Jim Wright
Wynonna Judd doesn’t always get the chance to be a “human being.”
To hear the clever Country Music Hall of Famer tell it, she’s often a “human doing.” And this month is no exception.
On October 26, the legendary vocalist will embark on her 15-city Back to Wy Tour, crisscrossing the U.S. to perform her first two solo albums front to back, in track-by-track order. The very next day, her work in The Judds gets the tribute treatment, as A Tribute To The Judds brings hits like “Mama He’s Crazy” and more to a new generation of fans—and those who’ve loved the mother- daughter act for decades.
Arriving October 27 on BMG, A Tribute to The Judds celebrates the duo’s 40th anniversary and marks the first Judds release since the shocking April 2022 passing of musical matriarch Naomi Judd. But with some of the biggest names in country and beyond helping reimagine 14 Judds classics, it’s not so much a remembrance as it is a renewal—and that suits Wynonna just fine.
“For me right now with mom being gone, I feel like I’m in a movie. I really do,” she says. “I’m still in my grieving process, so I vacillate between hell and Hallelujah. But I don’t want to sound like I’m ever a victim. I’m a victor.”
Wynonna only appears one time on A Tribute To The Judds—she performs a stirring duet with fellow diva Trisha Yearwood on “Cry Myself to Sleep”— but that’s very much on purpose.This album’s goal is to celebrate The Judds’ iconic country catalog in 2023 context, and as such, the guest list is a who’s who. Multiple generations of country stars, bluegrass favorites, and more pitch in to show their admiration. Just look at the credits: Ashley McBryde; Barnett, Lynne, and West; Blake Shelton; Carl Perkins; Carly Pearce; Cody Johnson; Dolly Parton; Ella Langley; Gabby Barrett; Gwen Stefani; Jamey Johnson; Jelly Roll; Jennifer Nettles; K. Michelle; Lainey Wilson; LeAnn Rimes; Megan Moroney; Molly Tuttle; O.N.E. The Duo; Raul Malo; Reba McEntire; Rob Ickes; Shelly Fairchild; Sonya Isaacs; The Fisk Jubilee Singers; Trey Hensley; and Wendy Moten all contribute.
Whether they’re one of Wy’s contemporaries, or a fresh face who grew up with the music, each puts a fresh spin on the songs of Wy and Naomi’s life together, while still honoring the original recordings. And that’s a fact that makes her feel eternally humbled.
“The first one I heard was ‘Love Is Alive’ [featuring Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton], and I cried,” she says. “‘Love Is Alive’ is still a song I sing every night after 40 years, and I was so overcome hearing somebody else’s voice on it. It was surreal. Then I heard ‘Grandpa’ by Cody Johnson and I just started to think, ‘Oh my gosh...’”
Taking a beat, she sums up this career- spanning project with a note of understandable inner conflict.
“I’ll be honest,” Judd says, “I feel so connected to the music, and yet I’m still a little bit disconnected from the reality that life has gone on.”
Behind the scenes, the project has been more than a year in the making, spearheaded by the same team that helped make The Judds’ career a reality. Longtime producer Brent Maher returned to his post behind the control board, as does executive producer and former RCA chief, Joe Galante, who originally signed the duo four decades earlier. Together with Renee Bell, former director of A&R at MCA where The Judds went after their time at RCA, they put word of the project out, and everyone showed up to pay tribute.
“Nothing happens overnight, except for making deals. But everybody has come to the table, and it’s amazing that we got all those people on there. I mean, Dolly is on there!” Judd marvels. “It’s pretty crazy, and that’s the thing. This tribute album is such a piece of history. I’m just honored and I feel so privileged.”
It also marks a rare first for an artist who has done just about everything. Remarkably, when Judd and Yearwood got together to record “Cry Myself to Sleep” it was the first time they’d ever sung together despite careers that run in parallel. Featuring an upbeat soft-rock flavor and a playful girls-stick-together attitude that brightens a heartbroken theme, the tune was produced by Judd’s husband, Cactus Moser, and recorded at their farm, giving two icons of the genre a chance to reconnect.
“It’s like we went to college together, but we had different classes,” says Judd, who notes that the pair spent time bonding over days gone by and then got down to business. The connection was so strong that Moser suggested they sing eye-to-eye, and heart to heart. Judd now thinks they captured something special. “As a matter of fact, it was almost like when you dance with somebody and they just get it,” she says. “It just was a flawless day, and I am amazed by it.”
Like much of her catalog with The Judds, “Cry Myself to Sleep” holds multiple layers of meaning these days, and while she won’t be doing many of The Judds classics on the upcoming tour—it just wouldn’t be the same, she says—the singer has never been one to hold back how she feels. In fact, the Back to Wy Tour will focus on her transition from The Judds to her solo career—a turbulent time filled with bumps, bruises, and big hits. She’s looking forward to bringing some context to her best-loved material.
“I’m going to show up and sing these songs and talk about the stories surrounding this music that changed my life,” Judd says. “And I know somewhere out in the audience, there will be somebody reliving their experience through the songs. Sometimes when you start over you start over with a sense of relief, but also knowing that you’ve had the greatest story with your mother.”
A Tribute To The Judds will benefit the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), in honor of Naomi Judd, who was an outspoken advocate and vocal about her own battle with mental illness. Wynonna Judd says her only job now is to tell her story and to help someone choose life. Other than that, she’s just trying to stay on the human “being” side of things.
“It’s going by so quickly, and I just feel like I’m in the middle of this season of acceptance and realizing that, yes, life goes on and this is happening, so show up the best you can and celebrate,” she says. “It’s nice to know that even though we leave, the music lives on. I love what John Lennon said when he was asked, ‘How do you want to be remembered?’ He said, ‘I just want to be remembered.’ That’s it.”