By LEE WARD — The Independent
Ashland — Wynonna Judd announced this weekend that she and her mother, Naomi, will be on tour together this year.
However, the chances of them playing in their hometown is unlikely.
Wynonna announced the reunion on Saturday’s edition of CBS-TV’s “The Early Show.”
“It’s take-your-mother-to-work year,” she joked.
Cindy Collins, director of operations at the Paramount Arts Center, books country music acts at the theater. She said when she heard the Ashlanders would tour again, she called William Morris Endeavors, Wynonna’s talent agency, to find out if a stop at the Paramount might be possible.
“They said that tour was not playing performing arts centers, that it was only playing arenas and it was $250,000 to book the duo,” Collins said.
It will be The Judds first tour since 2000, when the chart-topping mother-daughter duo stopped by Rupp Arena for a performance that included a cameo by sister Ashley. That concert was taped for a CBS special, later that year.
The Judds performed together at last summer’s CMA Music Festival in Nashville.
It’s been more than 18 years since Naomi Judd 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 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 have 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. 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,” Wynonna said. “We have a 25-year relationship now.”
Wynonna said her mother is eager to perform again.
“She’s planning her wardrobe right now,” Wynonna said.
Tour dates for The Judds have not been announced yet.
LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.
