Loretta Lynn

After quitting the recording industry to care for her ailing husband during the ’90s and then releasing a string of flops upon her return, Loretta Lynn did the unthinkable. Much as Johnny Cash tapped Rick Rubin to produce American Recordings, Lynn asked a Nashville outsider to help resuscitate her flagging career. She didn’t have to look very far, either: a band called the White Stripes had dedicated its third album to her. Jack White’s raw, bluesy touch helped retool the septuagenarian’s sound from Appalachian country to gleeful mountain soul on Van Lear Rose. The result is likely the best album of Lynn’s career, once the nostalgia of her earlier recordings is stripped away. For proof, check out the painful ode to widowhood on “Miss Being Mrs.” or the White duet “Portland, Oregon.” The contemporary country boom of the ’90s might have transformed the genre into nothing but Nashville pop, making neo-Neanderthals such as Toby Keith yee-hawing heroes, but Lynn proves she has what it takes to rock … sans guitar feedback, of course. That’s probably why her show at the Ameristar sold out. And you shouldn’t let the lack of available tickets stop you — scalpers are notoriously susceptible to blunt objects and quick kicks to the knees.