Herman Webb, the brother of country music legends Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle, died Saturday. He was 83.
Webb died at King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Kentucky, reports WYMT. He lived in Van Lear, Kentucky, keeping an eye on Lynn’s childhood home and ran Webb’s Grocery.
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His death was reported by Gayle, 67, on her Instagram page.
“Our brother, Herman Webb passed away this morning in Kentucky with his wonderful children around him,” Gayle wrote, alongside a family photo. “Some of you may know Herman from the countless tours he gave of the old home place in Kentucky or from his days performing with his band. He was a great musician! I called Herman ‘The Sheriff of Butcher Hollow.’ I even found him a badge to make it ‘official.’ I know he is now and forever a sheriff in Heaven. We love and miss you, Herman.”
Webb was the third of eight children, following the late Melvin Webb (1929-1993) and Lynn, 86. He was beloved by country music fans for his tours of Lynn’s family home.
“I’m amazed at the number of people who come here to see this,” Webb said in a 2002 Associated Press interview. “I’ve seen 200 to 300 cars drive up this hollow on certain days.”
In a 2016 interview with PBS NewsHour, Webb said people from as far away as England, Germany and Japan visited Van Lear to see where the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” singer grew up.
“She is a straight shooter. She tells it like it is,” Webb said of his older sister. “Before her, there wasn’t too many women singers” in country music.
Aside from Lynn and Gayle, Webb is also survived by sisters Peggy Sue Wright and Betty Ruth Webb. Younger brother Donald Ray Webb died in October 2017 at age 76.
According to the travel blog BacktraxAmerica, Webb’s wife Patsy died in 2009 from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Webb said the two met in second grade.
Lynn has also recently suffered health scares. Last year, she suffered a stroke. She also broke her hip on New Year’s Day 2018. Nevertheless, she refuses to stop singing and released a new album, Wouldn’t It Be Great, this spring.
“She’s doing great. She’s doing a lot better,” producer Shawn Camp told PopCulture.com in March. “She’s healing quickly, and I think she’s going to have a big year, with a new album, I think in March. I’m not sure exactly of the date, but I’ve got a few songs on there that I co-wrote with her. She’s just amazing. I love her.”
Photo credit: Tony R. Phipps/FilmMagic/Getty Images
