"I was shocked," says Loretta Lynn about her new producer, White Stripes leader Jack White. "I figured he was a rocker, but he's as country as you can get." In a pairing straight out of someone's rock dream, the 68-year-old country icon teamed up with the 28-year-old alternative sensation to record Van Lear Rose, the 71st album of Lynn's 44-year career, out this month. Why would Lynn, the Country Music Hall of Famer, with 17 No. 1 albums, 27 No. 1 singles, 80 chart hits, 21 major music awards, and a best-selling book and movie about her life (Coal Miner's Daughter), turn to, to say nothing of trust, the Grammy-winning Detroit rocker for recording help? Perhaps because Lynn, like other authentic country artists (Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton), felt that country music had just become too slick, too predictable, and wanted to return to her roots. "Jack was a kindred spirit," she says. "And we went back to where it was when I started. I wrote all the songs, which is what I did with my very first album." According to White, who dedicated the White Stripes' 2001 album, White Blood Cells, to Lynn, "She invited us to come down to her house [in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee] for dinner. She made chicken and dumplings. We really hit it off as soon as we met." After performing a New York City show with Lynn, White heard she was planning to make a new album, "so I raised my hand humbly to see if I could produce it. I wanted to make it as soulful as possible to let people hear the real Loretta." The result: 13 beautiful songs written by Lynn and arranged by White, who also assembled the band. All the songs were recorded spontaneously, in one take, live with no overdubs on an eight-track machine in a little house with dogs running around in East Nashville. "I really had fun in the studio," Lynn says. "Jack has more energy than 10 people. He would make me tired just watching him." White's take on the experience: "She's one of America's greatest songwriters. It was beautiful to work with her, and an honor."