County music legend Loretta Lynn received a standing ovation at the White House Wednesday, as President Obama recognized this year’s recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In recognizing Loretta Lynn, President Obama noted her early life in a Kentucky coal town and the fact that she won a blue ribbon for a canning contest at the county fair when she was 19.

“For a girl from Butcher Holler, Kentucky, that was fame,” the President said. “Fortunately, for all of us, she decided to try her hand at things other than canning.  Her first guitar cost $17. And with it, this coal miner’s daughter gave voice to a generation, singing what no one wanted to talk about and saying what no one wanted to think about.”

Lynn sat right behind the President on a stage that included more than a dozen honorees. After pinning the medal around her neck, Mr. Obama helped Lynn back to her seat.

Lynn has had to cancel recent shows because of ongoing health problems and a fall she sustained at her ranch in Hurricane Mills.