On Aug. 18, 1978, Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty’s “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
A story of long-distance love with the Mississippi River in between, the hit was authored by Becki Bluefield and Jim Owen. It was released as the lead single from Lynn and Twitty’s same-named album, their first of four No. 1 sets as a twosome on the Top Country Albums chart.
The hit became Lynn’s 10th of 16 Hot Country Songs leaders and Twitty’s 12th of 40 No. 1s. It marked their third of five leaders as a duo, following “After the Fire Is Gone” and “Lead Me On,” both in 1971, and ahead of “As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone” (1974) and “Feelins’ ” (1975).
The stars shared 11 Hot Country Songs top 10s overall, from “After the Fire Is Gone” through “I Still Believe in Waltzes” in 1981.
Among their many accolades, Lynn and Twitty won the Country Music Association (CMA) Award for duo of the year four straight years (1972-75).
Lynn, who was born in Butcher Holler, Ky., on April 14, 1932, became the first woman to win the CMA’s entertainer of the year trophy (1972) and was inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988. She passed away at age 90 last October at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tenn.
Born Harold Jenkins on Sept. 1, 1933, in Friars Point, Miss., Twitty died from a stomach aneurysm in June 1993 at age 59. He joined the Country Music Hall of Fame posthumously in 1999.
