Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Interscope Records.

Anyone who’s seen the Loretta Lynn biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter knows she earned her first hit single when she and her husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, drove around the country visiting radio stations in a cramped automobile.

That was in 1960. Almost 50 years later, she’s still working regularly, though she gets to pick and choose when, where and how often she does.

“I don’t have to work, so I work when I want to,” she told The Birmingham News. “I stay home and it bothers me… But I have it good on the road now, not like when I started. I have my bus fixed up just like a home, with five TVs in it. There’s a complete kitchen, a complete bathroom and a half-bathroom. It’s all my own.”

Not that the road is the only place she works. Loretta’s developoing a gospel album, she’s re-recording many of her earlier hits, and she’s been co-writing with Shawn Camp, whose composing credits include Garth Brooks’ “Two Pina Coladas,” George Strait’s “River Of Love” and Josh Turner’s “Firecracker.”

Despite penning such classics as “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” and “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” Loretta doesn’t just crank the songs out. They undergo numerous drafts before they reach the public.

“I write things, throw it out and put it in the garbage can,” she said. “Sometimes I drag it out again.”

Loretta’s work as a writer paid off with an induction last year into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She’s also been a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame since 1983.

Her upcoming road work includes shows Friday in Birmingham and Saturday in Columbus, Ga. She takes her homey bus next week to Ontario and Minnesota.

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