DAVE'S DIARY - 22 MARCH 2005 - WYNONNA JUDD
THE JUDDS - KENTUCKY TRIO
 Wynonna Judd |
When
Wynonna Judd entered the world as Christina Ciminella on May 30,
1964, she was destined to be a country star. Naomi was born Diana Ellen Judd on January 11, 1946, in Ashland, Kentucky. |
And when
she became pregnant at 17 she quickly got married - but not to the father
of first child, Wynonna.
After Naomi divorced she moved from their Hollywood home to Morrill, Kentucky.
There she reared Wynonna and younger daughter Ashley - the latter day
movie star who visited Australia in 2004.
The Judds were raised on bluegrass, gospel and pop but chose country as
their genre for recording.
They lived a spartan lifestyle in the mountains of Kentucky - there was
no phone or television but there was a radio.
When Wynonna was just 15 she yearned a singing career so Naomi moved again
to Nashville in 1979.
RALPH EMERY
|
The
delicious dynamics of Naomi's contralto and Wynonna's deep drawl
landed them spots on Ralph Emery's morning television show. Naomi Judd > |
 |
Maher co-wrote hits such as 1984's Grammy-winning Why Not Me, Turn It Loose, Girls Night Out and Rockin' With the Rhythm of the Rain.
Most Judds
records enjoyed an acoustic feel and penchant for star guests that included
Jordanaires on Don't Be Cruel, Emmylou Harris on The Sweetest
Gift, Mark Knopfler on his Water of Love and Bonnie Raitt playing
slide guitar on their memorable album Love Can Build a Bridge.
The Judds toured America in a series of extravagant farewell concerts
and sold more than 20 million albums before their split.
"I'd open in front of ten to twenty thousand people, then I'd go
back to my room and order room service with my dog," Wynonna says
of her show business entrée.
"It's not normal to be on the road at 18 years old opening for Merle
Haggard."
Naomi's hepatitis left her so weak she could barely get out of bed to
perform a final Judds concert in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in December
1991.
Doctors told her that unless an aggressive treatment plan worked she may
not survive.
Miraculously, Naomi's body has been largely free of the killer virus after
a course of alfa-interferon treatments, which work in only 15 % of patients.
WYNONNA SOLO CAREER
 Wynonna Judd |
Meanwhile
Wynonna, now 40, became equally as well known as young actress sister
Ashley, 36, with her soulful music. The second disc Tell Me Why included Naomi tune That Was Yesterday, Mary Chapin Carpenter's Girls With Guitars and Kimmie Rhodes I Just Drove By and followed by Revelations and The Collection. |
She co-wrote
Troubled Heart And Troubled Mind for The Other Side - anchored
by Kevin Welch's title track and featuring Naomi and Kenny Wayne Shepherd
on Don't You Throw That Mojo At Me.
New Day Dawning preceded What The World Needs Now Is Love
where she scored with James Dean Hicks-Chuck Cannon tune Heaven Help
Me.
The new hit is Cannon-Allan Shamblin-Austin Cunningham cut Flies On
The Butter.
GRAND OLE OPRY DVD
Wynonna recorded
a concert CD-DVD at the Grand Ole Opry on February 1 this year - a reprise
of her 2004 tour Her Story: Scenes From a Lifetime.
Supporters in the audience included Naomi, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Keith
Urban, Terri Clark and Billy Dean.
In the first half of the two-hour show, Wynonna sang several hits from
the Judds and her solo career.
The second half featured covers drawn from her diverse musical influences
that even extend to dance.
Wynonna's remix of I Want to Know What Love Is debuted in 2003
at #16 on the Billboard Dance Radio chart.
The remake of Foreigner's 1984 hit was added to What the World Needs
Now Is Love.
Wynonna joined fellow country stars Billy Ray Cyrus, Joe Nichols and Randy
Travis as finalists in the prestige gospel Dove Awards for her song Rescue
Me.
The Doves will be presented April 13 in Nashville.
Wynonna doesn't take her success and longevity for granted.
"Every day for me is like trying to take a drink out of a firehose,"
she revealed.
"I just feel so overwhelmed, overjoyed, overworked and overpaid.
I've had my time of glory, and every day that I'm out here is a bonus."
Turning 40 was a memorable milestone.
"I freaked out not because I turned 40, but because of what was happening
during my birthday," she said.
"I went through this huge moment of reality - my mom is 58, my sister
is 36 and I realised that wow, it's really time to grow up, or at least
know when to show up as an adult and when to show up as an adolescent.
I'm still sorting out which girl shows up when."
BEEFALOS AND BREATHALYSERS
|
And,
like Naomi, her well publicised divorce from Arch Kelley 111 - a
boat builder and used boat salesman - scored massive publicity. Ashley Judd > |
 |
"Me
and Arch had a unique lifestyle and a unique marriage. He was in and out
tending to his business and hardly ever saw the kids. I was out on the
road working and earning the money he was spending and there were times
I didn't know what he was doing."
Wynonna found the man of her dreams in her new husband and former bodyguard
and manager, D.R. Roach who has a son Zac 15.
"Roach is the love of my life," Wynonna confessed.
"He was my bodyguard and road manager for 13 years, but I never truly
saw him as the spiritual man that he is. It's a love story, what happened
to us. The fact that I'm married again is really a miracle."
But in the excitement of pending nuptials she joined Deana Carter, Terri
Clark and other peers in the drink driving fast lane.
