A family of country music lovers is adding another idol to the list.
Emmy Russell, the 2024 “American Idol” finalist and granddaughter of country legend Loretta Lynn, announced she is expecting a baby girl with her boyfriend and singer Tyler Ward.
Russell, 25, and his mother, actress and sometimes singer Patsy Lynn, talked about family, music and memories with host Jennifer Vickery Smith on the “Got It From My Momma” podcast.
Ward, 40, ran on stage to rub Russell's belly and share a hug after she announced the news in front of a live audience.
“I'm very excited,” Russell said. “Right from 'American Idol,' I didn't know, so you know, that's the journey.”
Russell was eliminated after making the Top 5 of season 22 of “America Idol,” which premiered in February. She wowed judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie with her original song “Skinny” in the final weeks of the competition. The song focuses on Russell's struggle with body image and weight when he was young. After “Idol,” he released another single, “Redemption.”
Russell's grandmother was a celebrated artist who defined the feminist woman in country music in the 1960s by daring to sing about divorce, birth control and self-determination. Loretta Lynn died in 2022 at age 90 at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
Patsy Lynn said her mother, who had six children and 26 grandchildren, saw her fans as family. “What she was giving to her family at home, she was giving to her fans on stage because that was her family. That was her family on the road,” he said, “and those fans followed her for 60 years. So the front row of all the coliseums were friends.”
And while the rest of the world saw a country superstar, Russell only saw “Memaw.”
