Wynonna Judd marks 'new beginning' at Genesee show

Posted January 27, 2016 4:30 am

By Selena Fragassi Daily Herald Correspondent

It's been a strange time for Wynonna Judd. The famed country singer hasn't released a new album in seven years, finding herself wrapped up in a lot of other important life moments. Among them: enjoying a new marriage with her musician/producer husband Cactus Moser, dealing with empty nest syndrome as her two children moved out of the family home in Tennessee and, last October, joining her mother Naomi to bid adieu to their much-loved duo The Judds with a final mini residency in Vegas.

"Life is strange," Judd admits. "One day going you're going to a funeral and next day you're going to a wedding, but I had to remind myself that 'every ending is a new beginning.'"

That motto became the name of one of the more emotional tracks on Judd's self-titled and long-awaited new album, "Wynonna & the Big Noise." It features her first official backing band, which includes Moser on drums.

Local fans will get a chance to see Wynonna & the Big Noise on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan. The appearance is part of her tour's "stories and song" experience.

The new album, to be released Feb. 12, might come as a bit of a shock to her legion of country fans as it explores more blues, soul, Americana and early rock 'n' roll styles alongside her trademark country croon. But, Judd says, "it's my favorite thing I've done so far."

For an international icon that has sold 30 million albums in 37 years, had 20 No. 1 hits and been a New York Times best-seller, that's quite a statement.

"Have you ever been so scared in your life, like riding a roller coaster, that you think you are going to pee your pants," Judd asks, before pausing. "But wasn't it the most fun, exhilarating ride ever? That's how I felt making this record because it's completely opposite of anything I've ever done. At first I was mortified … but before I knew it I was having the best time of my life."

The album features the handiwork of some interesting collaborators including Susan Tedeschi's pluck on the bluesy opener "Ain't No Thing," Derek Trucks' guitar prowess on the soulful confessional "Keeps Me Alive" and the tenderness of folk star Jason Isbell on the pensive gospel hymnal "Things I Lean On," among others.

"Wynonna & the Big Noise" also wasn't recorded in Nashville's "Million Dollar Music Row" like Judd was used to, but rather in a less controlled studio shed on her farm home property, in a spot where she once home-schooled her children. That, she says, gave her the chance to learn something new. "When Cactus told me, 'We are going to record this live,' like in Frank Sinatra days, I thought that was just insane … but it turns out he knew what he was doing."

Moser, who was once a part of the acclaimed country group Highway 101 and originally met his wife while opening for The Judds in 1990, also wanted to capture the singer at her most vulnerable, times she was missing her children or emotional about The Judds ending.

"It was a process of trial and error," he says. "We didn't want to advance market ourselves and pick songs that sound like radio records or songs that sound like a certain style, but songs that make you feel something. It really started to come together to be an album about she and I, our relationship, and our place in life and this band."

It's the kind of stuff that will likely fill the stories on Wynonna & the Big Noise's upcoming appearance at the Genesee.

"I think there's a real part of the story I haven't told," Judd says, opening up about the drama of what it took to get where she is today.

"This is going to be me telling my own authentic story, not as Wynonna Judd, but as the little girl (named) Christina Claire who was desperate to be Joni Mitchell at age 13, living on a mountaintop with no TV or phone and being on welfare," she continues. "I've done a lot of personal work to live with integrity and not lose myself so I can stay grounded still in who I am." For Judd, that storyline is still there, but now she's looking forward to starting a new chapter.