Jack White-Produced Loretta Lynn Album to be Re-Issued
Loretta Lynn’s Grammy-winning landmark album Van Lear Rose produced by Jack White will finally be reissued after having spent over half a decade offline. Originally released in 2004, the album is considered by many to be one of Loretta’s best records, and resulted in a comeback moment for the country legend. But in March of 2021, it disappeared off of streaming services, with no explanation ever given of where it went.
Loretta was 72-years-old when the album was released, working with the 28-year-old Jack White. Van Lear Rose went on to be nominated for five Grammy Awards, winning two of them for Best Country Album, and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for “Portland, Oregon” with Jack White. It debuted at #2 on the country charts, and #24 on the Billboard 200, making it Loretta’s best crossover album at the time. Van Lear Rose was lauded by critics, and ended up on numerous “Best of the Decade” lists for the aughts, and many Greatest Country Albums of All Time.
The 13 tracks of Van Lear Rose were solely written by Loretta Lynn, aside from one co-write with Jack White, and another with her husband Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn. The album was named for the Van Lear mine where Loretta’s father worked. Though it was never confirmed, it was likely rights issues that resulted in the album getting pulled.
The good news is that Jack White’s Third Man Records will be reissuing the title, totally remastered and with a bonus track on November 13th. It will be available on CD, black vinyl, limited-edition vinyl, and digitally. The bonus track is called “Just to Have You Back.” They’ve also reissued the song “Miss Being Mrs.” ahead of the release, with the video premiering on Friday afternoon 10/9 (see below).
“It is an incredible honor to work again with Jack and his amazing team at Third Man to re-release this incredible album,” says daughter Patsy Russell. “Our mother’s spirit lives on through this timeless music, and we are thrilled that fans old and new will be reminded of this great work.”
Van Lear Rose is now available for pre-order.
TRACK LIST:
1. “Van Lear Rose”
2. “Portland Oregon (with Jack White)”
3. “Trouble on the Line”
4. “Family Tree”
5. “Have Mercy”
6. “High on a Mountain Top”
7. “Little Red Shoes”
8. “God Makes No Mistakes”
9. “Women’s Prison”
10. “This Old House”
11. “Mrs. Leroy Brown”
12. “Miss Being Mrs.”
13. “Story of My Life”
14. “Just to Have You Back” (Bonus Track)
October 9, 2026 @ 10:33 am
terrific album! glad to see it come back around. Dont miss it!
October 9, 2026 @ 10:35 am
I remember when this came out I was really skeptical of what Jack White was doing. I don’t knpw why, but I expected him to tarnish Loretta’s legacy and trash her sound. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I will go so far as to say this is Loretta’s most consistent (doesn’t mean best) album. Give it a listen if you haven’t already.
October 9, 2026 @ 10:56 am
The remastering is what excites me most.
October 9, 2026 @ 11:12 am
Between Rodney Crowell’s Diamonds and Dirt and Van Lear Rose, it’s been a great year significant albums returning to streaming.
October 9, 2026 @ 11:18 am
Great news!
October 9, 2026 @ 11:27 am
OMG. Finally. This is a masterpiece and put her back in the mainstream for a time. it was wonderful to have Loretta receive her roses with this album.
October 9, 2026 @ 11:36 am
FINALLY PEAK HAS RETURNED TO SPOTIFY
October 9, 2026 @ 11:48 am
Portland, Oregon.
What a stupid song.
October 14, 2026 @ 6:36 pm
Sometimes, when watching movies, I want to watch a classic, Oscar-worthy films like Schindler’s List or Casablanca. But sometimes I want to watch something stupid and fun like “Dumb and Dumber”. And you know what? Both kinds of movies are worth making.
Portland Oregon is meaningless fun. And sometimes, that’s what I want to listen to.
October 9, 2026 @ 1:15 pm
Out of Dolly, Tammy, Loretta, I was/am a Loretta gal. I felt like the production was borderline too artsy for me. (Kind of how I felt Brandie did the recent Tanya album.) I missed the Hal Rugg sound on pedal steel. It just wasn’t her “best” for me. I love that it’s getting re-issued & love that Loretta gets praise/accolades.
October 9, 2026 @ 3:13 pm
Loretta Lynn’s husband Oliver Lynn went by “Mooney.” No, he was not a follower of Rev. Sun Myung Moon (if younger people now even know who that was), but rather, he was known to be a some-time moonshiner in his younger days. Tommy Lee Jones, who played him in “Coal Miner’d Daughter,” got to know him well, called him Mooney.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG1sdJEX8Oo
“Doolittle,” seems to have been Loretta Lynn’s pet name for her husband (actually, in various video’s that I’ve seen, she always calls him just “Doo.”)
