Linda Senn to perform at Loretta Lynn ranch
Published 3:00 am Thursday, September 5, 2019
The covers of Linda Senn’s CDs never feature her photograph.
“It’s not about me; it’s about Jesus,” the Brundidge gospel singer said.
All glory goes to God for the talent Smith has been given and the opportunities that have come her way.
The week of October 20-27, Senn will be in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee to perform at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch Fourth Annual Halloween Championship Chuckwagon Races.
That might seem like an unusual place for a Southern bluegrass/country/gospel singer to perform but Senn will be the special performer at the ranch’s Cowboy Church on Sunday morning. Pastor Ron Plymel, president of Greener Grass Ministries, will bring the morning message.
For Senn, the invitation to bring God’s message in song to such a huge event is a blessing. And, it was in God’s plan for Linda Senn to have opportunities to share his love through song.
“I grew up in Brundidge and I grew up singing,” Senn said. “My family would gather on Friday and Saturday nights and play music and sing. We sang country music and gospel music. But, we didn’t just sing at home. We would to other houses and other places to sing. Singing was a big part of our lives and a big part of mine, for a while,”
For a too long time, Senn stopped singing.
Then, God spoke to her.
“God tells us, if we don’t use the talent that he gives us, He will take it away and give it to someone else,” Senn said. “So, I got out there and started singing.”
Mike Garner realized his wife’s talent. He uplifted her in her desire to sing publicly and he supported her efforts to get her music out there.
“Ray Crosby with WTBF was one of the first to play Linda’s music,” Garner said. “Soon, Linda was being played on 300 radio stations. Most of Linda’s songs are written by Ken Robertson. Paul Rotton also writes for her. She does almost no covers and then only her favorite old-time gospel songs.”
Senn grew up singing those old-time gospel songs. She knows that others like to hear them.
“People love those old songs like ‘I Saw the Light,’” Senn said. “People really like the faster, happier, country songs. I like to sing them, too, but I especially like the songs that Ken and Paul write for me. They write the way I sing.”
The way Senn sings is much like “old country.”
Linda Senn’s songs first gained popularity in small churches, then on the radio and then on My Space on the Internet.
It was on My Space in 2008 that Charlie Pride heard Linda Senn sing. One day, Senn got a surprising message from the county music star.
“He told Linda that he like the way she sang and, coming from him, that was a great compliment,” Garner said.
About two weeks later, two dozen red roses were delivered to “Linda Senn, a little Alabama cotton picker,” from Charlie Pride.
Linda Senn took and continues to take pride in the validation from one of country music’s greatest singers. But, her blessings come from being invited to sing her kind of country/gospel/bluegrass music in churches, especially in Cowboy Churches.
“Most of the Cowboy Churches are small but well attended,” Garner said. “They love gospel music and they sing openly and worship openly. Linda sings that way.”
But Linda Senn said, whether she sings in a one-room country church or on a big stage at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, she sings to the glory of God.