Garth Brooks looks back on friendship with Loretta Lynn after her death

Garth Brooks has reflected on his friendship with Loretta Lynn following her death.

Following the announcement that Coal Miner's Daughter singer Loretta died on Tuesday aged 90, country singer Garth, her friend of two decades, spoke to Billboard about their friendship.

"(Over the years,) we'd send each other gifts. When she went into the Kennedy Center Honors, I sent her a necklace that I just thought was her," he recalled. "(One day,) I get this unbelievable package in the mail. They're her cowboy boots with a little note on it. They're beautiful. If I was to show you all the cool things I've ever got, that would be the first thing I would show you.

"I don't know what it is. I can just tell you that there was a bond with that woman that I'm sure everyone that ever met her felt, that she made you feel like you were so special. I just loved her. And she had me convinced that she loved me right back."

Garth helped induct Loretta when she received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2003 and went as her date and duet partner to the Grammy Salute To Country Music, during which she was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2010.

Recalling the latter event, Garth praised Loretta for handling it with "grace, style and elegance" and being a person who "knew so much more about being spectacular than I will ever know". He added, "It was quite possibly one of the most fun nights of my life."

The singer also discussed Loretta's lasting legacy in country music.

"I know there were women that came before Loretta, but Loretta was the first Reba (McEntire). She was the first Dolly (Parton)," he said. "She was the first of the female stalwarts that you built a foundation on and she never gave that throne up. For me, Loretta Lynn's name is as powerful today as it ever was."