At some point general media refrences to Mooney Lynn started rerring to him as “Doolittle,” I find it a bit cringey for an outsider to refer to a guy by his partner’s pet name for him. I still write “Mooney” if I’m going to mention him.
October 9, 2026 @ 3:35 pm
I will make a not of your dissent, Luckyoldsun. To me, “Mooney” refers to Ralph Mooney, and that is why I refer to Loretta’s husband as “Doolittle.” I don’t think I’m alone in that.
October 10, 2026 @ 6:20 pm
And there are at least 6 Hanks and two Merles and two Martys in the Country Music or Nashville Songrwriters’ Hall of Fame and a Moon–Moon Mullican.
Here’s the entrance to the Lynne Ranch in , Tennessee, which is apparently a still-going tourist attaction.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/loretta-lynns-home-a-beautiful-retreat–48976714677558218/
The sign says “Coal Miner’s Daughter–Loretta Lynn–Mooney Lynn–Hurricane Mills, Tenn.”
And here’s the couple’s gravestone/monument:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12834/oliver_vanater-lynn/photo#view-photo=260287706
There’s a large cross on top, the name LYNN on the bottom in the center. On the left bottom it says, “LORETTA WEBB, April 14, 1935” and on the right, it says “O.V. Jr. (MOONEY), Aug. 27, 1926 – Aug. 22, 1996.”
The guy’s dead and anyone can call him anything, but he lived to almost 91 and the name that he went by is Mooney, not Doolittle.
October 9, 2026 @ 4:17 pm
I got the album when it first came out (dang, I feel old… xD ) — good to know it’ll be readily available again. 🙂
October 9, 2026 @ 5:57 pm
This is such a great album. Great news.
October 9, 2026 @ 8:11 pm
From God’s mouth to my ears …one of of my top 10 of all times is back ! Still remember buying the CD at the Bristol ,TN Wal Mart in 2005 . I’ve played ” Portland ,Oregon ” on about every jukebox in Wast Tennessee since this went off Amazon Music .
October 9, 2026 @ 11:43 pm
I remember thinking this album would not work. I was wrong. it did. Loretta Lynn was in top form and the production made it a really good album. One that has stood the test of time.
October 10, 2026 @ 9:00 pm
It was the album that introduced the name of Loretta Lynn to a new generation and that’s unquestionable. Jack White had the star power to make it happen. The album is what it is, a mix of rock, blues, folk, and country put together in Whites curiously weird production style. Of course, the hipsters and NPR darlings ate it up with a spoon and declared their Loretta Lynn fanhood. But I wonder how many of them ever explored her actual catalog of bedrock country music. Consider the Coal Miner’s Daughter album as an example, an album that genuinely defines Lorettas significance to country music. I personally recommend the early Decca albums like Fist City and Don’t Come Home A Drinkin (With Lovin On Your Mind) or Your Lookin At Country. Killer textbook Honky-Tonk albums and you can’t go wrong with any of them. Then there are the duet albums with Ernest Tubb that are often overlooked by the masses. Not to mention her numerous albums with a fella named Harold Jenkins, better known as Conway Twitty. She’s got a rock-solid deep catalog well worth exploring and I haven’t even mentioned her late in life albums done at the Cash cabin produced by John Carter Cash. Anyhow, these are the albums that cement her legendary status, and the ones people ought to be seeking out.
Van Lear Rose had its moments and its letdowns. (the Little Red Shoes track is an astonishing story from her childhood told in poem form, well worth hearing but, because White buried her vocal in a wash of experimental sound and weird music, you have to really crank the volume to hear her tell the tale. Nonetheless the album did win big awards and put her name back into common parlance with younger people. To me though, calling it her best album would be very short-sighted. But you can’t deny it did well for her and clearly its significant.
October 12, 2026 @ 7:21 pm
Thank you, Kevin, for your history lesson of Loretta’s music. So well written, and true. I like Van Lear Rose, but you’re right, the NPR crowd unsurprising went for it. And l question the production values, though the material itself is quite wonderful to me. I will check out the earlier and late 60s stuff, in particular. Speaking of Ernest Tubb, l love their duet “Mr. And Mrs Used To Be.”. Thanks again for your commentary.
October 12, 2026 @ 7:36 am
This project helped get me into country music.
October 14, 2026 @ 6:39 pm
I love this album. I bought the CD when it came out and still have my copy. I listen to it often. And there’s very little filler. All the songs are worth listening to.