PBS documentary, new album detail Loretta Lynn's Appalachian roots; she is 83

PBS on Friday will air a documentary, "Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl," detailing the Appalachian roots of the 83-year-old country singer who was born and raised in Eastern Kentucky coal country, Kristin Hall reports for The Associated Press. The documentary coincides with the release of Lynn's first album since 2004, "Full Circle," which includes many of the Appalachian songs she listened to growing up in Butcher Hollow. (Donn Jones photo: Loretta Lynn on Feb. 10 at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville)

"Although her rags-to-riches story is already well known thanks to a best-selling autobiography and Oscar-winning film starring Sissy Spacek, Lynn has never before recorded many of the Appalachian songs that inspired her career," Hall writes. The album contains covers of songs from the Carter Farmily, as well as "In the Pines," an Appalachian folk traditional dating back to the 1870s, and the first song Lynn ever wrote, "Whispering Sea," which was the b-side of her first recording, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl," released in 1960. (Read more)