Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose 2004 (Limited Edition 2015)

On a sheer sonic level, the album is enthralling it's easy to get lost in the music, and Lynn sings with a vigor that's startling for a woman of 70 but it's an instant classic because of how that sound is married to set of songs that are among the strongest she's ever had. On her last studio album, she wrote only one song. Here, she's penned all 14 tracks, and there's a sense that these are songs that she needed to get out of her, particularly in a setting as intimate as this. While not all the songs are as explicitly personal as "Miss Being Mrs.," that's for the best, since the variety of styles and types of songs on Van Lear Rose -- everything from heartache ballads and country rave-ups to story-songs and gospel illustrate the depth and range of her writing. These are songs that hold their own with her greatest hits, and while it's unlike anything else she's cut, this is surely one of her great albums.