Van Lear Rose LP

Loretta Lynn was 72, Jack White was 28, and somehow Van Lear Rose, their 2004 album for Interscope, turned into the most acclaimed record of her career, a Metacritic score of 97 and two Grammy wins, Best Country Album among them, to show for it. White produced, played most of the instruments himself, and still found time to sing the duet vocal on "Portland, Oregon." Even the title plays it straight: Van Lear, the Kentucky mining community tied to Butcher Hollow, where Lynn was actually born and raised, no metaphor required.