Loretta Lynn, Jack White join Music City Walk of Fame

Onlookers of all ages surrounded Nashville's newly renovated Walk of Fame Park on Tuesday to catch a glimpse of two very different stars: Nashville rocker Jack White and country music legend Loretta Lynn.

The two friends and collaborators shared an honor on Tuesday. Each presented the other with their own star on the Music City Walk of Fame.

Lynn and White have been intertwined ever since White produced the Country Music Hall of Famer's most recent studio album, 2004's "Van Lear Rose," which won a Grammy for best country album. He also invited her to open for him at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena earlier this year.

"I don't have anything prepared," White said as he inducted Lynn. "But when it comes to talking about Loretta Lynn, I don't really need to prepare anything. I love her so much, I could talk for hours about her. One time an interviewer asked me, 'Jack, what's your favorite book, song and movie?' And I said, 'That's easy. 'Coal Miner's Daughter.'"

"I think she embodies feminism, and she broke ground for women more than anybody else did, before anybody else did."

Lynn joked that some people in the crowd were wondering how she got together with White. "Nobody can separate us," she said.

"He's been here in Nashville for a little while. He didn't have to be here too long for you to understand that we needed him, really. Nashville needed Jack White. And I think he's one of the greatest artists there is."

With their inductions, White and Lynn bring the number of stars on the Walk of Fame to 63, joining a group that includes Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton and Little Richard. It was the 14th induction ceremony since its founding in 2006, and it also served as the ribbon-cutting for the renovated Walk of Fame Park.

Mayor Karl Dean offered up praise for both inductees and credited White with spearheading the revival of the SoBro neighborhood with his Third Man Records building. White moved to Nashville a decade ago from his native Detroit and had kind words for his adopted hometown.

"I hope I'm too young to get something like this," he said with a laugh. "This is really a big honor and it speaks volumes about Nashville ... that you would accept, for example, what we've done with Third Man Records here in this city and accept it so well, nurture it and help us make something come alive. We're so honored to be here every day, and we know that there's only one town in the world where we could have done this, and that's Nashville, Tennessee."

"This is a very difficult time for music in the last decade," White continued. "And I urge everybody here to do everything they can to support local artists and buy their records and keep music sacred."

Contact Dave Paulson at 615-664-2278 or on Twitter at @ItsDavePaulson