Trisha Yearwood Presents Loretta Lynn with Prestigious Cracker Barrel Country Legend Award

Country music icon Loretta Lynn received the prestigious Cracker Barrel Country Legend Award, in honor of her lengthy career in country music. Trisha Yearwood, who is part of the restaurant’s Five Decades, One Voice campaign, traveled to Lynn’s home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee to give the 87-year-old the award in person.

“For more than five decades, I’ve believed in taking chances where the opportunity for success is limited,” Lynn said in a statement. “To receive this honor from Cracker Barrel in recognition of all those chances and the career it led me to build is incredibly meaningful to me. It comes at an important time when I see so many female artists fighting for a chance to be heard. I want to help them bring their talents to the table and programs like ‘Five Decades, One Voice’ do just that. And trust me; there’s plenty to go around.”

“Loretta has played such an integral role in paving the way for the female artists who have come after her – myself included,” added Yearwood. “It’s truly an honor to present her this recognition, as she has been someone I have looked up to not only as a woman in country music but also as a source of warmth and support.”

Yearwood and Lynn recently sat down together on CMT, sharing their favorite songs from Lynn’s extensive catalog.

“I used to do ‘Fist City,’” Yearwood recalled. “That was a really fun one to sing loud.”

“‘You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man,’ that was my favorite song,” added Lynn.

Yearwood just released her own Every Girl album, which includes the hit single, “Every Girl in This Town.” The song is making its way up the charts, which is an added, and unexpected, bonus for Yearwood.

“Well first of all, I’m a woman, I’m 54,” Yearwood told PopCulture.com. “Two things stacked against me. I think that we were having this conversation about how hard it is for women to get played on the radio right now, and that’s young women. I’m watching my friend Kelsea Ballerini have 18 months between a No. 1 record, and it’s just harder and harder. I’m watching these young girls who should be flying up the charts having trouble, so I just didn’t have any expectation for myself.

“And I guess because of that,” she added, “the fact that it’s doing well on the charts, is really kind of icing on the cake for me. I’m just really enjoying myself.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images for Cracker Barrel