Wynonna Judd has been touring nearly all her life, but she’s never experienced anything like her current dates on the The Judds: The Final Tour.
“We are taking full advantage of the love and support,” the singer acknowledges, speaking about the fan response to the performance. “I will tell you, as an artist, I’ve never experienced this kind of emotion at a show.”
It makes sense that these concerts would be the most emotional of Wynonna’s career. She and her mom, Naomi Judd, first announced the tour as a final goodbye from legendary mother-daughter country duo The Judds. But Naomi died by suicide at the end of April, months before the run was scheduled to begin.
Wynonna decided to go ahead with the tour, reenvisioned as an all-star girls’ night with guests artists like Trisha Yearwood, Ashley McBryde, Kelsea Ballerini and many more. Those nights have been so special that she recently announced she’ll extend the tour into 2023.
Not only is it a chance for fans to bid farewell to The Judds, it’s also a chance for Wynonna to celebrate her mom’s life and legacy onstage.
Those emotions will be running extra high this Thursday, when she recreates the final concert from The Judds’ 1991 Farewell Tour for a CMT special called The Judds: Love is Alive — The Final Concert at the very same venue where she and Naomi first played that show three decades ago.
“Thirty-one years ago, almost to the day, I did my last concert with my mom,” Wynonna remembers. “And we are recreating it … the stage is similar, but it’s modernized enough for new fans to go, ‘Oh, that’s hip.'”
The Thursday night show will air as a TV special on CMT in March 2023.
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