Loretta Lynn Shares Details Of Her Ghostly Encounter With A Country Legend

Yap Studios

The Coal Miner’s Daughter and the Man in Black…two of the most influential country artists of all time. Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash were born just months apart and had the honor of being a part of a generation of country music that would pave the way for the artists we know today. 

Outside of the industry the two shared a close friendship, something Lynn described to a reporter two years ago. 

“I always loved Johnny Cash,” she says, “and Johnny loved me! I worked a lot with Johnny and June and Maybelle and the rest of the Carter Family. We’d get together with him and June every chance we’d get.”

When it came time for Loretta Lynn to record her latest record, “Full Circle”, she looked to Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash’s son John Carter Cash for help. With the younger Cash’s help, Lynn recorded her album at his Cash Cabin Studio, where most of his parents’ later music was recorded.

In a recent interview with Garden & Gun, Lynn recalled a strange experience that she encountered while recorded at Cash Cabin Studio. 

“I cut more than ninety songs out there and did one of his songs. I was standing at the microphone singing, and the door opened from the control room into where I was recording and in walked John,” Lynn said. “I didn’t think anything of it because I was so used to seeing him; we were such good friends. He had one of those gray uniforms on from the Civil War and all of a sudden it hit me: Lord, that was Johnny Cash.”

Lynn goes on to say that the visit shook her up. “His son came in and kind of laughed at me, but I told him Johnny came in and walked through that door,” she said. “I don’t think anyone believed me, so I didn’t say anything more about it. Everyone thought that old Loretta’s seeing things again!”

This wasn’t the first time Johnny Cash surprised the singer. In 1988, the Man in Black announced Lynn’s Country Music Hall of Fame induction live during the annual CMA Awards television broadcast. A shocked Loretta jumped into Cash’s arms and said “I would have dressed up if I’d known this!”

Watch the clip below!