2004 was a year of unexpected comebacks. William Shatner and Ben Folds joined forces and created Has Been, a stupendous, funny, and heartbreaking effort by a man who had been ridiculed by an unfortunate performance of Rocket Man. Has Been was redemption for Captain Kirk and another hit for Ben Folds.

Jack White, red hot with indie press and a slew of sure fire hits with The White Stripes, did the same for Loretta Lynn. Although Lynn didn’t have the same issues Shatner did, the loss of her husband and the waning of her star were surely on her mind. White was a fan and produced Van Lear Rose, Lynn’s 42nd (!) album, filled to the brim with hit after hit.

Van Lear Rose, the opening track, is a tribute to both her parents, and remembering is living again, or so we say in Mexico. It’s a gorgeous ditty, but it’s Portland Oregon where you get what the album was trying to do: forging indie rock with country rock, in a white hot crucible deftly managed by Jack White and carefully decorated by Lynn’s powerful vocals.

An artist having a hit album in her 70s is quite the rarity and Van Lear Rose is a keeper, for sure. Watching White’s performance on Lynn’s tribute a couple of years ago galvanized the belief I had: White needed Lynn as much as she needed a big hit.

-Sam J. Valdés López