Van Lear Rose by Loretta Lynn

Van Lear Rose, released on Interscope on April 27, 2004, is Loretta Lynn's forty-second solo album, and the one where a country giant with decades of hits behind her handed the controls to Jack White. On paper it looks like a stunt; on the stereo it plays like a revival. White keeps her voice and her twang right up front and wraps them in scrappy, raw-edged guitars, so the record sounds as comfortable next to indie rock as next to a Coal Miner's Daughter reissue.

"Portland, Oregon" is the swaggering, fuzzed-up standout and later landed on a critics' list of the best songs of the 2000s. Reviewers lined up to praise the album, it climbed to No. 2 on the country albums chart and No. 24 on the Billboard 200, her biggest crossover in a 60-year career up to then, and it took Album of the Year at the Americana Awards.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.