Loretta Lynn Attends Metallica Concert – Metallica Pays Tribute
Welcome to the colliding of your two little musical worlds, where that classic country connoisseur and twang hound in you meets the hard-driving metalhead who punched a hole in your bedroom wall in 7th grade while listening to Master of Puppets. This is what occurred when Metallica showed up in Nashville Thursday night (1-26) for their first show in Music City in 10 years, and were graced by the presence of other than country music legend Loretta Lynn who was there to soak it all in.
You probably wouldn’t peg Loretta Lynn to be one to ride the lightning, but perhaps she was just using her legendary status to score Bridgestone Arena box seats for her grandkids. Either way, you can now mark it down in the annals of country music that at 86 years of age, Loretta Lynn drove in from Butcher Holler to attend a Metallica show, and when the band got word Loretta would be there, they whipped up a quick tribute to the Hall of Famer.
About halfway through the show, frontman James Hetfield took a break, and guitarist Kirk Hammett and bass player Rob Trujillo took the opportunity to play a stripped down version of Loretta’s 1971 hit, “You’re Lookin’ at Country.”
“We love Loretta Lynn, by the way,” Trujillo told the audience while introducing the song. “We think she’s here tonight. Kirk was supposed to sing this song, but he says he’s too nervous. So I’ve gotta sing it, so help me out here … if we blow it, don’t kick our ass, all right? We’re gonna have fun. It’s a party, remember that.”
On cue, Trujillo butchered that classic by the lady from Butcher Holler. It was about as awkward and world clashing as when your mom adds you on Instagram. But it was the thought that counts, and the Nashville crowd was appreciative, as was Loretta Lynn herself.
“Well, y’all aint gonna believe this!” Loretta said on Friday (1-25). “Check out Metallica covering my song, ‘You’re Looking At Country’. Now I’ve seen everything. I loved it, boys! Keep rocking and it’s good by me if you do a few more of mine. Maybe I’ll have to sing one with you sometime!”
Hey, that’s more tribute than most of today’s country stars have ever paid to Loretta Lynn or really any country legend. Speaking of, Loretta will be paid tribute in the same building come April 1st when many country legends will come together to celebrate Loretta’s 87th birthday.
January 26, 2019 @ 11:35 am
Yee-Haw meets Rock On 2: Electric Boogaloo
January 26, 2019 @ 9:17 pm
I frikin love it!! Loretta is the queen of county. The men, metalica? One of the true kings of metal,hard rock two legends like this meet from opposite sides of the street???priceless!!
January 26, 2019 @ 11:38 am
I would have preferred they collaborated with Loretta on an album instead of”Lulu” with Lou Reed. Maybe she’ll cover “Ride The Lightning” on her next one?
January 26, 2019 @ 12:20 pm
Way to finish! Sweet!!
January 26, 2019 @ 12:50 pm
Just proves again,people love Loretta!
January 26, 2019 @ 12:58 pm
Loretta is the greatest singer ever. Love her.
January 26, 2019 @ 1:11 pm
They are offensive to my ears. Why were they even there?
January 26, 2019 @ 2:33 pm
Because they were playing a show.
January 27, 2019 @ 5:04 am
Because people pay to see them. Just because YOU dont like it doesnt make it no good.
January 26, 2019 @ 1:19 pm
Metallica is way more country than Sam Hunt. Now we have the receipt to prove it.
January 26, 2019 @ 1:37 pm
In fact, I don’t know how many times when I’ve been listening to our local classical rock station (99.7 The Fox) and I’ve thought, heck, this is more country than the local country stations. I don’t just mean the obvious like Skynyrd. From Zeppelin and the Stones to Tom Petty, classic rock is earthy and real and more country than the metro-urban-pop-whatever on “country” radio now.
January 26, 2019 @ 2:36 pm
Some of the Stones best stuff was country or country-rock. Check out the song Country Honk, Honky Tonk Women w/a fiddle solo instead of guitar. It’s on the album Let It Bleed which is just dripping with Country Rock. And how many country/alt-country artists have covered Wild Horses and Dead Flowers. I saw Elizabeth Cook absolutely slay the song Let It Bleed.
January 26, 2019 @ 3:46 pm
Reply all
Until I found SCM, I had left country music for indie rock … My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses, Neko Case, AA Bondy… that’s all I listened to (and Hank 3) from 06-10 because it was way more country than anything on the radio. It was also around that time I started seriously listening to The Rolling Stones.
Like Trig eluded to in his article with Metallica, those Indie Rock artists always paid homage to country greats like Loretta, while those on “country” radio couldn’t pick her out of a lineup!
February 7, 2019 @ 8:58 am
Neko Case is solid, I just found her and Thanks A Lot has found its way into many of my country playlists.
January 26, 2019 @ 5:03 pm
The Kinks, “Muswell Hillbillies” (particularly the title track and “Complicated Life”); “Willesden Green” from the Percy soundtrack
Bonzo Dog Band, “Bad Blood” (more of a Johnny Cash / Marty Robbins parody, but lots of fun)
January 26, 2019 @ 1:31 pm
Love this!!!!
January 26, 2019 @ 1:38 pm
Well, that was painfully awful.
Loretta is a queen, though.
January 26, 2019 @ 1:39 pm
She lives in Hurricane Mills.
