honky Tonk Girl’ from that.”

“I’m A Honky Tonk Girl” came very early in Lynn’s songwriting career, but it wasn’t first. She previously wrote a song called “Whispering Sea”. “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl” is the second song Lynn wrote.

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