CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When Karen Cox thinks about Loretta Lynn, she's reminded of her grandmother.
"Also married young, also had children... At least three children were, you know, before the age of 20," Cox said. "It's just the kind of hardscrabble existence that she came up in that really reminds me of my grandparents' generation."
Cox, who's a professor at UNC Charlotte, said it's for that reason, and because of their common roots, that she feels a connection to Lynn.
"I feel very connected to the music, being from the Appalachian region," Cox said. "I'm originally from West Virginia... Her music is something I just grew up with."
With Lynn's passing Tuesday at the age of 90, Cox has been revisiting the old songs on her iPhone and wishing for a final opportunity to see the country music icon perform once again.
"She came in 2011 to Ovens Auditorium, and I went to see her there, and it was just a thrill of a lifetime," Cox said. "I don't care how old she was or what -- she just sounded great. She was performing the songs that you know, that you just love."
Cox thinks Lynn's ability to write from her own experiences is one of the reasons so many loved and identified with her work.
"She's very authentic, and I think that's what people really connected to," Cox said. "It really touched a chord with working-class women across the United States, whether or not they were from Appalachia, where she was from."
That statement rings true for Charisse Bruin, who is from coastal Georgia, but still found herself a fan of Lynn.
Bruin first learned about Lynn through Coal Miner's Daughter, the 1980 biopic following the singer's rise from poverty in rural Kentucky to country music stardom.
"It's like, my mom's favorite movie," Bruin said. "She loves it. So that's... how I got introduced to her."
But it was the content of Lynn's music that ended up hooking Bruin for life.
"The women empowerment messages that she stood for, for her standing up for herself, not being bullied," Bruin said. "Touring back and forth all over the country, having children back-to-back, trying to navigate a career, just being open and vocal about those things -- a lot of stuff that people actually weren't that open about in the '50s, '60s, and '70s... that's very commendable of her."
"I think the tone and messages of her music resonate," Bruin said. "It reached the masses."
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.