January 26, 2019 @ 2:34 pm
Taking a little poetic license to set up how the members of Metallica “butchered” the song, though it was a very sweet and respectful gesture. Yes, let the record state Hurricane Mills is where she lives.
January 26, 2019 @ 1:53 pm
Van Lear Rose was a masterpiece. At the time it came out, country radio as it existed then would not play it. When Johnny Cash dies, he had not been on country radio in years. Only at his death did the worms come out of their holes and start wearing “Cash” t-shirts. Conway Twitty barely got a mention he he died too early. Vern Gosden – who the hell was he? The collective brains of those that get to pick what will get played and what won’t get played and of what’s country and what’s not country wouldn’t fill up half a thimble. A pox on all their houses.
January 26, 2019 @ 2:22 pm
Butcher holler is her childhood home. Doubt she drove from there. Cuz nothing s there but the floor nobody lives there any more
January 26, 2019 @ 10:43 pm
Her brother Herman lives there and runs the store.
January 27, 2019 @ 8:52 am
Herman passed away in July 2018.
January 26, 2019 @ 2:27 pm
Proves that everybody loves Loretta Lynn she’s the queen of country music.A legend of her own,and She’s Country,the best.Love Ms Loretta!!!
January 26, 2019 @ 2:38 pm
Cringe-worthy, but endearing all the same. Love them both.
January 26, 2019 @ 2:44 pm
I thought it was an awesome thing for them to do for the QUEEN OF COUNTRY. Even though they butchered the song it was a great gesture. Metallica u rock!! But stick to the rock and leave the country for Loretta. I love u LORETTA LYNN…
January 26, 2019 @ 3:36 pm
Baddddd cover. They should have just played their one country song (“Mama Said”) and dedicated it to her.
January 26, 2019 @ 4:33 pm
You are still the greatest…….and beautiful.
January 26, 2019 @ 4:45 pm
whos loreta Linn? Pls esplain. i only listen too Kane Brown.
January 27, 2019 @ 6:26 pm
Are you serious?
January 28, 2019 @ 10:07 am
All signs point to “No”.
January 26, 2019 @ 5:11 pm
Years back at the EMP opening in Seattle, I spotted Hetfield sitting offstage at a Junior Brown gig, watching first note to last. Different genre and skill set but they do seem to enjoy Music and offer respect in their own way.
January 26, 2019 @ 5:17 pm
Hetfield has been a double dare away from making a country record for years now.
February 8, 2019 @ 4:07 pm
From Glastonbury 2014, via BBC re Dolly’s show, Even Lars Ulrich, of Saturday night headliners Metallica, planned to take it in. “I’ll have a hangover on Sunday but I want to see The Horrors, The Black Keys and Dolly Parton,” he told The Mirror.
“I’m a big fan. We all bow to the altar of Dolly.”
So they’ve been paying attention to real country for a while.
January 26, 2019 @ 5:18 pm
Ilove all your of your songs. Uou are just beautiful and a beautiful voice.
January 26, 2019 @ 5:20 pm
The talent, universal love, and respect for Loretta Lynn crosses all genre. Hope she wins the Grammy this year for her new CD…love it!
January 26, 2019 @ 5:42 pm
I’m surprised no one remembers this.
https://youtu.be/QcjAXI4jANw
I would like to know how Trujillo got connected to roots music in such a significant way. I loved this song and video when it came out back in the day. Also, when will Nickel Creek receive the recognition due a group that was far ahead of its time and berthed Punch Brothers and I’m With Her? I loved nickel creek and I really feel like they get overlooked when it comes to the history of keeping roots music alive.
January 26, 2019 @ 9:49 pm
What an incredible song. Nickel Creek was part of my introduction to bluegrass and this is, IMO, one of their best.
January 26, 2019 @ 7:38 pm
I know for a fact that she wasn’t there. Very odd.
January 26, 2019 @ 7:59 pm
Loretta Lynn is #1 in country!!
January 26, 2019 @ 9:03 pm
Loretallica !!
January 26, 2019 @ 10:47 pm
Hellyeah 🤘🤘
January 27, 2019 @ 6:23 am
That was cool of them. They should be playing Dyers Eve as a full band though. It should be a staple.
January 27, 2019 @ 1:44 pm
That was priceless. Love Metallica for doing the right thing. She is an icon in her field.
January 27, 2019 @ 4:22 pm
Music is music people! From Bach to Five Finger Death Punch, it’s all music. A look at how one feels expressed thru another’s abilities to play music. Could you just imagine Loretta Lynn singing Metallic? Awesome!
January 29, 2019 @ 1:56 pm
I desperately wish Rob Trujillo and Kirk Hammett would stop butchering great songs in “tribute”. It kinda defeats the purpose of a tribute.First, Prince. Now, Loretta Lynn.
Jesus.
That being said, country and metal go together like cheese and crackers, Trigger. Wino and Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly of Neurosis blew Steve Earle’s album of Townes covers out of the water with their Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol 1. I still consider Rebel Meets Rebel to be an overlooked classic. And Devin Townsend’s Casualties of Cool was among my favorite Country-esque albums of 2014.
January 30, 2019 @ 10:52 am
Not Metallica’s first country legend tribute, they did a live cover of Waylon’s “Don’t Ya Think this Outlaw Bit” a few years back, it’s on YouTube.