Wynonna and Naomi Judd arrive on the Red Carpet for "The 43rd Annual CMA Awards," on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, live from the Sommet Center in Nashville on the ABC Television Network. Photographer: Jim Hagans / CMA.
When the Judds performed together for tens of thousands of fans at last summer’s CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Naomi Judd seemed emotionally overcome by the moment.
It’s been more than 18 years since she retired from touring to battle potentially fatal hepatitis C, and the near-tears expression she displayed as she exchanged glances with people in the crowd suggested she misses the connection. That’s likely a big reason why the Judds are teaming up for a tour this year, though important details such as dates and cities have yet to be unveiled.
Wynonna announced the reunion on Saturday’s edition of CBS-TV’s “The Early Show.”
“It’s take-your-mother-to-work year,” she said.
Wynonna and Naomi have re-teamed numerous times through the years, though rarely for an extended tour. They did a joint concert in Phoenix on Dec. 31, 1999, to usher in the new millennium, and followed that appearance with a series of dates in the spring and summer. There’ve been numerous one-time reunions since then, including their Grand Ole Opry debut in 2004, groundbreaking for a Martin Luther King monument in the nation’s capital in 2006, an Atlantic City casino date in 2007 and a show at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Southern California in 2008.
The mother-daughter act gave its first arena concert in 1984, opening for the Statler Brothers, and they reached No. 1 on the country chart for the first time that same year with “Mama He’s Crazy.” They won Vocal Duo awards every year thereafter until Naomi’s retirement. Wynonna continued with a solo career, and the tour with her mom won’t change that.
“I look out in that front row and those fans that are here, they love me, I love them,” Wy said. “We have a 25-year relationship now.”
The reunion tour is likely to be a major concert event this year — for country fans, for Wynonna and for Naomi, who’s pining to get back out there.
“I know,” Wynonna quipped, “she’s planning her wardrobe right now.”
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