Poison frontman Bret Michaels revealed that he visited Loretta Lynn and spent the day on her family ranch playing songs with the country legend just weeks before she died on Oct. 4, 2022, at the age of 90.
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Playing guitar and singing together, Lynn shared a new song she had written with Michaels called “Good Good Times.”
“My heart is beyond heavy today as I have just learned of the passing of my good friend Loretta Lynn,” Michaels shared on Instagram following Lynn’s death. “I saw her a few weeks ago, and we sang some songs together. She was an incredible person, an incredible human being, and an incredible talent who forged the way for women in the entertainment industry.”
Michaels added, “I just spent time on her ranch, visiting with her and family, singing songs and riding around on the ATVs and dirt bikes. One of the best days of my life was Thanksgiving when she sang ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’ in the studio with me. She will forever be loved and missed.”
Michaels elaborated on his final visit with Lynn in a recent interview following her death.
“She was sitting there in a blanket and we started talking,” said Michaels. “She said, ‘Let’s do a song together. I wrote one that’s gonna be called ‘Good Good Times.’ She sang, ‘good good times and good good love / It comes from above.‘”
Lynn’s new song title is linked to her 1971 Coal Miner’s Daughter track “For the Good Times.”
“And then we sang a little bit of ‘Every Rose [Has Its Thorn],’” added Michaels. A favorite song of Lynn’s, she requested Michaels perform Poison’s 1988 hit ballad “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” as a guest at her home years ago. The pair later recorded a country version of the song, also featuring Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and Bobby Caps, and Hugh McDonald, for Michaels’ 2015 solo album True Grit.
The Poison singer also admitted that he sensed that his recent visit with Lynn may have been the last. “We both knew she wasn’t feeling well,” shared Michaels. “Both of us are kind of empathic, and you know when you just know?”
He added, “It was important for me having daughters to tell her what a big influence she was in breaking open an industry that was a little tough. She was such an influence on my kids. She did it her way. I want to make sure the world knows that: she did it her way.”
Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Americana Music
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