Published: Thursday, November 25, 2010, 10:00 AM
The question begged for an answer, ever since the Judds — mother Naomi and daughter Wynonna — announced that one of country’s most successful duos of all time would tour one last time.
Is this truly “The Last Encore”?
Naomi Judd laughed, realizing how many times she’s said good-bye to her
“When I was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1991, I was told I had three years to live,” she said, chatting it up with a few reporters from around the country. “The hepatologist said there was nothing they could do.”
But hepatitis C met its match in Judd, who, with Wynonna, was at the peak of her career, with songs like “Mama, He’s Crazy” and “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Ol’ Days)” making them household names and selling more than 20 million albums.
The public will have a front-row seat on the outcome as Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network follows Judd and her daughter through their preparations. And the Great Lakes Region will get a closer view when the Kentucky duo makes a stop at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant — one of only 18 around the country — at 8 p.m. Saturday.
“We’re great friends with Oprah, and when she talked about doing a series, well, I can’t believe that we even know Oprah, much less do something like this,” Judd said.
“She said we’ve been on her show more times than anybody else, that we’re like family. And when she had us on to talk about the tour, we hadn’t even left the studio before she told her writers, ‘We have to have these girls on the network.’”
Judd says she still expects someone to jump out and say “April Fools” before the camera catches her getting cortisone shots and making sure her tear ducts work — “I’m stopping short of taking you along to my mammogram and pap smear,” she quipped.
And when they hit the stage, “I’m a storyteller,” she said, “and it’s the stories that still drive me. This time is so rich with human interaction, it’s kind of frightening, like shows without make-up. I’m totally transparent.”
Then again, life has never gone quite as she’s planned, Judd admitted. She was on her way to a career in medicine when she noticed Wynonna was “a round peg in a square hole,” she said, and not one that was ever going to work a 9-to-5 job.
“I decided right then to go down another path, and I was already 36 when we signed our first record deal.”
After her mother stepped out of the spotlight, Wynonna went on to a successful solo career, and audiences will hear what her mother calls “Wynonna Alona” during “The Last Encore.”
“This is her gig,” Judd said. “I’m letting her take the lead; I’m thrilled that I’m alive and with her, creating something brand-new.”
The pair will tread new ground in concert, too, including songs from an upcoming Judds album and, for the first time, performing Christmas songs.
“With the new stuff, and our evolution, you’re going to get what you would if we had never stopped,” Judd said, and come ready to join in on the familiar holiday tunes, she added.
Then, of course, there are the hits that make them household names nearly 20 years after they performed the first of their final tours. Joining them, too, is Judd’s husband, Larry Strickland, who sang back-up for Elvis Presley.
“When we played for the CMA, the concert that convinced us to tour one more time, we sang ‘Love Built a Bridge’ and it was one of those holy moments, when spirit and body are juxtaposed. We were in harmony, people were singing it back to us and we felt like we were levitating.
“Later, Wynonna was helping me clear the supper dishes when she said, ‘Mom, want to tour?’ It was pretty clear what we should do.”
It’s a long way from the time when she didn’t have those options.
“I was in a grim position back then, with anxiety attacks and clinical depression,” Judd said of her battle with hepatitis C. “Now it’s fun. I feel buoyant, full of life.”
And when the tour’s over, she said, she wants to open a neuroscience research lab and media center, a cutting-edge operation that will explore life-changing developments in the brain and educate the public on what’s possible.
As for the tour, “I’m like everyone else, sitting on the edge of my seat,” she said. “Right now, it’s like I always tell Wynonna, ‘Prior preparation prevents poor performance.’ But I’ve learned to let go of expectations and outcomes.
“I’m fully engrossed in the moment right now. I’m living fully in the present.”
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