Wynonna blew 0.175% while driving her turbo charged Land Rover near the
famed Music Row country HQ in Nashville.
She said she was celebrating her impending wedding and a friend's birthday
"and clearly let my excitement get the best of me.''
"I know there is never a situation where drinking and driving is
acceptable and I take full responsibility for my error in judgment.
"I went to hell so now I know the wait. I know what to pack. And
I know that God gives you second chances.
"There's your timing and then there's God's timing. I know exactly
what people are talking about now when they say if you want to make God
laugh, tell him your plan."
SOCIAL JUSTICE
 |
Judd
- a voracious supporter of social justice - also earned a huge gay
following akin to Dolly Parton and performed a Caribbean cruise
ship for gay and lesbian couples. "That means I'm not the only wounded person in the world," Wynonna said. |
"There
must be someone else out there feeling lonely. And we live in a society
that pretty much tells us if you're not this, you know, you're the big
loser. Put the big "L" on your forehead with your fingers because
you don't fit in. So I rely on my gut and my heart, and I have for the
most part of my career."
"When we were growing up, we were so poor that I could never buy
extra stuff," says Wynonna.
"But now that I'm grown up, you'd think I'd be more thrifty, wouldn't
you? But I'm not. I have extravagances. I buy Harleys, and I buy lots
of stuff for the kids. Now I also have 60 animals on my farm - and more
are on the way this spring! Those do take up a lot of my money.
"I spend a lot of money on collectible guitars and stage clothes.
That's pretty much it, that's my life - spending money on the kids and
me. My mother tells me that I should slow down and watch how I spend my
money. My farm loses money and I do sort of live in a dream world."
CD REVIEW - 2003
WYNONNA LEAVES ARENA
Kentuckian
fireball Wynonna Judd also earned healthy royalties for Arena, cutting
three Tina tunes after The Judds split when her mother Naomi suffered
hepatitis.
She recorded Heaven Help My Heart on 1996 disc Revelations,
Love's Funny That Way on The Other Side (1997) and Lost
Without You on New Day Dawning (2000.)
Now, on seventh solo disc What The World Needs Now Is Love (Sony),
she performs her co-write You Are - dedicated to younger actress
sister Ashley.
The song is from the 2000 movie Someone Like You.
Wynonna produced most of her new love laden 14-track disc (six songs have
love in the title) with Dan Huff and others.
It kicks off with Holly Lamar-Brett James tune What The World Needs
(Now Is Love) and segues into amour ballad, Heaven Help Me,
and the satiric sizzler It All Comes Down To Love.
Love can be soppy but Wynonna gives hers a passion and depth denied to
many peers.
Naomi harmonises on nostalgia laced Flies On The Butter and Jeff
Beck guests on Mick Jones penned 1984 Foreigner hit I Want To Know
What Love Is.
Equally memorable is Sometimes I Feel Like Elvis that precedes
her cut of Dennis Linde penned Elvis hit Burnin' Love she recorded
for Disney movie Lilo And Stitch.
Wynonna enhances her credibility with assertive songs such as I Will
Be, Your Day Will Come and No One's Gonna Break Me Down.
She balances that with self confessed fragility in Who Am I Supposed
To Love and finale song Rescue Me.
Wynonna wrote and performed the title track for Erin Brockovich reality
TV series Final Justice and reprised her own role in TV series
Touched By An Angel.
She also had songs on the soundtrack of The Apostle featuring Robert
Duvall, Billy Joe Shaver and June Carter Cash.
And she also featured on the soundtracks of Silent Fall, The Associate,
The Gift, Prince Of Egypt, Someone Like You, Lilo And Stitch and tribute
discs for Tammy Wynette and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
ASHLEY JUDD - MOVIES AND TV SERIES
 |
Ashley
Judd has developed a career as an actress, newspaper columnist and
some time singer. She has also been signed for new movies Unless That Someone is You and Will Come Early Morning. Here's a selection of her movie roles - De-Lovely and Twisted - 2004 Frida, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and High Crimes - 2002 Someone Like You - 2001 The Ryan Interview and Where the Heart Is - 2000 |
Double Jeopardy,
Eye of the Beholder and Our Friend, Martin - 1999
Simon Birch - 1998
Kiss the Girls and The Locusts - 1997
Normal Life, A Time to Kill and Norma Jean & Marilyn - 1996
Heat, Smoke and The Passion of Darkly Noon - 1995
Natural Born Killers - 1994
Ruby in Paradise - 1993
Till Death Us Do Part and Kuffs - 1992
Sisters - 1991
NAOMI JUDD - ACTING ROLES AND BOOKS
Naomi Judd landed a cameo in The Living Proof - the 1983 telemovie about Hank Williams Jr - and other movies and TV series.
MOVIES
Someone Like You - 2001
Family Tree- 1999
More American Graffiti - 1979
TELEMOVIES
AND TV SERIES
Touched by an Angel - 2000
A Holiday Romance - 1999
3rd Rock from the Sun - 1996
The Client - 1995
Rio Diablo - 1993
Sisters - 1991
Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story - 1983
BOOKS
Naomi's Breakthrough
Guide: 20 Choices to Transform Your Life - Simon & Schuster - 2004
Guardian Angels - 2000 - Children's Book
Love Can Build A Bridge - 1999 - Children's Book
Naomi's Home Companion: A Treasury of Favourite Recipes, Food For Thought,
and Country Wit and Wisdom - 1997
Love Can Build A Bridge - 1994 - Autobiography