Country music icon Wynonna Judd says she's grateful for Iowa fans before her Ames concert

When Grammy winner Wynonna Judd comes to Ames to perform songs off her first two albums on Oct. 27, there’s one track the country star looks at differently three decades later.

“It’s Never Easy To Say Goodbye.”

“I recorded it because I was leaving mother,” Judd told the Des Moines Register in a phone call in early October. “I was leaving her literally on the front porch the day that I said goodbye to her and went on the road by myself and she stood there and waved as I took off.”

The country icon captivated audiences as part of the mother-daughter duo The Judds with mother Naomi Judd. The duo were responsible for dozens of hits, including “Grandpa,” “I Know Where I’m Going” and “Love Can Build A Bridge.”

Naomi Judd died in April 2022. She was 76.

“Now in three weeks I'll be singing, ‘It Ain’t Easy to Say Goodbye,’ thinking about my mother and the funeral,” Judd said. “So, it's a weird transition between saying goodbye to her professionally and personally to saying goodbye to her for good.”

Judd will perform at the Stephens Auditorium at the Iowa State Center, 1900 Center Drive, in Ames on Oct. 27 on her “Back To Wy” tour. The concert will focus on her debut, self-titled album and her follow up, “Tell My Why,” the latter celebrating 30 years this year.

Judd, who said she is grateful she still has fans in Iowa, spoke with the Register about saying goodbye to her mother, being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and her show of support for country singer Kelsea Ballerini.

Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.

Des Moines Register: “Tell Me Why” was released three decades ago this year. How does it feel to revisit all your tracks off that album and your debut album all these years later?

Wynonna Judd: Personally, it feels like taking out a scrapbook and walking through the picture stories and memories of those times that hit you so overwhelmingly, you just find yourself crying and laughing and, “Oh my god, I forgot about that when we did such and such,” and you just walk through the journey and you just participate in celebrating all those memories right? And then you close the scrapbook, put it back up on the shelf. It's the similar thing with the Judd tribute album. I feel like, “Oh my god, we're celebrating such an amazing time of mom and me making her-story," and the music was, let’s see 1984 we started, and now here I am 2023 listening to an album with all these different voices singing, “Grandpa,” “Love Is Alive.” And those songs are just in my heart. I still sing “Love Is Alive” every night on stage. So, the Judd music is still very much in the show each day and so I'm still walking through those memories in the past, the present and the future is I'm in the studio singing, working on a new record… Professionally, I feel like, “Oh my gosh, I have absolutely been here for 40 years,” and I'm sitting here looking at a picture of my mom and myself with George Strait. And my hair is — oh my god, bless her heart. She didn't have a hairdresser. We're just doing it like we don't know what we're doing. And that is just going for it. We didn't know any better. We just went for it. And that's what people loved about watching us because you never knew what we were going to say. You never knew what we were going to wear and you sure as heck didn't know what was next for the Judds. We could have made it and bombed and that was that. See you later. Bye. But I'm still here 40 years later. How is that possible?

Des Moines Register: You and your mother were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame last year right after the terrible loss of your mom. What was it like to receive that honor at such a painful time?

Wynonna Judd: I think I was somewhere between hell and hallelujah with every breath. I wept. I laughed. I saw everybody. It literally was like a memorial… and the fact that I was being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. I mean what in the world? How is this happening... It was one of the toughest things. I'm very practical. I live on a farm. If I lose one of my animals in the afternoon I still go and feed the rest of my animals that night. Life goes on. Life is after death. Whether you like it or not, you can choose to bow out, but here we are and I'm going for it and I showed up and I was able to get through it because of all the people there lifting me. That's what God does. He sends you the right people at the right time and those people are my family. It's the Country Music Hall of Fame professionally and I'm on the wall with a plaque. But those are my family. Those are my people and they got me through it. Ricky Skaggs, I've known Ricky since I was 15 years old. He's my uncle and I love him dearly. He's my uncle, and he's very important to me. So I knew that if I showed up there — I don't know if I could have done it any other situation — but I knew those people would hold me dear to their hearts and love me through it.

Des Moines Register: Congratulations on being the first Country Champion Award recipient at the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards in September. How did that recognition feel?

Wynonna Judd: I told someone backstage before I went out there, I said, “Well, the tributes start happening, and you start realizing that you're getting older and the more you celebrate the best because next step after this is seeing Jesus.” I started laughing because you start to realize, “Oh, my God, people are celebrating me in a way that I don't know that I'm ready for it because I still feel so alive. I am celebrating 40 years. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful. And I'm also very realistic and I know how we don't know how much time we have left is my point. We don't know how much time we have left. It could be 10 years. It could be 30 years. It could be one week, and I know that. So that was me walking out on stage. When I got out on stage, I looked out at the audience and I saw all these artists that I didn't even know personally, and that was weird because the Opry House is where I grew up with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette and George Jones and Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash and all the elders and the statesmen as well as the queens. My heroes. They taught me and they were always in the audience. And now I'm looking out at an audience that's another generation of greatness that I don't even know and I feel like the prom mom at the punch bowl because I'm the oldest one there. And I'm starting to laugh because I realize all these artists are looking at me like I'm the elder. So that was really wacky.

Des Moines Register: You went viral for all that right reasons by making it clear country singer Kelsea Ballerini performed live at the People's Choice Country Awards after some viewers thought she was lip-syncing, Country Living reported. How important it is to you to advocate for the female country artists in your life, especially those who are still early in their careers?

Wynonna Judd: I'm known as Mama Wy and I had Mickey Guyton come up to me and hug me and say, “Thank you for all the texts encouraging me.” I have about 10 women on my phone — I just reached out to Kelly Clarkson this morning and I'm sending funny things and laughing and saying, “You go girl,” and look, I'm just here to help lift the boat as much as I can with as much as I am able to handle the weight of this world and all that it throws at you. I’m there to help other people and the rising tide lifts all boats and it's important to be part of the tapestry of country music. I still have a seat at the table so I think of myself very seriously as an elder now and so I do see these women and I hug them like they're my daughters and it's weird because I think, “Oh my god, but I'm still relevant and I'm still here as an artist.” Yet as a mother, my grandbaby is sleeping, taking a nap while I'm doing these interviews. I'm a grandmother now. And I'm stepping into that role and it's very odd but here I am. I can still get it. What did I say to somebody recently? I said, “There may be snow on the mountain top, baby, but there's still fire in the furnace.”

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at PBarraza@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Wynonna Judd to perform at Iowa State Center in Ames on 2023 tour