nikki lane. as cash's muddle finger. >> there's more to the highway queen as i found out when we met up recently in hurricane hills, tennessee, at the ranch of the legendary loretta lynn. ♪ >> reporter: in a blue jeans ad on her album covers or in her vintage cloaking store in nashville, high-classed hillbilly, it's obvious nikki lane has an eye for fashion. she dreamed of becoming a designer but took a sudden detour. how did you go down the music road? >> always say i was heavily motivated by spite. >> spite by a country musician boyfriend. >> we broke u. he went and made a record and i was like, i'll make a record. i couldn't play guitar, you know what i mean? even a tiny bit. >> reporter: but that's never stopped her. growing up in greenville, south carolina, nikki took the advice of her high school social cities teacher to heart. >> the first thing he wrote on the schoolboard is complacency kills. it stuck with me. >> what did that mean to you? >> sitting around was going to do nobody good. >