Her newest music has ties to the past

By Jerry Fink

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Wynonna was a 20-year-old fledgling entertainer when the Judds released “Mama He’s Crazy” in 1984.

She grew up and fought her personal battles — a failed marriage, struggles with an eating disorder — in the public eye.

She and her mother had 14 No. 1 hits and won five Grammys before Naomi Judd was forced to retire because of hepatitis C in 1991. Some wondered whether her daughter could survive on her own.

As a solo artist, Wynonna has sold more than 10 million records and had 11 Top 10 hits, including “She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light,” “No One Else on Earth” and “My Strongest Weakness.”

Wynonna will perform Thursday at Buffalo Bill’s in Primm. She recently talked to the Sun from her farm outside Nashville, where she’s enjoying what she called “good Harley-riding weather.”

How’s your mother?

My mother is 62 and still wearing rhinestones. We did three shows together this summer. I’m in a very interesting place in my life, where I’m able to tour four different ways — I’m doing shows with symphonies, with my band, an acoustic tour, and I’m able to tour with my mom from time to time.

Can you tell us about your new album?

It’s music from my past, literally. My experiences along life’s highways is what this record is about. The album is all of the rich stories I have experienced growing up and in my adult life. It’s a reflection of all my past experiences with other artists and different stories along the way. For instance, one of my greatest mentors was Tammy Wynette. I sang at her funeral. I recorded one of her songs for the album. Merle Haggard was one of the first people I opened for, in 1985. I recorded one of his songs because of my history with him. Sippie Wallace’s “Don’t Advertise Your Man” is on it because I learned it from Bonnie Raitt.

Is this the life you would have chosen for yourself?

I wouldn’t have chosen it. It chose me, and I’ve spent 25 years trying to grow into it. I told someone it’s like winning the lottery and spending a great deal of your time trying to catch up, to feel like you’ve earned it, trying to figure out a comfortable place to land where I feel worthy. I’m learning that I don’t have to earn it anymore, that it was given to me and the idea is to enjoy it and to experience that joy. It’s been really hard for me. The last 25 years have been absolutely full of all the ups and downs you could imagine — death, divorce. I’ve had all the traumas any other artist has experienced, but everything I’ve been through has made me a very, very strong woman in recovery.

What do you see in your future?

That’s a good question. I’m not able to answer that anymore. I used to spend a whole lot of time in the future and I’m now learning about “now,” which is really a new concept for me. I live in the now, for the first time in my life, and I’m really enjoying that. I don’t want to get too bogged down in the future. My personal goals are finding moderation and variety and balance in my life. Those are the three words that resonate the most with me right now — trying to find some kind of peace of mind and balance. The seasons change. People change. Your circumstances change. But the one thing that does continue to remain the same is the passion I have for music and art, and I cannot imagine me not being a part of that.

How do you raise your children (Elijah, 13, and Grace, 12) differently from the way you were raised?

First of all I have resources my mother didn’t have. My mother is very much like that mountain woman on a Conestoga wagon headed West. That’s the way my mom raised us. She was gone a lot. She had two and three jobs. We were on welfare. I’m able to raise my kids with choices. I think, quite frankly, they’ve often had “over” choices and I’ve had to rein them back in. They’ve lived a life of privilege. However, it’s been a burden because of the Judd name. They are treated differently. I’m home schooling them. We raise them on a farm, with dirt and sky, and we try to remind them that their truest identity is being a child of God, not Wynonna Judd’s children or Naomi Judd’s grandchildren or Ashley Judd’s niece and nephew. It’s really a challenge. They have to earn everything, now. Everything. They earn their own money. They earn an opportunity to go out to eat. Before I got into recovery I was headed down that same path that a lot of people are with privilege and money. I’d be gone for three days and come home and buy them things because I felt guilty as a single working parent and not there all the time. Now they’re with me a lot and we travel together, so we’re pretty tight. They’re very down to earth.

Are your children interested in the business?

They’re interested in all the good things about the business. They’re interested in all the privileges of the business. They’re teenagers. But do they understand the work ethic? Absolutely not. But we’re working on that. They understand how difficult this business is only when they see me in the fetal position on the floor praying to God that I’m going to make it through this hurdle. That’s all they know.