Friends, fans and family members packed the pews of Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Sunday evening to mourn and celebrate the life ofNaomi Judd, and for 75 minutes — in a nationally televised show — a string of country music’s finest lifted heavy hearts still reeling from the death of The Judds' matriarch on April 30.
But it was up to Naomi’s daughter and singing partner,Wynonna Judd, to deliver the most uplifting message of all when she announced onstage that she intended to fulfill the fall dates that the duo had been planningfor their “Final Tour.”
“I’ve made a decision, and I thought I’d share it on national television that, after a lot of thought, I’m gonna have to honor her and do this tour,” Wynonna, tears streaming down her cheeks, told the crowd, as well as CMT viewers at home. “The show must go on, as hard as it may be, and we will show up together, and you will carry me as you’ve carried me for 38 years … So we will continue this spectacle. That’s what she would want, right?”
Her onstage announcement — answered with thunderous applause and cheers — arrived near the end of an evening that was, as Wynonna described it herself, “devastatingly beautiful.” The event took listeners not only through many of The Judds' most timeless classics, but also deep into other music that had touched both women’s hearts.
Wynonna’s younger sister, actress Ashley Judd, opened the evening with a welcome to country music’s hallowed Mother Church, explaining that “this is where Mom wanted her public celebration to take place.”
Ashley Judd.Jason Kempin/Getty
Wynonna Judd.Mickey Bernal/Getty
Little Big Towndelivered The Judds' 1986 No. 1, “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days),” with Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman taking the familiar harmony parts.Jamey Johnson,a day after his induction into the Grand Ole Opry, reached into The Judds’ vault for “John Deere Tractor,” a cut off the duo’s debut EP in 1984. (Wynonna could be heard yelling a greeting to her fellow country rebel, “You are a bad ass!” and mouthed along with some of lyrics.)
Robin Roberts.Jason Kempin/Getty
Southern gospel trio The Gaithers offered their own song, “How Beautiful Heaven Must Be.” The group’s inclusion, Ashley Judd said in her introduction, was at Naomi’s “special request,” and their a cappella voices filled the resonant hall with celestial harmonies.
Taking her turn on stage,Ashley McBrydedrew one of The Judds' most life-affirming songs, “Love is Alive,” but the artist, wholost her brother to suicide in 2018, choked up on the first verse. “I’m sorry, y’all,” she apologized to the crowd — and their cheers and applause coaxed from McBryde an exquisitely bittersweet performance of the 1985 classic.
Ashley McBryde.Jason Kempin/Getty
Accompanying himself on guitar,Brad Paisleydelivered an acoustic version of The Judds' No. 1 hit from 1989, “Young Long (Strong Love).” He prefaced the performance with a reminiscence of opening for The Judds when he was a teenager. His grandfather, he explained, was terminally ill at the time, “and he got to see me open for the greatest act in country music.”
“It was a big deal to open for them then,” Paisley added, “but it’s a bigger deal today to do this for her [Naomi].”
Brad Paisley.Katie Kauss/Getty
Reigning CMA and ACM female artist of the yearCarly Pearce,who also appeared at The Judds' Hall of Fame induction, performed “Why Not Me,” a Judds No. 1 from 1984. “I’ve loved the Judds my whole life,” Pearce said, introducing the song, “and I have this mental image that I feel like Naomi is flipping her skirt in heaven tonight.”
Carly Pearce.Mickey Bernal/Getty
Martina McBride.Jason Kempin/Getty
Larry Strickland, Ashley Judd and Wynonna Judd.Mickey Bernal/Getty
Ashley lovingly recalled her mother’s attentiveness to fans and support staff, while Wynonna — now with her high heels shed and steadier on her feet — was ready to dish on the woman who was also her favorite sparring partner.
“Let’s talk about what a salty single momma she was — enough of this love stuff,” she joked with her sister. “Let’s get real. She could be evil!”
But just as Wynonna tried to bring up a certain childhood incident involving a U-Haul, Ashley interrupted: “Are we telling that story — or are wenottelling that story?”
Wynonna mischievously retreated: “Let’s talk about it another time.”
“She was a little wacky,” Ashley allowed about their mom, “but she loved us.”
Ashley Judd and Wynonna Judd.Mickey Bernal/Getty
“This isn’t easy,” Wynonna said, stating the painfully obvious. “I don’t know why we’re doing this in public. It sucks. But we’re doing it, aren’t we? We’re showing the world what a dysfunctional family does. You show up for each other, right? That’s what we do.”
With the crowd on its feet, the two singers were blazing their way through the torch song when Wynonna, ever the perfectionist, abruptly stopped in mid-verse and ordered the band to give her a second shot at a solo line she thought she’d bobbled. Whether she had or not, her do-over — “Just remember in the winter / Far beneath the bitter snows” — roared from her depths and electrified the audience.
Brandi Carlile.Mickey Bernal/Getty
Now firm on her feet, Wynonna triumphantly delivered the plea for love as the audience, still standing, sang along and wept. Soon the choir from Wynonna’s Nashville church, fully robbed and filling the aisles, joined her soaring voice.
Then slowing the band and pointing heavenward, Wynonna said, “I wantherto hear this.” The audience and choir responded, taking the chorus two more times as she riffed the words.
At song’s end, Wynonna looked up and mouthed, “I love you.” And as she exited the stage, she offered a final assessment of the evening that surely had to speak, as well, to a lifetime of being Naomi Judd’s daughter: “Did we have fun or what?”
source: people.com
