Name: Always Loretta: The Ultimate Tribute Show to Loretta Lynn
Start: 2024-09-26T19:30:00-04:00
End: 2024-09-26T22:30:00-04:00
Location: 200 Maple Leaf Boulevard, Nashville, IN, United States, Indiana 47448

The Brown County Music Center in Nashville, Ind., will host Always Loretta, the ultimate tribute show to Loretta Lynn on Thursday, September 26, 2024. The show will include a special performance of the original Coalminers, Loretta’s longtime touring band, and features Emily Portman. Portman will bring her signature Loretta Lynn flared sound to the stage, which she did during the touring production of Conway Twitty, The Man, The Music, The Legend, The Musical.
“We lost a legend in Country music and she was an artist that paved the way for so many of us,” says Emily Portman. “I was honored to know her, to have her blessing in portraying her, and it’s a bigger honor to continue carrying on her legacy.”

The original Coalminers who worked with Loretta Lynn include Dave Thornhill, Lead guitar and band leader for 55 years; Bob Hempker, Steel guitar for 55 years; Dennis Digby, Bass guitar for 15 years; Monty Parkey, Piano for 5 years.

“When I play a ‘Loretta Lynn Tribute’ show with Emily, it takes me back to 1967 when I played my first show with Loretta. After my 55 years and 10,000 plus shows, playing lead guitar with Loretta, it’s like I’m starting all over again,” says Dave Thornhill, Loretta Lynn’s former band leader, and lead guitarist.

This special tribute show is authorized by The Loretta Lynn Family and will take you on a journey in remembering all the big country hits Loretta Lynn had.

George, Conway, and Loretta were all one-word names in Country music and, at one time, were all traveling together on a package tour that sold out across America. Now in 2023, with all three country giants gone, their music still lives on!

About Emily Portman: Like so many successful performers, native Kentuckian Emily Portman cut her musical teeth singing in church and learning to read music as a member of her high school band. Inspired by her parents’ music, her influences were an amalgamation of classic country and classic rock, with a little ‘80s music mixed in and included Merle Haggard, Jim Croce, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. In college, she joined a choral group, learned the guitar, and began performing professionally at the Corydon Jamboree just across the border in neighboring Indiana. However, when she covered the music of Loretta Lynn, people took notice.
At an early age, perhaps due to her Kentucky roots and natural inflection, Emily was told that she, “sounded a lot like” country music legend, Loretta Lynn, so she became a student of her artistry. Emily pored over the singer’s entire catalogue of music and began working to emulate Loretta’s vocal style and her onstage mannerisms. In the summer of 2004, Emily entered a “Sing Like” contest at the Kentucky Opry and won $1,000 for her portrayal of Loretta.
Just a couple years later, after posting a video of herself performing a Loretta Lynn song on YouTube, she was discovered by Michael Twitty (eldest son of the great Conway Twitty) who cast her to portray Loretta in the nationally touring musical “It’s Only Make Believe.” The musical was instrumental in establishing Portman’s career. Over the next two decades, her portrayal of the Coal Miner’s Daughter would carry to the most prestigious stages (including the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry), where she would rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in the business, including George Jones, Archie Campbell, Vern Gosdin, Toby Keith, Chris Cagle, and even Loretta Lynn, herself, with whom she formed a close friendship.

Emily made frequent trips to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, TN. During one of her visits, the two singers were enjoying a casual conversation when, in mid-sentence, Lynn paused, looked at her straight in the eyes and said, “ya’ know, we have a real connection, don’t we?” If you ever saw the two performers together, the connection they shared was obvious.

After Ms. Lynn’s unfortunate recent passing, Emily Portman connected with Loretta’s longtime backup band, The Coalminers. They agreed to join talents and collaborate to honor the memory and music of this true country music trail blazer with “Always Loretta”—a show authorized by the Loretta Lynn family that includes all the greatest hits and shares intimate stories of Loretta’s life through the eyes of those who knew her best.