Loretta Lynn’s granddaughter, Emmy Russell, is honoring the country legend’s legacy.
“The most advice that she has given me throughout the years was to love God,” Emmy told Fox News Digital on the CMT Music Awards red carpet.
“She was such a lover of God and I think it was more of, ‘Listen to him and follow his voice.’”
Russell wants everyone to remember Lynn as an “ordinary country girl” who was “everybody’s friend.”
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Emmy Russell shared the best advice she received from her late grandmother, Loretta Lynn, at the 2023 CMT Music Awards. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
“There was nothing fake,” Russell said.
Russell and Lukas Nelson were nominated for CMT Performance of the Year for “Lay Me Down.” The award on Sunday night went to Cody Johnson for “‘Til You Can’t.”
The song came from “Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Loretta Lynn.”
Loretta Lynn died in her sleep in October. The country music icon was 90 years old. (Erika Goldring/WireImage)
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Russell shared that performing at Lynn’s tribute was “special.”
“That was my first time getting in front of people and not seeing her,” she said. “It was really honoring, I felt a presence, like maybe her presence was there. It was really special.”
Lynn died “peacefully in her sleep” in October at age 90.
Lukas Nelson and Emmy Russell perform onstage during “Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Celebration of the Life & Music of Loretta Lynn” in October. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Emmy Russell attends CMT’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Celebration of the Life & Music of Loretta Lynn.” (Catherine Powell/Getty Images)
Shortly after the country music star’s death, “Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Celebration of the Life & Music of Loretta Lynn” was held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Tennessee.
Some of country music’s biggest names, including Tim McGraw, Martina McBride and Little Big Town, were in attendance. Hosted by family friend Jenna Bush Hager, the special was a tribute to Lynn’s music legacy and all those she inspired throughout her career.
Several touching moments happened throughout the night, including Lynn’s granddaughter, Tayla, and daughter, Patsy, remembering the impact their matriarch left on the world.
Jenna Bush Hager, pictured with Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town, hosted the celebration of Loretta Lynn on CMT. (John Shearer/Getty Images for CMT)
Throughout Lynn’s career, which spanned 60 years, she won every music award known to musicians, and was inducted into the County Music Hall of Fame in 1988.
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Lynn knew her songs were trailblazing, especially for country music, but said she was just writing the truth that so many rural women like her experienced.
“I could see that other women was goin’ through the same thing, ‘cause I worked the clubs. I wasn’t the only one that was livin’ that life and I’m not the only one that’s gonna be livin’ today what I’m writin’,” she told The Associated Press in 1995.
Loretta Lynn’s iconic country music career spanned six decades. (James Goulden Photography/Getty Images for SXSW)
Russell shared with Fox News Digital that people love country music because “it’s honest.”
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“It can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can make you feel good,” she said. “It’s very truthful.”
