Brit Taylor never got the chance to meet her musical idol, Loretta Lynn. The singer from Eastern Kentucky was never able to tell the legendary country music star how much her music influenced her or the pride she took in coming from the same state she did before she died earlier this month.
And it still hurts.
"I just didn't want to believe it," Taylor, 33, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. "I mean, I know that she was older, but she was a legend. You don't think about losing them." She pauses. "It was a dream of mine to work with her, but I never did. Still, I feel close to Loretta, and I continue to be inspired by her."
Indeed, Taylor's new single "Kentucky Blue" has much of Lynn's influence all over it, from the sweeping lyrics to the somewhat haunting melody that were created during the darkest days of the pandemic.
"It's kind of crazy that such a beautiful song came out of such a dark time," says Taylor of the song she co-wrote with Adam Wright and Kimberly Kelly over the creative confines of Zoom. "The song was actually Kimberly's idea because she knows I'm from Kentucky, and she was like, 'We need to write a song called 'Kentucky Blue.' Crazy thing is I remember not feeling blue that day."
But now, nearly three years later and at a time that the country music genre is not only mourning the loss of Lynn but also the recent sudden passing of Leslie Jordan, Taylor says she thinks the song will hit home for many.
"'Kentucky Blue' is a universal feeling that we've all felt at some point or will feel [at some point]," she says of the song premiering exclusively on PEOPLE. "It's kind of inevitable when you are out here living life. And yeah, Loretta is definitely an inspiration for this song with her [1965 hit] 'Blue Kentucky Girl.'"
Even the cover of Taylor's upcoming album is inspired by Lynn herself.
"It has the big dress and the cabin and the front porch and the dog," chuckles Taylor before growing quiet. "I think that the country music community as a whole is just feeling really 'Kentucky Blue' lately. I mean, she paved a path for women like nobody before her. And Leslie paved the way for the LGBTQ community. I hope that this song just brings people some comfort."
"Kentucky Blue" is a song that has already been deemed special by nearly everyone who has heard it, including Taylor's record producer, the legendary Sturgill Simpson.
"The minute that Sturgill heard 'Kentucky Blue,' he said he knew it was going on the record," remembers Taylor, who burst onto the scene in 2020 with her debut album Real Me. "The drum groove and the string section is super reminiscent of a Glen Campbell or an old Bobbie Gentry song. And then the lyrics and the melody are very reminiscent of a Loretta Lynn song or Patty Loveless song. So [Simpson and fellow producer David Ferguson] did a great job on capturing all the things that I love, which can be very different, and put it all into one song."
Of course, "Kentucky Blue" did go through its share of revisions.
"I had no idea that the groove was going to end up sounding so happy," admits Taylor. "The music is kind of contradictory to the meaning of the song and the lyrics of the song. When I listen to it, it sounds very floaty and happy and hopeful. But if you listen to the lyrics, there's more of a somber, 'I'm going to be blue forever' sort of feeling."
But if anything is built to last forever, Taylor says she certainly hopes it's this song.
"That's my dream, to write an evergreen song that lasts through the ages," she concludes. "I do my best not to chase any trends and not to listen to all the things that are going on in the mainstream and just really try to carve my own path."
