For five years,
Loretta spent most of her time at the bedside of her ill husband Mooney Lynn (affectionately called Doolittle),
who passed away in 1996 at their home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
By each other's side for 48 years, his death devastated her.
"Every time I'd turn around, something would remind me of him,"
recalls Loretta. "So I took off for Nashville. He never liked Nashville.
I don't know what I did except I was just existing.
Before I realized it,
I hadn't been home in a year-and it was time to get back."

Still, she continued to perform and write songs.
Two of them appear on Still Country!
"God's Country" and the co-written "I Can't Hear The Music."
"Doo was very sick and I didn't know he couldn't hear.
One day I was playing something for him and he said,
'I can't hear the music anymore.'"

Her genuinely emotional performance almost was never recorded.
"I went into the studio and said, 'I don't think I can do this.'
A couple weeks later I tried it again and I just couldn't finish singing it,
so one of the songwriters he sang it.
The third time I struggled through but stopped on the verse
and had to take a break.
Oh gosh yes, that cryin' is for real."
 

I Can't Hear The Music

He showed me there was more to me,
When I thought I had nothing else to give.
God, knows, he wasn't perfect,
Ah, but then again, nobody is.
He always told me the truth,
No matter how hard it was to hear.
When he'd say: "I believe in you."
That was music to my ears.

Oh, each word's like a note,
Like a beautiful tune,
The kind that inspires,
And helps you get through.
Oh, if I said: "I can't,"
He'd say: "You can."
He was my toughest critic,
Oh, an' my biggest fan.
Now he's gone to a distant shore,
And I can't hear the music anymore.

Sometimes, late at night,
I'll forget that he's not lyin' next to me.
He maybe out of sight,
But out of mind is something he won't ever be.
Things that he said to me,
Are still ringin' out loud and clear.
When he said: "I love you, baby,"
That was music to my ears.

Oh, each word's like a note,
Like a beautiful tune,
The kind that inspires,
And helps you get through.
Oh, if I said: "I can't,"
He'd say: "You can."
He was my toughest critic,
Oh, an' my biggest fan.
Now he's gone to a distant shore,
Oh, and I can't hear the music anymore.

And I can't hear the music.

Written by Loretta Lynn,
Kendal Franceschi and Jamie Soderlund.
(© Coal Miner's Music Inc.)
From "Still Country", © 2000, Audium