Loretta Lynn’s Granddaughter Emmy Russell Says Songwriting ‘Is in My Blood’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Emmy Russell, the granddaughter of country icon Loretta Lynn, is opening up about her songwriting process.
“I’m a songwriter,” Russell, who is currently competing on AMERICAN IDOL, explained. “It’s in my blood. When I was 9, I wrote my first real song.”
She added, “Whenever you share a song, it’s very vulnerable. Anything I feel, I write. It just starts coming out of me. I go to my iPhone and my piano—it is my best friend whenever it comes to music. I feel a melody, I go to my iPhone, record it. A lyric, go to it, record it.”
Russell often talks about the special connection she had with Lynn, telling Southern Living’s “Biscuits & Jam” podcast that her grandmother “passed down her guitar to me when I was 15 at the Ryman Auditorium.”
“She said ‘You’re the one that can do it.’ She always thought I had this spark about me ever since I was a little kid,” she continued. “She felt she needed to give me the guitar as the torch in a way.”
Russell kicked off her musical career in 2023 with a performance at the Grand Ole Opry of her original song, “Memaw’s Guitar.”
“It’s pretty cool to start your career by thanking the person, my grandma and honoring her by this being my first time alone with a guitar since her passing,” she wrote in an Instagram post about the event. “I used to run from my family heritage and wanna make my own path. I feel a deep conviction to thank, accept, and celebrate her, cause she believed in me from the start before anyone did. Not ashamed anymore. She was never ashamed of me…I’m a granddaughter, and I’m Emmy…it’s all apart of me!”
Movieguide® previously reported on Russell’s time on AMERICAN IDOL:
Country singer Loretta Lynn’s granddaughter, Emmy Russell, sang an original song at her AMERICAN IDOL audition, which aired on Feb. 26, and blew the judges away.
“You are an A+ songwriter. So is your grandma. You got the gift,” Judge Katy Perry said after Russell sang her song, “Skinny,” about eating disorders.
“My dear, you have promise,” Judge Lionel Richie said. “And, I like your promise. Each one of us is trying to battle something that we’re trying to overcome. In your case, you have big shoes.”
With a grandmother who was a country music legend, Russell felt the pressure to live up to her “Meemaw’s” name.
Judge Luke Bryan told her, “We just gotta lift you up and get you more confident, and you just need to own it.”
“I don’t think you need to compare yourself to what grandma was,” Perry said. “You’re totally different. You shouldn’t give yourself all that pressure.”
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